D.C. United head coach Tom Soehn knew better when it came to the Chicago Fire’s stellar start to the 2008 season. Chicago was sitting pretty with a 6-2-1 record before it suffered a demoralizing 2-1 home loss to United on June 7.
The Fire haven’t won in league play since, dropping to 6-5-2 following a draw at Columbus last weekend. During the same stretch, United (7-7-1) won four straight.
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“Not so long ago you guys were talking about how they were going to win a championship,” Soehn told reporters on Monday.
But the United skipper has yet to win a knockout competition in five tries during a season and a half at the helm, and tonight he’ll face the team that bounced D.C. out of the MLS Cup playoffs last year and in 2005, and handed United a U.S. Open Cup semifinal defeat in 2006.
The Fire own four U.S. Open Cup titles to United’s one.
To change that history, Soehn is likely to rely on Rod Dyachenko, who started last week against Rochester, as the central playmaker, with Marcelo Gallardo (groin) set to miss the match to get fully healthy for Saturday’s SuperLiga encounter with CD Guadalajara (Chivas) of Mexico.
“[Dyachenko] still has his moments when he might give up a ball or two in spots that you can’t afford to do it,” said Soehn. “But experience is going to get you through those times. He’s been making progress though.”
United isn’t quite comfortable enough to call Maryland SoccerPlex home, but with last week’s 2-0 win over the Rhinos, the suburban stadium became the site of the first D.C. shutout since its 5-0 win over Harbour View at RFK Stadium in March.
“It’s still tough to play there at times,” said United defender Devon McTavish. “It’s going to be hard work and battling, as Tommy says. Whoever does that best is probably going to walk away with the win.”
