By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (STATS) - A dramatic comeback capped by a late goal assured the Chicago Fire of their third consecutive appearance in the Eastern Conference final.
This time, however, they’ll host it.
John Thorrington and Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored to help Chicago beat the New England Revolution 2-0 on Saturday night, taking the two-game semifinals series 3-2 on aggregate.
Chicago entered the contest trailing the Revolution after a 2-1 defeat at New England on Sunday.
Thorrington leveled the aggregate score in the 35th minute with a one-timed shot into the lower left corner. The goal was the midfielder’s first in postseason play, and came in his first game after missing seven with a leg injury.
Blanco helped secure the Fire’s berth in the conference title game when he found the back of the net with seven minutes to play in regulation.
The series-clinching goal started when forward Patrick Nyarko fended off Revolution defender Emmanuel Osei along the end line, dribbling into the box and drawing out goalkeeper Matt Reis.
Nyarko slipped a pass to Blanco in the center of the box, where he pulled the ball to his right foot, faking out two defenders before finding the upper right corner.
“I think our guys understood what was at task. From the get-go, we went at it and deservedly got the win,” Fire coach Dennis Hamlett said.
It’s the second consecutive season in which Chicago has eliminated New England from the playoffs, and fourth in eight all-time postseason matchups. The Fire are 7-0-0 when they’ve hosted New England in the playoffs.
Since the Fire are the highest seed remaining in the East, they’ll host Real Salt Lake in the conference final next Saturday. Salt Lake reached the title game by beating Columbus 4-2 on aggregate on Thursday.
The last time the Fire hosted the East final, they beat New England 1-0 in overtime in 2003. Since then, they’ve reached that round three times but have lost each time on the road.
“We were a happy group on Thursday night when we saw Columbus lost and we had an opportunity to host the final,” Hamlett said. “Our guys had a little more energy in terms of being able to play with the idea that you can host the conference final.”
Chicago outshot New England 21-12, but also had 13 shots on net compared to four for the Revolution.
“It seems like this year when we lost we’ve done it to ourselves,” said Reis, who had 10 saves. “Once again it happened tonight. We did what we needed to do, but in the end we made a mistake and it cost us. In these games you need to play mistake free.”
Revolution defender Pat Phelan had two chances to tie the series late. He saw his header in the 89th minute go just wide right of the goal before a shot five minutes into stoppage time was saved by goalkeeper Jon Busch.
New England has been ravaged by a slew of injuries all season, and coach Steve Nicol felt the team’s accomplishments shouldn’t be diminished.
“It’s been incredibly difficult,” he said. “When you go week to week not knowing who will be available on the Saturdays.
“I guess it’s true there is some solace in the fact that we got to the playoffs under the conditions that we did. It says a lot about the character of the players.”