DC United clinch first place in Eastern Conference with Chicago Fire win

Oct 19, 2014 at 12am UK

FT(HT: 1-0)

DC United secure top seed in the MLS Eastern Conference playoffs by hanging on to record a 2-1 victory over the Chicago Fire.

Published: October 19 2014 | 02:29

Last updated: October 19 2014 | 14:16

DC United clinched the number one seed in the MLS Eastern Conference playoffs with a 2-1 home victory over the Chicago Fire.

The home side threatened early on when Davy Arnaud raided down the right and lifted a cross to the back post, but Bobby Boswell failed to generate enough power on his effort to test Kyle Reynish.

Chicago responded and went close to taking the lead when Harrison Shipp released the run of Quincy Amarikwa. The striker cut the ball back to Florent Sinama-Pongolle, but his low effort was well saved by Bill Hamid.

United took the lead in the 31st minute when Eddie Johnson was given space and time to pick out the unmarked Chris Pontius, who guided a headed effort past Reynish at the back post.

In the second half, DC doubled their lead when Johnson capitalised on an error from Patrick Ianni, to race into the penalty area and fire an effort past Reynish into the top corner.

The Fire got a goal back when substitute Patrick Nyarko released the run of Shipp with a sublime through pass, and the midfielder slotted the ball under Hamid with a composed finish.

Chicago came within inches of an equaliser in the 74th minute when Amarikwa burst into the area and laid the ball back to Shipp, whose deflected effort trickled against the post before Hamid gathered.

At the other end, DC broke upfield and had the chance to kill the game off when Johnson picked out Nick DeLeon in the box, but his low shot was blocked by the legs of Reynish.

In the dying minutes, Jeff Larentowicz had an excellent opportunity to snatch his side a point, but his left-footed shot from close range was saved by Hamid as United held out for the victory.

Share this article now:

Eastern Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Inter Miami Inter Miami	34	22	8	4	79	49	30	74
2	Columbus Crew	34	19	9	6	72	40	32	66
3	FC Cincinnati Cincinnati	34	18	5	11	58	48	10	59
4	Orlando City	34	15	7	12	59	50	9	52
5	Charlotte FC Charlotte FC	34	14	9	11	46	37	9	51
6	New York City FC NY City	34	14	8	12	54	49	5	50
7	New York Red Bulls NY Red Bulls	34	11	14	9	55	50	5	47
8	CF Montreal Montreal	34	11	10	13	48	64	-16	43
9	Atlanta United Atlanta	34	10	10	14	46	49	-3	40
10	DC United	34	10	10	14	52	70	-18	40
11	Philadelphia Union Philadelphia	34	9	10	15	62	55	7	37
12	Toronto	34	11	4	19	40	61	-21	37
13	Nashville SC Nashville	34	9	9	16	38	54	-16	36
14	New England Revolution New England	34	9	4	21	37	74	-37	31
15	Chicago Fire	34	7	9	18	40	62	-22	30

Western Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Los Angeles FC Los Angeles	34	19	7	8	63	43	20	64
2	Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy	34	19	7	8	69	50	19	64
3	Real Salt Lake Salt Lake	34	16	11	7	65	48	17	59
4	Seattle Sounders Seattle	34	16	9	9	51	35	16	57
5	Houston Dynamo Houston	34	15	9	10	47	39	8	54
6	Minnesota United Minnesota Utd	34	15	7	12	58	49	9	52
7	Colorado Rapids Colorado	34	15	5	14	61	60	1	50
8	Portland Timbers Portland	34	12	11	11	65	56	9	47
9	Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver	34	13	8	13	52	49	3	47
10	Austin FC Austin	34	11	9	14	39	48	-9	42
11	Dallas	34	11	8	15	54	56	-2	41
12	St Louis City	34	8	13	13	50	63	-13	37
13	Sporting Kansas City Kansas	34	8	7	19	51	66	-15	31
14	San Jose Earthquakes Earthquakes	34	6	3	25	41	78	-37	21