Early Fire goal revs up New England

Revolution find 'aggressive' form in rallying from goal down

"We wanted to come out flying and be the aggressors of the game," Revolution defender Darrius Barnes said.

The tactic eventually worked. It just took a flurry of early Chicago chances and the opening goal to spur them into implementing it.

After Brian McBride spurned a couple of half-chances in the early stages, the Fire grabbed the lead after 17 minutes when Chris Rolfe tucked home an inviting rebound. Marco Pappa collected Cuauhtemoc Blanco's feed down the right wing and hit a low cross into the area. Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis got his hands to it, but could only push it into a dangerous spot.

"I felt like I could have cleared it, but I thought Matt was going to be able to get two hands on it," said Barnes, who was located behind Reis on the play. "It was a little bit out of his reach, so he tried to punch it away. It was one of those unlucky bounces where it goes right to an opponent's feet and he was able to knock it in."

Conceding an early goal might have put the Revolution in a hole, but they eventually responded after McBride subsequently hit the post and improved enough to cause the Fire significant problems for the remainder of the first half.

"We were a little bit unfortunate on that goal, but I'm happy with the way our team responded," Barnes said. "We battled back to get the second and third goals of the game."

Despite Jeff Larentowicz's drive off the far post in the 25th minute and a period sustained pressure to close the first half, it looked like the Revolution would enter halftime down a goal until the active Sainey Nyassi seized on Mike Banner's error at the back and drew a foul from C.J. Brown on the right wing moments before the break.

Nyassi's work set up a free kick for Kenny Mansally and his fellow Gambian winger took advantage of it by swerving a dangerous service into the penalty area. Emmanuel Osei shed Banner and glanced home his first MLS goal past Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch to give the Revs a vital lifeline heading into halftime.

"When I was on the left side, I was like, oh, this is my favorite spot," Mansally said. "I tried to move to get it to the far post so anybody could get it. That's how Osei got it."

The match remained that way until the 75th minute when Shalrie Joseph, deployed as a striker for most of the second half after Edgaras Jankauskas had to leave the match due to illness, popped up at the perfect time to hand the Revs the victory.

Joseph got the final touch after Mauricio Castro's corner kick sparked a scramble in the Fire penalty area with Larentowicz and substitute Pat Phelan both contributing to keeping the play alive.

"We were pushing numbers all day to try to get that chance to win it," Joseph said. "We didn't just want to leave here with a 1-1 tie. Mauricio whipped it over and Pat tried to flick it. It fell right to me."

Joseph's first playoff goal and his overall contribution drew plaudits from Revolution coach Steve Nicol.

"What do you say about Shalrie?" asked Nicol. "He scores goals. He starts the play. If you stick him up front, he holds the ball up."

The goal also gave the Revs their first victory against Chicago since a 1-0 win in the Eastern Conference Championship on Nov. 8, 2007 and handed them a slender margin heading into the second leg at Toyota Park on Saturday.

Revolution defender Kevin Alston said the late goal and the first-leg victory will aid the Revs as they hope to return to the Eastern Conference final after a one-year absence.

"I think it puts us in a good spot," Alston said. "You can't take things for granted. We have to go there and still perform. We have to get the result that we want, but it helps out, definitely."

Kyle McCarthy is a contributor to MLSnet.com.

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