It was a festive Sunday afternoon at RFK Stadium, as D.C. United trounced the Chicago Fire 4-0 in their regular-season home finale, ensuring that they will host at least one match during the upcoming MLS Cup Playoffs.
After riding goals from Chris Pontius, Bobby Boswell, Fabian Espindola, and Alvaro Saborio to a dominant victory, the Black and Red (15-12-6, 51 points) are assured of finishing no worse than fourth in the Eastern Conference, and they can clinch second place and a bye into the Conference Semifinals if they win at Columbus this weekend.
On a crisp, chilly autumn day, a crowd of 20,104 saw United win its second-straight game as they continue to show signs of breaking out of a troubling late-summer slump, just in time for the postseason. Chicago, on the other hand, had long been eliminated from playoff contention, coming in winless on the road and holding the league’s worst record.
True to form, the Fire never looked particularly dangerous as the two sides contested a somewhat desultory first half hour. From there, the hosts began to take firm control of the match, starting with a free kick from Espindola that midfielder Nick DeLeon volleyed into the hands of Chicago goalkeeper Jon Busch. A couple minutes later, a well-placed cross from DeLeon found Chris Rolfe at the edge of the 6-yard box, but the forward couldn’t get enough on his header to beat the Fire’s netminder.
United broke through in the 39th minute, as Rolfe deftly threaded a ball to Chris Pontius, who was making a run into the penalty area. Showing an explosive burst of pace all too seldom seen since his all-star 2012 campaign, Pontius left Fire defenders Joesin Jones and Jeff Larentowicz in the dust as he collected the through ball and put in a left-footed shot from close range past a diving Busch. It was the third goal of the season for the injury-plagued attacker, who continues to enjoy a strong recent run of form.
The floodgates would open during a second half in which United kept the Fire constantly on their heels. In the 67th minute, a corner kick from Espindola was headed in with aplomb by D.C. captain Bobby Boswell. Espindola himself would tally four minutes later, nimbly maneuvering around defenders along the left edge of the penalty area and uncorking a cross that took an unlucky deflection off Chicago’s Lovel Palmer before swerving inside the near post past a dispirited Busch.
The celebration in the stands was already well underway when substitute forward Alvaro Saborio capped the scoring by opportunistically knocking in a loose ball in the box with an acrobatic right-footed lunge.
After the match, players lingered around the pitch to sign autographs and take photographs with supporters, but Sunday’s sterling result ensured that it would not the last time fans will get to watch the Black and Red play at RFK Stadium this year.
“That’s important,” United head coach Ben Olsen said after the match. “It’s important for a whole bunch of reasons. First and foremost, our fans get to see us in a playoff game, here at this building. I’m looking forward to seeing RFK again on a playoff night. That’s always, always a special night.”
