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.