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The second participant in the MLS Eastern Conference finals will be decided today when the New England Revolution face the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park.

That playoff game is just one of the highlighted match-up on this busy Saturday.

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Kansas City Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad received his second honor of the year for his off-the-field contributions to the Kansas City community. MLS W.O.R.K.S., Major League Soccer's community outreach initiative, and the U.S. Soccer Foundation, the Major Charitable Arm of Soccer in the United States, announced Friday that Conrad and Chicago Fire midfielder Logan Pause were selected to receive Click to continue reading...

Wizards captain, Jimmy Conrad has been named Co-MLS Humanitarian of the Year along with Chicago Fire midfielder Logan Pause. Conrad had won the award for his work being a spokesperson for Athletes Against Autism and the Child Protection Center. He's also helped with the UN's Nothing but Nets campaign. Click to continue reading...

Big Story
Your editor is behind today, as I spent last night meeting with Chicago Fire owner and chairman Andrew Hauptman, discussing many of the issues I raised in my open letter to Fire ownership last month.

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Kansas City Wizards defender Jimmy Conrad and Chicago fire midfielder Logan Pause share the 2009 MLS Humanitarian of the Year award. Conrad is a spokesperson for Athletes Against Autism and the Child Protection Center along with participating in the UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign. Pause participates in the Passback Program, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Garth Brooks Foundation and the Joshua Center in Chicago. Click to continue reading...

Landon Donovan leads the Galaxy against rivals Chivas. (Getty Images)

One more weekend of action and we will be in the conference finals here. One club is already in and three others will move on this weekend. After last weekend's play the pressure is on a couple home teams to rebound while one just has to keep on doing what they do best in front of their fans.

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Major League Soccer is growing and improving but outsiders often criticise the league for having a lack of quality. It is a relatively fast football played in the US, with plenty of big, athletic players of the kind which is becoming so important in so many footballing countries across the world.

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Andy Williams Seals the Deal for Real in Win

Andy Williams seals the deal for RSL with a late goal in Real's 4-2 aggregate win to advance in the 2009 MLS Playoffs and move on to the Eastern Conference Final. Last week after Real Salt Lake beat Columbus at home in Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah, Jason Kreis said something interesting after the game. Click to continue reading...

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Guillermo Barros Schelotto was being counted on to help his Columbus Crew climb out of the one-goal deficit it faced after a Game One defeat to Real Salt Lake, and he did just that with two first-half goals in Thursday night's Game Two. Unfortunately for the Crew, the normally stout defense it was counting on to pitch a shutout delivered a mistake-filled performance that has helped put an end to Columbus' quest for a repeat.

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Guillermo Barros Schelotto was being counted on to help his Columbus Crew climb out of the one-goal deficit it faced after a Game One defeat to Real Salt Lake, and he did just that with two first-half goals in Thursday night's Game Two. Unfortunately for the Crew, the normally stout defense it was counting on to pitch a shutout delivered a mistake-filled performance that has helped put an end to Columbus' quest for a repeat.

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The Chicago Fire routed the New England Revolution 3-0 in the return leg of the Eastern Conference semifinals to advance 3-0 on aggregate (ASN, Nov. 7, 2008).

The 3-0 score was one goal higher than ASN's chief Fire pundit had predicted on the eve of the match. With the victory, Chicago finally reversed a multi-year streak of exiting the playoffs at the hands of the Revs.

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So again, we take a look at the Orange Crystal Ball moving from the unidextrous to bidextrous results.
The first weekend, I have to say, was more than a little strange. From the sublime of the Dynamo/Seattle match to the ridiculous of Warzycha sitting Moreno AND Schelotto to the utterly predictable of a Steve Nicol-team being Lucy to the Chicago Fire's Charlie Brown to the completely surreal of the HDClasico draw. Click to continue reading...

The second round of the MLS Cup Playoffs has the two higher seeds in each conference hosting their opponents from last week's match-ups. In the four matches from last week, the home teams either tied or won leaving the seeded favorites with work to do if they hope to advance to the conference finals.

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Some pretty damned lucky Fire fans recently got their grubby little hands on the shirts right off of the players backs (with autographs even). But we can't all be so lucky so you what they say: if you can't win 'em, bid on 'em. Click to continue reading...

If the Chicago Fire were hoping for reinforcements to bolster their chances against New England in Saturday's second leg playoff match, they'll have to look beyond Gonzalo Segares. The defender is currently listed as out for the upcoming do-or-die encounter set for Saturday at Toyota Park.

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If the Chicago Fire were hoping for reinforcements to bolster their chances against New England in Saturday's second leg playoff match, they'll have to look beyond Gonzalo Segares. The defender is currently listed as out for the upcoming do-or-die encounter set for Saturday at Toyota Park.

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The big Zach attack. (AP Photo)

Readers of this blog didn't agree, but Chivas USA's Zach Thornton was named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year today, 11 years after first taking the honor with the Chicago Fire.

That time span between awards was undoubtedly one of the reasons the 34-year-old took the honor, beating out the Galaxy's Donovan Ricketts and Seattle Sounders veteran Kasey Keller (both in their first MLS seasons).

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Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton was named 2009 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year on Wednesday, marking the second time he's won the award.

Thornton enjoyed a career renaissance with Chivas USA this season, posting career highs in shutouts and goals against average while helping guide Chivas USA to the playoffs.

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Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton was named 2009 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year on Wednesday, marking the second time he's won the award.

Thornton enjoyed a career renaissance with Chivas USA this season, posting career highs in shutouts and goals against average while helping guide Chivas USA to the playoffs.

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Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton won the 2009 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award, Major League Soccer announced on Wednesday. Thornton won the award in 1998, becoming the third MLS keeper to be honored twice. New England midfielder Steve Ralston won the Fair Play award, with the Chicago Fire winning the team Fair Play award. Click to continue reading...

As mentioned earlier on my Twitter feed today has been a slow day due to some bad headaches on my end. I won't go into it much but I am feeling a little better after some medicine kicked in here (thanks to the few who asked). I didn't have much planned for tonight but I did want to get into the coaching carousel that is going on in Major League Soccer.

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Rejoice fanatics, rejoice! I thought ESPN might forget about us once the postseason came about but I guessed wrong. Which is a good thing because that means that we get more of the most attractive MLS highlights package around. I still think this would be amazing on ESPN2HD, you know on actual TV, but I guess we'll all just have to be patient little soccer-monks for a while longer before we get that kind of clout. Click to continue reading...

My recent posts on ESPNChicago.com:
• Brian McBride (pictured right) among three finalists for MLS Comeback Player of the Year
• Can the Fire make up their one-goal playoff deficit this Saturday? Click to continue reading...

Empty stands were a common sight at Pizza Hut Park this year. (Getty Images)

I hope everyone is getting use to the longer days again after the time change this weekend. Nothing like getting darker a bit earlier again here but that's just how it goes. I have a few goodies to discuss tonight leading off with a big time look at something former Chicago Fire GM Peter Wilt sent Alexi Lalas a few years back.

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Seattle's Kasey Keller is a finalist for numerous Major League Soccer awards, including goalkeeper of the year. (photo by Jonathan Ingraham/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Major League Soccer released the finalists for the league's 2009 awards today. The winners will be announced starting Wednesday and ending Nov.

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The Fire and the Revs have met in the playoffs 8 times. 8 TIMES! It's getting way too predictable, like Lakers v. Celtics in the Reagan-era NBA Finals. A handful of Chicago players and coach Denis Hamlet took a minute to talk about the most consistent post-season pairing since the Buffalo Bills and "choking". Click to continue reading...

The playoff version of the SuperClasico got off to a bang with a 2-2 draw. (Getty Images)

Some could say the results we saw in the first week of the playoffs were fairly expected. The SuperClasico ended in a draw that I think most folks expected to get; Real Salt Lake found a way to get a win over the Crew at home; Seattle and Houston battled it out to a scoreless draw; and maybe the only real shocker of the weekend was the Revs beating Chicago 2-1.

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Catching these four match-ups in the middle, so each will be half analysis/half prediction...
Seattle Sounders FC v. Houston Dynamo (0-0 aggregate)
After tying 0-0 in Seattle for the first leg, the finale will take place Sunday. The story of the first game was 90 minutes of physical brawling, I think the second leg will be the opposite: some entertaining soccer. Click to continue reading...

The playoff numbers look like this...

5 year comparison Conference Semifinals 1st Leg  Avg +/- Home Teams  2005  12,147 NA  Chicago  NY  Colorado  Los Angeles  2006  9,533  -21.52%  Chicago  NY  Colorado  Chivas USA  2007  14,245  49. Click to continue reading...

CLICK HERE to read my ESPNChicago.com post from the Chicago Fire's 2-1 loss to the New England Revolution in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series. It features a recap, analysis and commentary from Fire midfielder Chris Rolfe, who scored Chicago's lone goal.

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The Chicago Fire take on the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium today in Game One of their Eastern Conference Playoff series (2pm, FSC).

This is their fifth straight playoff encounter and there's no love lost here as the sides are a safe bet to play a physical and uncompromising series.

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The Chicago Fire take on the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium today in Game One of their Eastern Conference Playoff series (2pm, FSC).

This is their fifth straight playoff encounter and there's no love lost here as the sides are a safe bet to play a physical and uncompromising series.

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MLS Playoffs: NE v CHI - LA v CHV
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My recent posts on ESPNChicago.com:
• Oct. 31: Game 1 preview - Chicago Fire at New England Revolution
• Oct. 30: Time is now for Fire - Chicago has dealt with distractions all season
• Oct. 30: This date in Fire history: Oct. 30, 1998 - Fire complete 'double' with U.S. Open Cup victory
Also noteworthy:
• Chicago Tribune: What Chicago Fire need to do in playoffs
• Pitch Invasion's The Sweeper: Beckham and Blanco move on -- can MLS? Click to continue reading...

Well here we go again.

Having lost the past two semi-finals, or conference finals, or whatever you're calling them, the Fire are entering the post season yet again with the taste of a lot of post season success, turned disappointment in their mouths.

Two years ago, we rocked DC United's world after they won the Supporter's Shield, and we snuck in -thanks to Thorny's 90′-, by dropping them first round only to be taken out by a Taylor Twellman bicycle kick from hell.

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