Chicago Sends Series Back to Gillette

NAPERVILLE, Illinois - The Chicago Fire came from behind to overtake the New England Revolution by a score of 2-1 Sunday night at Cardinal Stadium in Naperville. Ante Razov scored both goals for Chicago, ensuring a decisive Game Three in the 2002 MLS Cup Playoff Quarterfinal series, presented by Budweiser. The final showdown between these two teams will take place on Wednesday, October 2nd, at Gillette Stadium.

The Fire dominated the offensive play throughout the game, continually pressing the New England defense backward and subjecting goalkeeper Adin Brown to a fusillade of shots from every angle.

In the 15th minute, Brown and the Revolution managed to parry away a series of Chicago thrusts as the Fire brought numbers forward. Three minutes later, Hristo Stoitchkov saw his free kick blast beat Brown only to ricochet off the underside of the crossbar, bounce on the goal line and spin back into play. Defender Joey Franchino kept Chicago scoreless in the 23rd minute, clearing a Carlos Bocanegra header off of the line.

The first goal of the night came in the 29th minute, off of the New England restart following a disallowed goal by Chicago's Dema Kovalenko. Brown sent the ball sailing downfield with a long kick, where it was headed into space by a Chicago defender as players jostled for the ball. Midfielder Brian Kamler raced onto the ball and slotted it to the inside of the far post, out of the reach of Fire `keeper Zach Thornton.

The Fire equalized in the 42nd minute, when Razov was brought down inside the penalty area in a collision with New England defender Jay Heaps. Razov stepped up to the penalty spot, coolly finishing the conversion low to the right side as Brown dove to the left.

The Fire finally capitalized on their offensive pressure with the second goal of the night in the 76th minute. Bocanegra slipped the ball in from the left sideline to Kelly Gray who made a diagonal run to carry the New England defender to the left flank. Gray switched the point of attack to Razov, who hammered the ball past a sprawling Brown for the 2-1 lead.

As time began dwindling for the Revolution, New England was dealt a blow with the late ejection of key defender Carlos Llamosa. Llamosa was shown his second yellow card of the night in the 90th minute for a hard foul on Dema Kovalenko near the sideline. The ejection means that the Revs will have to play without Llamosa for the third and final game of the series.

The series now returns to Foxboro, where the two sides will square off in a winner-take-all match up at Gillette Stadium on Wednesday, October 2nd. The winner of the match will move on to the MLS Cup Playoffs Semifinals, where they will face the Columbus Crew. In the event of a draw on Wednesday, the series will be decided by a sudden death tiebreaker period immediately following the conclusion of the third match.

Scoring Summary:
NE --Kamler (unassisted) 28
CHI--Razov (PK) 43
CHI--Razov (Gray, Bocanegra) 76

N.E. REVOLUTION--Adin Brown, Jay Heaps, Carlos Llamosa, Daouda Kante, Joe Franchino, Daniel Hernandez, Steve Ralston, Leo Cullen (Winston Griffiths 82), Brian Kamler (Braeden Cloutier 64), Wolde Harris, Taylor Twellman
TOTAL SHOTS: 5 (Franchino 2, Hernandez 2); SHOTS ON GOAL: 1 (Kamler 1); FOULS: 21 (Harris 4, Llamosa 4); OFFSIDE: 0; CORNER KICKS: 0; SAVES: Brown 6; CAUTIONS: Franchino 14, Hernandez 22, Heaps 29, Kante 52, Llamosa 58; EJECTIONS: Llamosa 90

CHICAGO FIRE--Zach Thornton, C.J. Brown, Carlos Bocanegra, Jim Curtin, Dema Kovalenko (Orlando Perez 92+), Kelly Gray, Peter Nowak, DaMarcus Beasley, Jesse Marsch, Ante Razov, Hristo Stoitchkov (David Vaudreuil 89)
TOTAL SHOTS: 21 (Razov 6); SHOTS ON GOAL: 9 (Razov 4); FOULS: 20 (four players with 3); OFFSIDE: 7; CORNER KICKS: 5; SAVES: ; CAUTIONS: D. Beasley 44, Nowak 64, Stoitchkov 84; EJECTIONS: none

Referee: Ricardo Valenzuela; Assistant Referees: Chris Strickland, Paul Scott
Attendance: 9,434; Weather: Fair, 85, 47%hum, SW-16mph, Warm