New England Revs 2 : 1 Chicago Fire

New England Revs secured a narrow 2-1 win over Chicago Fire after a pulsating quarter final match at the Gillette Stadium in Massachussetts. The come from behind win showed immense character with midfielder Jeff Larentowicz the outstanding performer from either side. The return leg takes place on Saturday at 5pm Pacific in Chicago.

Chris Rolfe put Chicago Fire 1-0 up in the 17th minute. Marco Pappa made room on the right and his cross was palmed out weakly by Matt Reis in the Revs’ goal. Rolfe was on hand to score the first away goal of the 2009 post season. It was Rolfe’s fourth play-off goal in his career, and was a well merited reward for Chicago’s early dominance.

Chicago and US forward Brian McBride had two early free headers neither of which he was able to direct on Reis’ goal, then rattled the left hand post after Rolfe’s goal as New England floundered. Kehli Dube had the Revs’ first chance after 22 minutes but blasted it over Jon Busch’s bar.

Their next chance came after a curious incident. Jon Busch lay down way outside his goal after punching clear from Shalrie Joseph’s aerial challenge and failed to get up. Jeff Larentowicz fired in the ball towards an open goal but hit the post as play was rightly waved on. Blanco was seen yelling at Busch, presumably about leaving his goal unprotected.

Larentowicz brought the first save from Busch just after the half hour but nothing came from the corner, but the Revs were creeping back into the match despite an early battering. Emmanuel Osei then hit the Chicago cross bar from distance after great work by Jay Heaps as New England began to show they had indeed withstood the early onslaught. As half time approached, they looked the likelier to score.

And so it proved just seconds before the half time whistle. Kenny Mansally curled in a free kick from outside the Chicago penalty area on the right, and Emmanuel Osei completely lost his marker inside the six yard box. In front of keeper Busch, Osei flipped a beautiful back header over the helpless and unprotected Fire guardian.

The whistle came and the Foxborough crowd had already seen a better 45 minutes of football than had been seen in either Seattle or Salt Lake in the other quarter finals.

Baggio Husidic rattled the Revs bar from 25 yards in 72 minutes to break a small period of New England domination. But then from a right wing corner, substitute Pat Phelen connected, and did so well enough so that Busch couldn’t gather cleanly. In the ensuing scramble, the effervescent Larentowicz stayed calm and prodded clean possession through to Shalrie Joseph who poked it into the roof of the net under pressure.

The Revs held on to claim a narrow and hard earned win in a thoroughly entertaining match.

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