Last night, the Chicago Fire took on the incarnation of evil, otherwise known as the New England Revolution, in the second leg of the first round of the MLS playoffs. The Fire were down 2-1 from the first leg after a tough away loss at Gillette Stadium in front of a pitiful crowd of 7,416.

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The regular season is over and the playoffs are the order of the day in Major League Soccer. Surprise qualifiers Real Salt Lake made themselves known in the first leg of their tie with Supporters Shield winners Columbus Crew, while all four conference semi-finals were even matches with little to separate the sides. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
The USA U17's advanced to the Round of 16 in the World Cup and play on Wednesday against Italy.
dN
Word is out that UANL Tigres left fullback Edgar Castillo has been invited to join Team USA for the 2 games in Europe later this month. This will be his first time with the team. Click to continue reading...

Last week I took a look at five key questions that would play a role in determining the winner of Game 1 of the Fire-Revolution Eastern Conference Semifinal Series. Now, with the 2-1 Revolution win in the books, it's time to take a second look at those five questions and see how they played out.

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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...

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.

Click to continue reading...

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.

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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.

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STARTERS
The USA U17 team gets a win, 1-0 over Malaei, at the World Cup giving them 3 points from 2 games. Last group stage game is Sunday against the United Arab Emirates.
MLS PLAYOFF NEWS
Don Ruiz of the Tacoma News Tribune writes about the Sounders experienced players who will need to lead this team in the playoffs. Click to continue reading...

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STARTERS
American goalkeeper Brad Guzan had an absolutely HUGE game for Aston Villa last night in the English League Cup. He saved a Penalty Kick during regulation time, then saved 3 more during the PK Shoot Out to decide the winner! Click to continue reading...

MLS PLAYOFFS
Who you pickin' to win in this round?
dN
Steve Davis at Soccernet gives us an initial preview of the teams who made the playoffs.
dN
Greg Lalas at Sports Illustrated is pretty fired up about the LA-Chivas series!
dN
First Round playoff matches, home and away series:
1st Leg
WESTERN CONFERENCE
-Thu Oct 29
Seattle Sounder FC (3) v Houston Dynamo (2) - 9pm central on ESPN2
Venue: Qwest Field - Seattle WA
-Sun Nov 1
Chivas USA (4) v Los Angeles Galaxy (1) - 4pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
EASTERN CONFERENCE
-Sat Oct 31
Real Salt Lake (4) v Columbus Crew (1) - 5pm Central on Direct Kick
Venue: Rio Tinto Stadium - Sandy UT
-Sun Nov 1
New England Revolution (3) v Chicago Fire (2) - 12pm Central on FSC
Venue: Gillette Stadium - Foxborough MA
dN
2nd Leg
EASTERN CONCERENCE
-Thu Nov 5
Columbus Crew (1) v Real Salt Lake (4) - 7pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Crew Stadium - Columbus OH
-Sat Nov 7
Chicago Fire (2) v New England Revolution (3) - 7:30pm Central on FSC
Venue: Toyota Park - Bridgeview IL
WESTERN CONCERENCE
-Sun Nov 8
Houston Dynamo (2) v Seattle Sounder FC (3) - 2pm Central on Telefutura
Venue: Robertson Stadium - Houston TX
-Sun Nov 8
Los Angeles Galaxy (1) v Chivas USA (4) - 6:30pm Central on ESPN2
Venue: Home Depot Center - Carson CA
MLS
Brian Strauss of Fanhouse comments on commissioner Don Garber's appearance last night on Fox Football Fone In. Click to continue reading...

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.

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With all of the regular season games in the bag, the playoffs are finally all set to go.
Los Angeles has won the top spot in the Western Conference by winning their game over San Jose, and also holding the tie breaker over both Houston and Chivas USA no matter what either of those teams does in their match up on Sunday. Click to continue reading...

Robert Kraft has acknowledged that he still harbours an interest in buying Liverpool.
The American businessman owns gridiron franchise New England Patriots, but admits that the global dominance of the round ball game makes the Premier League appealing.
"Yeah, in the right situation. Click to continue reading...

Playoff berth still eludes Chicago entering final week
The Chicago Fire and New England Revolution both had opportunities on the offensive end, more so for the Revs. When everything was said and done, Chicago took some minimal satisfaction in pulling off a scoreless draw Saturday night at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. Click to continue reading...

Hey everyone, we're 20 minutes from game time and it should be a good one at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough Mass. I'll be sharing all of my thoughts/observations in the comments section of this post -- and I encourage you to do the same. Also, if you're interested in meeting a Fire player/getting a look at FIFA 10 (which comes out on Tuesday) the Fire is hosting a FIFA 10 tournament at the Best Buy Hancock center in downtown Chicago on Monday.

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The last time the Chicago Fire won a game was a thrilling 3-2 comeback against the visiting Colorado Rapids on Aug. 23, erasing a 2-0 second-half deficit. Since then, Chicago has posted a 0-2-3 record.
The Fire clearly want to get out of their funk, especially since they still control their own playoff fate. Click to continue reading...

The Fire may have two regular season games remaining, but they want to clinch their spot in the postseason this weekend when they take on the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. The Fire, who will be able to clinch a berth in the playoffs with a win this Saturday, have played the Revolution twice in 2009 - drawing 1-1 at Toyota Park way back on May 9th and winning 2-1 in Foxboro in the SuperLiga semifinals on July 15th.

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STARTERS
Jeff Cunningham did it again! Scoring his 16th goal in 13 games to lead Dallas to yet another win, and definitely into the MLS playoff picture. Amazing. When the team sold Kenny Cooper in August most people left this team for dead. They are now the Ultimate MLS Zombie - not only weirdly alive, but hungry for your brains. Click to continue reading...

Conrad hits a header during the USA-Haiti match July 11 at Gillette Stadium. Photo courtesy of Keith Nordstrom.
Our own Jimmy Conrad has been selected by Bob Bradley as one of seven defenders for the upcoming qualifiers against Honduras (without Espinoza) October 10 and Costa Rica October 14 at RFK Stadium in DC. Click to continue reading...

New England Revolution midfielder Steve Ralston is out for the season with a torn ACL suffered during the Revs' 2-1 win vs. Seattle on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.

Ralston suffered the injury after planting his right leg upon landing following an aerial challenge vs.

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New England Revolution midfielder Steve Ralston is out for the season with a torn ACL suffered during the Revs' 2-1 win vs. Seattle on Saturday at Gillette Stadium.

Ralston suffered the injury after planting his right leg upon landing following an aerial challenge vs.

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The Columbus Crew stayed on pace for the Supporter's Shield, beating the Los Angeles Galaxy 2-0 at Crew Stadium. Also in the East, Toronto drew with Chicago and New York played spoiler splitting the points with Western Conference playoff hopefuls Chivas USA. San Jose reversed the spoiler role on Sunday, beating Eastern Conference contenders DC United. Click to continue reading...

The New England Revolution got a pair of goals by Shalrie Joseph, one in the waning moments of the game to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat Saturday night at Gillette Stadium. The victory moves the Revs into third place in the Eastern Conference.
Check out Mark Claypool's match report or skip right to the Revs player ratings. Click to continue reading...

image via New England Revolution

Matt Reis, starting goalkeeper for the New England Revolution is this week's guest on the Jared Montz Soccer Podcast. He was a lot of fun to interview and his story of patience and waiting for his chance to become a starter is motivating. We talked soccer, his coaches, Rev's playoff chances, took some user submitted questions, and had a few laughs.

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Major League Soccer displayed an uncharacteristic sense of levelheadedness with its announcement to break for the 2010 World Cup and move next season's schedule to a balanced, home-and-home structure. With any other professional soccer league in the world, these moves would not have even registered.

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It was a smaller weekend of matches in Major League Soccer as there was World Cup Qualifying and most teams had byes. There were three matches this weekend, all on Saturday, which included New England v Kansas City, DC v Toronto, and Colorado v Toronto. Here's a full recap of all the matches along with video highlights.

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Funny how when you score all these stats come up. Anyways, TONS of stats from last night's game, plenty of them have to do with Josh Wolff and his performance.
Josh Wolff's second goal last night, was the Wizards 600th in league play. KC is the 7th MLS team to hit that mark. Wolff also scored the team's 400th goal back in 2005 against Colorado. Click to continue reading...

It took a trip to Gillette Stadium, the Wizards second home to not only end the team's scoreless streak, but their winless streak as well. KC took care of business and came away 4-2 winners on the road for their first win since beating New England at home back in June.
Coming into the game, the team was minutes away from setting a single season goal scoring futility record. Click to continue reading...

A win! Kansas City snapped the winless streak and the scoreless streak on their way to a 4-2 victory over the Revs at Gillette. It was our first four-goal game since May 26 of 2007. That also took place here at Gillette. Lots of fun notables tonight to read through. I'm sure I also missed some. Mike will likely fill us in on more tomorrow in his Sunday-after stats series. Click to continue reading...

Not only do your Wizards look to snap a couple of streaks at Gillette Stadium, but the United States Men's National will take on El Salvador with an eye toward improving their standing in the CONCACAF hexagonal. Our match starts at 6:30 p.m. CT on Metro Sports, with the USA game at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN Classic. Click to continue reading...

QUESTION
Should US Soccer have a Fans Representative on their World Cup Bid committee?
STARTERS
Congrats to the Richmond Kickers who won the USL Second Division Championship on Saturday night!
dN
Freddy Adu has been sent on loan from Benfinca to another Portuguese team Belenenses aka Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses. Click to continue reading...

STARTERS
Soccer By Ives Twitters: "Michael Bradley is suspended for today's Moenchengladbach's match after his reaction to being pulled at halftime last week."
-Is Michael Bradley a total psycho just waiting to explode or what? He seems to be getting worse.
USL SECOND DIVISION
FINAL
Matches & Scores:
-Sat Aug 29
Richmond Kickers v Charlotte Eagles - 10pm Central on FSC
BIG EUROPEAN CLUB MATCHES
-Sat Aug 29
Manchester United v Arsenal - 11:15am Central on FSC
Milan v Inter - 1:30pm Central on FSC
-Sun Aug 30
Roma v Juventus - 11am Central on FSC
CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Official Web Site, and video highlights from all the games. Click to continue reading...

Kheli Dube's first career hat trick proved to be more than enough for the New England Revolution to defeat Real Salt Lake at Gillette Stadium Sunday night. Fresh off their Thursday victory at Seattle, the Revs had no problems putting away RSL by a 3-1 score. Revs player ratings included in the match report by Mark Claypool. Click to continue reading...