The press ahead of D.C. United’s first round playoff clash with the Chicago Fire last night leaned heavily on D.C.’s poor record against the Fire, especially in recent playoff history. A lot of it also talked about Chicago’s big signing, Mexican national team veteran Cuahtemoc Blanco. And to some extent, there was some talk about D.C.’s injured stars, Jaime Moreno and Luciano Emilio.

Both players picked up injuries in United’s completely meaningless season finale last weekend against Columbus (speaking of which, where the heck is the criticism of Tom Soehn for this? With nothing to play for, what were these players doing on the field?) Neither recovered fully, and, in the end, both barely made a dent in the game as United put up a tepid display in a 1-0 loss to Chicago.

The home-and-home series (each team plays one game at home, and the team with the most goals after two games advances) now returns to RFK next Thursday, where United must win by two goals to keep their season going. That won’t be easy against a Fire team that barely gave D.C. a sniff at goal in 90 minutes on Thursday. It was only half-chances for United, with the best a Gomez header midway through the second half, unfortunately directed straight at Chicago keeper Matt Pickens.

The game’s only goal fell – literally – to Chris Rolfe after fourteen minutes. A long ball from the Fire backline hung up in the windy conditions and fooled three DC defenders. They allowed the ball to bounce, then, in the confusion, the ball came to Rolfe, who volleyed into the upper-left corner, giving D.C. keeper Troy Perkins no chance. A second golden opportunity came to Blanco a few minutes later, but Perkins palmed it away to keep the score at 1-0.

Neither team created much in the second half, even as United picked up more and more possession and began to push deeper into Fire territory. The introductions of Emilio and Moreno ended up winning some dangerous free kick opportunities, but Christian Gomez was unable to take advantage, tamely shooting into the wall on more than one occasion.

The Eastern Conference semifinal series now heads back to D.C., United now heads back to the drawing board next Thursday on national TV.