Real Salt Lake: Surprised by Chicago's Fire

A very strange thing happened at Toyota Park during Saturday's Eastern Conference final, and it had nothing to do with Real Salt Lake advancing to the MLS Cup despite being the last seed in the playoffs.

The Chicago Fire played scared.

Playing at home in front of a passionate sellout crowd, the Fire played not to lose. Instead of going after it early and putting the visitors — a team that finished with a 2-11-2 road record during the regular season — under pressure, Chicago sat back.

For long, long stretches of the match, it looked like Real Salt Lake was the home team, not Chicago.

"It was kind of weird," said RSL captain Kyle Beckerman after the match.

Real Salt Lake prepared all week for Chicago to play high pressure, but it never happened. The Fire still had plenty of scoring opportunities playing a counterattacking style, but it was a bizarre approach for a team trying to avoid losing three straight conference finals.

"I was surprised with the way they played, to be honest," said RSL coach Jason Kreis. "I thought they'd be possessing the ball more, to be honest."

Instead, by allowing the visitors to ping the ball around the field, Chicago actually helped Real Salt Lake gain confidence throughout the match.

Kreis suggested that perhaps Chicago tried to slow the game down to save the legs of some of its older attacking players like Brian McBride and Cuauhtemoc Blanco, but it was puzzling nonetheless.

"They didn't come after us; they didn't want to play. I think we outplayed them all over the park, which was awesome," said Will Johnson. "I was shocked, but I don't really care anymore."

In a league where seven months of success and failure in the regular season are often redefined in a matter of weeks in the playoffs, Chicago will head into the offseason with plenty of question marks after Saturday's loss and the departure of Blanco back to Mexico.

Why Chicago sat back will be the question Fire fans are asking throughout the season, much like Columbus fans will wonder why Guillermo Barros Schelotto didn't get the starting nod in Game 1 of its series against Real Salt Lake.

Johnson believes RSL's evolvement as an attacking team had a lot to do with Chicago's conservative approach.

"It was unbelievable. They were scared of our speed obviously. They're slow in the back, and they wanted to sit there. They haven't been good at all at home all year, and it showed tonight; they weren't confident; they didn't ever press us," said Johnson. "Kyle and I just got the ball, and we pinged it around and we got their guys tired and we really limited their chances."

e-mail: jedward@desnews.com

MLS Cup matchup

RSL vs. L.A. Galaxy

at Qwest Field, Seattle

Sunday, 6:30 p.m.

TV: ESPN

Radio: 700 AM