United at Fire
Fire midfielder Cuauhtémoc Blanco enters Saturday's contest tied for second in MLS with eight assists.
(By Nam Y. Huh -- Associated Press)
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Where: Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Ill.
When: 8:30 p.m.
TV: Fox Soccer Channel.
Radio: WZAA (1050 AM), English; WACA (1540 AM), WLXE (1600 AM), WZHF (1390 AM), Spanish.
Records: United 6-5-11, 29 points; Fire 10-5-8, 38.
D.C. Probable Starters (3-5-2 formation): GK Josh Wicks; Ds Bryan Namoff, Dejan Jakovic, Marc Burch; MFs Santino Quaranta, Ben Olsen, Clyde Simms, Christian Gómez, Rodney Wallace; Fs Chris Pontius, Luciano Emilio.
Chicago Probable Starters (4-4-2): GK Jon Busch; Ds Austin Washington, C.J. Brown, Wilman Conde, Brandon Prideaux; MFs Marco Pappa, Logan Pause, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Peter Lowry; Fs Chris Rolfe, Patrick Nyarko.
Outlook: United's 1-3-4 skid in MLS play has left the club in fifth place in the Eastern Conference and in danger of missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year. In all competitions, D.C. is winless in nine straight games, including a 3-1 defeat to Mexican club Toluca in the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday at RFK Stadium. Following this game and next weekend's trip to Dallas, United will play five of its final six league matches at home.
Despite a 1-5-6 road record this season, the club won in both visits to Chicago last year and has a three-game unbeaten streak at Toyota Park. The second-place Fire has scored just 11 goals in 11 home games, three coming last Sunday in a win over Colorado. In the first two meetings this year, both at RFK, United settled for a 1-1 tie in March and won, 2-1, in June.
Emilio (eight goals) Gómez (six), Olsen, Jakovic and Wallace are expected to return after sitting out Wednesday. They will try to revive a United attack that has been shut out in the past two league games. Captain Jaime Moreno has 10 goals and 11 assists in his career against the Fire. Chicago will be without defender Dasan Robinson, who, after scoring the winning goal against the Rapids, celebrated by taking off his shirt -- an automatic yellow card, his second of the game, resulting in an ejection and one-game suspension. This week the Fire sold star defender Bakary Soumare to French club Boulogne. Soumare, who played in college at Virginia, was involved in a locker room altercation with Coach Denis Hamlett three weeks ago. Blanco is tied for second in MLS with eight assists.
-- Steven Goff
