Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett entered this year's SuperLiga tournament with one clear goal: Win. It. All. Tonight Hamlett and his charges finally get the chance to do just that, as they take on Mexican club Tigres UANL (some links on Tigres and more are at the post's end...) at Toyota Park tonight (7 p.

Looking at the standings after the Fire's 1-0 loss to D.C. United late Saturday night, I came to the conclusion that any hopes the Fire had of taking the 2009 Supporter's Shield (the honor given to the league leaders at the end of the regular season) had burned out. The Fire had dropped another 3 points at home and the two squads in front of them - Columbus and Houston - were facing a pair of winnable games on Sunday.

Wondering how the recent moves of Chris Rolfe and Bakary Soumare to Europe will impact Brian McBride's offseason decision? Well, I asked the 37-year-old McBride - who is in the last year of his contract with the Fire - just that question after the Fire's practice last Thursday. Here is what the Arlington Heights native had to say.

The Fire has announced that they will hold their second annual open tryout for the team this year. Registration for the tryouts, which will take place on December 8-9 at the The MAX Indoor Soccer Center in McCook Ill., closes at 3 p.m. central time this Friday (December 4th). There is a $150 sign up fee that includes a ticket to April 10th's home opener against San Jose.

Chivas USA became the second of five teams to fill their hole at head coach yesterday, when they hired former Chivas USA, L.A. Galaxy and Bayern Munich Assistant Martin Vasquez to lead the squad.

Vasquez (who is on the far right in the adjacent photo) replaces former Chivas USA and current Toronto FC Head Coach Preki at the helm of the Los Angeles club.

The Fire and Houston are set to kick off in a little more than three hours, so it's time for me to get the Matchday thread going. The Fire need a win to keep pace with first place Columbus, who beat San Jose 3-0 yesterday. I'll be posting some thoughts I have on the play in the comments section (In real time no less.

The Fire pulled off a wild one tonight - getting three goals in the last 20 minutes to defeat the Colorado Rapids 3-2. "This was a test for us, this was a test to see what kind of character we have," said a very happy Jon Busch. "Everybody stepped up. We got behind the eight ball a little bit but we didn't hang our heads.

After his poor performance in the Fire's 2-0 defeat to the L.A. Galaxy last Wednesday night, center back Dasan Robinson was pretty upset. But the 25-year-old defender - who got beat on both Galaxy goals - bounced back in a major way Sunday night against the Rapids, playing solid defense and scoring a stoppage time winner to cap a miraculous Fire comeback.

A huge Eastern Conference battle is on the slate for the Fire this weekend, as they will take on long time rivals D.C. United at Toyota Park on Saturday (7:30 on FSC). The Fire and D.C. have already met twice in 2009, and the Fire hasn't fared as well as they would've hoped, drawing once and losing once to the 5th place United side.

Coming off of last Sunday's thrilling, come from behind 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rapids, the Fire put in a very disappointing performance tonight, falling to longtime rivals D.C. United 1-0 at Toyota Park. Bryan Namoff scored the lone goal of the match in the 11th minute, when he flicked home a fantastic Christian Gomez free kick from the top of the 6 yard box.

The Fire headed into Sunday's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals at the New England Revolution knowing that they couldn't afford to give the Revs many set piece opportunities.

"We have to limit their set pieces," Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett said earlier this week. "[We have to be careful on] throw-ins and corner kicks because they do well with those.

The Fire are all set to take on Mexican Club Tigres UANL tonight and though I won't be at Toyota Park to provide you with any insight or the starting lineups, I thought I would post a matchday piece anyway. So feel free to post any thoughts you have during the Fire match (and the Seattle/Barcelona match, it's at 9:30 on ESPN2) here and hopefully I'll be able to check in from time to time too.

The Fire's SuperLiga dream came to a not so super close tonight, as the team lost a gutting match to Tigres UANL 4-3 in penalty kicks at Toyota Park. The Fire came out on all cylinders to start the match and they were able to take the early lead in the 10th minute when Patrick Nyarko neatly flicked a Gonzalo Segares cross inside the near post of a diving Cirilo Saucedo from about 6 yards out.

Fresh off a crushing penalty kick loss to Tigres UANL in Wednesday's SuperLiga final, the Fire is looking to turn it around on Sunday night when they take on the MLS leading Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium in Texas (7:30 / DirectKick)....

The Fire and Real Salt Lake are set to clash tomorrow night for their second meeting of the season. The Fire was victorious in the first matchup between the two teams, getting a goal from Patrick Nyarko to defeat RSL 1-0 on August 1st at Toyota Park. What's the main difference between tomorrow's match and the teams' first meeting?

I was at the Fire's practice session today and picked up a few tidbits of info from the training session. Here they are......

With only five regular season games left in their season, every remaining match is critical for the Chicago Fire. Some matches, however, are more important than others and this Sunday's battle at Toyota Park against the defending champion Columbus Crew (2 p.m. on My50/Telefutura) certainly fits that description.

The Fire had it all to fight for on Sunday afternoon against the Columbus Crew. First place in the East, a shot at the Supporter's Shield, home field advantage in the playoffs, you name it and the Fire had it in their grasp this afternoon at Toyota Park but in the end it all slipped away as the two sides played to a very controversial 2-2 draw.

When the Fire played the New England Revolution on Oct. 17, many saw the match as a possible playoff preview.

Now that the MLS regular season has come to a close those predictions of a Fire-Revolution postseason battle have come true. The sides will begin their two-leg Eastern Conference semifinal series at 3 p.

Hey everyone, hope your Thursday is going well. I caught up with the recently returned Gonzalo Segares and Logan Pause (both players had been with their national teams since the end of June for the Gold Cup) at yesterday's practice and did a little group interview with them. Check it out below...

Fire midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco has been named to the Mexican National team roster ahead of their all important World Cup Qualifier against the United States. Fire defender Gonzalo Segares was also named to his country's roster; he'll play with Costa Rica when they take on Honduras on the same day.

With the Fire and Real Salt Lake set to kick off in a little less than two hours, it's high time I get the Matchday post up, so here it is. I'll be posting the starting lineups for each side (along with any other random thoughts/observations) in the comments section later on so get ready for those.

According to a report from Goal.com, Fire defender Bakary Soumare is finally making his long-awaited move to Europe as he will leave Chicago to join Boulogne-Sur-Mer of the French Ligue 1 for a reported fee of 1.5 million Euros ($2.15 million)....

As many of you have noted, Fire center back C.J. Brown got a little nicked up during Sunday's match against Colorado. The injury was sustained in the first half of the match, when Brown and keeper Jon Busch collided in mid-air following a Colorado cross. "Buschy wanted to beat up on a big guy for once so he chose me," said Brown with a laugh.

Well after months of rumors and a few days of unofficial reports, the transfer of the now former Fire Defender Bakary Soumare to Boulogne of the French First Division has finally gone through....

Hey everyone, here are a few notes from today's Fire practice at Toyota Park... Bye-Bye Baky - As you all know, Bakary Soumare's transfer to French team Boulogne went through yesterday, putting a close to his Fire career. But what do his former teammates think about the end of the ordeal that was his final days with the Fire?

Here are a few notes from today's high-intensity Fire training session... McBride Back in Action - Injured forward Brian McBride (torn labrum) was back on the training field today, participating in his first "full go" practice since having surgery in mid-July. McBride, who isn't listed on the Fire's injury report this week, looked good in practice and didn't seem to be inhibited by the injury whatsoever.

According to a Goal.com report, Fire forward Chris Rolfe is set to leave Chicago in January to join Danish Club Aalborg (or Aab, as they are more commonly known) on a free transfer. "I'm very excited, as I think Aalborg is as well," Rolfe told Goal.com. "It's a new opportunity and something I've always wanted to do.

With the September 15th roster freeze deadline rapidly approaching, many of us had been wondering what the Fire was planning to do with the roster spot left vacant by the departure of Bakary Soumare. Would the Fire fill it? Would they stand pat? Well, we got our question answered late last night, when the Fire announced that they had signed 21-year-old defender David Myrie.

Just a few quick updates on the injury situations of Gonzalo Segares and John Thorrington to keep your day moving along... Gonzalo Segares - Segares, who has been out with a sprained left MCL since August 9th, told me last week that he was targeting this Saturday's game against Toronto FC for his return and it appears that he will be available right on schedule.

An important game for two teams with identical records as the regular season winds down and playoff implications on the line.

Lovely warm fall night here at Home Depot Center; let's hope the crowd fills in.

Not surprisingly, Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena has rung the changes in the wake of the disappointing 2-0 loss to Columbus last weekend.

Heading into Friday night's game against the L.A. Galaxy, Fire Head Coach Denis Hamlett knew to watch out for the Los Angeles counterattack. "They're a very good counterattacking team," Hamlett said of the Galaxy. "They have some good guys [that will] test out our back four." But knowledge isn't always power, and the Galaxy proved that at the Home Depot Center tonight, scoring a counterattacking goal to defeat the Fire 1-0.

If someone would have told me midway through the season that the Fire's playoff fate would be in the balance heading into their final match, I would've have called them crazy. But here we are. After tonight's 0-0 draw at the Revolution, the Fire find themselves with one game left to play and their future still uncertain.

Hey everyone, I'm settled in at a very rainy Toyota Park and the Fire and Chivas are almost set to kick off their all-important match. The Fire will be looking for a win or a tie to clinch the Eastern Conference's second seed in the upcoming playoffs but Chivas will be gunning for a win to take the lead in the tightly-packed Western Conference.

After three consecutive years suffering playoff heartbreak against the Revolution, the Fire will try to extend their playoff winning streak against the Revs to two series this Sunday, when the two sides meet at Gillette Stadium for Game 1 (1 p.m. on FSC) of their two game Eastern Conference Semifinal matchup.

Eastern Conference Semifinals - First Leg
New England Revolution vs Chicago Fire
Sun., Nov. 1, Gillette Stadium (2 p.m. ET; FSC/FSE)

DF Chris Albright (L lateral meniscus tear); MF Steve Ralston (R ACL tear); FW Taylor Twellman (concussion)

That is pretty much the meats and bones of the team gone there.

We're finally here.
After 7 months of grueling regular season action, the Fire is just two hours away from kicking off Game 1 of their two game Eastern Conference Semifinal against New England. Today's game should be a hard-fought, physical battle (as it always is between the two long time rivals.

The MLS playoffs have been engrossing and so far the upstarts have given the finger to the favourites.

This time it was the Revs taking it to the Fire who had all their big named players while the Revs have been without Twellman and Ralston. But the Revs African contingent stepped up admirably as Sainey Nyassi, Emmanuel Osei, and Kenny Mensally had a huge game.

The Fire meet the Revs today at Toyota Park, 8:30 PM

New England are up 2-1 in the first leg and are in great position to cause the second upset of the playoffs. This match is of great interest for Fire fans because it could also be Blanco's last MLS game as he is out of contract and is returning to second division Mexican club Veracruz.

What a night at Toyota Park.

After losing the first leg of their Eastern Conference Semifinal series with New England 2-1, the Fire stormed back in dramatic fashion tonight, getting a 2-0 victory to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals on a 3-2 aggregate score.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco and John Thorrington scored the goals for the Fire, who will take on fourth seeded Real Salt Lake in the Conference Final next Saturday at Toyota Park.