Chicago Fire March on in MLS Playoffs

It took four years but the Chicago Fire finally knocked the New England Revolution out of the MLS playoffs.

The Fire comfortable defeated a weakened Revolution 3-0 on Thursday to advance to the conference finals against either the Columbus Crew or the Kansas City Wizards, who will play the second leg of their conference semifinal series on Saturday. The first leg finished in a 1-1 draw.

The Fire scored two goals on either side of half-time to put this game out of reach of New England.

The Fire were able to break through in the second minute of injury time when Chris Rolfe knocked home the opener after Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis spilled a shot from Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Reis' mistake showed why he was not voted goalkeeper of the year by MLS.

Then four minutes into the second half Chicago doubled their lead when a Justin Mapp free kick was met by Wilman Conde who header found the lower left corner of the net sending the home crowd into a frenzy.

Gonzalo Segares put the finishing touches on an impressive Fire win by knocking home a cross from Rolfe in the 74th minute to give Chicago its 3-0 margin of victory.

The Fire, who out shot the Revolution 14-8 in the game, were by far the better team over the two legs and I expect them to play the Columbus Crew in the conference final.

It took four years but the Chicago Fire finally knocked the New England Revolution out of the MLS playoffs.