The surging Fire face the struggling United for the first time since last season's Eastern Conference semifinal series on Thursday night at RFK Stadium.
Seeded fourth in the 2007 playoffs, Chicago upset top-seeded D.C. United 3-2 on aggregate scoring after winning 1-0 at home in the first leg of the series then playing United to a 2-2 draw in the final match. It marked the second straight year United failed to reach the MLS Cup after posting the league's best record during the regular season.
This season, it's been the Fire (4-1-1), who are again playing like a playoff team while United (2-4-0) continues to struggle early on.
Chicago, second in the East and two points behind Columbus, won 3-0 at New England on Saturday for its second straight victory. John Thorrington and Chris Rolfe each had a goal and assist for the Fire, who are 2-0-1 on the road and has allowed an league-low three goals overall.
"It feels good for us to get the victory and we look forward to the next game," said Thorrington, who has scored all his team-leading three goals in the last two contests. "It's really about working hard and getting the results."
The Fire benefited from having Rolfe back on the field after missing the previous three games with an ankle injury. Rolfe had two of the team's three goals versus D.C. United in last season's playoffs.
"Between John (Thorrington), Justin (Mapp), Rolfe, (Cuauhtemoc) Blanco - these guys are always active, they are moving and they can get into different spots and receive the ball so that gives teams problems because of our mobility," Fire coach Denis Hamlett said.
Containing Chicago's aggressive attack will be a challenge for United, who fell 2-0 at Colorado on Sunday for their third loss in four matches. D.C. has been outscored 9-5 during that stretch and has been blanked three times on the season.
"Our performances are going up and down right now which is not good and we need to fix it," said Jaime Moreno, who leads United with three goals and three assists.
Moreno was held in check Sunday one game after recording two goals and two assists in a 4-1 home victory over Real Salt Lake on April 26.
"I can't even think of a player that did well," said United coach Tom Soehn, whose team is last in the East. "Moving forward we are going to be hard on everyone. We have to have a better mentality. We have a lot of work to do."
Though United is winless in three road matches in 2008, they could get a boost by returning home where they are 2-1-0 and have scored all nine of their goals in 2008.
D.C. United went 1-0-1 versus Chicago at RFK in 2007 and are 9-4-3 at home all-time against the Fire.
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