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Emilio nets two as D.C. United douses Fire

Jun 17, 2007 - 2:51 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Luciano Emilio scored two goals and D.C. United ran its unbeaten streak to seven matches with a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Fire on Saturday night.

D.C. United (5-3-2), which has won five of its last six matches, moved past the Fire (4-6-2) and took sole possession of third place in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference standings.

On his first goal, Emilio took a feed from Christian Gomez and looped what resembled a punt from 17 yards over Chicago goalkeeper Matt Pickens' head to give D.C. United a 2-0 lead in the 25th minute.

"I made a diagonal run toward the goal and Christian made a great play and gave me the ball perfectly, and I was able to just lob it over the keeper," Emilio said.

In the 51st minute, Emilio punched home a rebound on Gomez's shot for his fifth goal of the season.

"I was just right there for the rebound," Emilio said through an interpreter. "It was lucky - just an easy tap-in."

After both goals, the Brazilian striker struck the pose of a winning bullfighter, much to the delight of 20,161 fans at RFK Stadium.

"I've always looked at videos of the matadors and I've always wanted to do something similar to how (Mexican soccer star Cuauhtemoc) Blanco and (Chilean international legendary player Marcelo) Salas celebrate," Emilio said. "So I figured the next time I scored, that I was going to do a celebration like that."

In the sixth minute, Rod Dyachenko scored an unassisted goal that gave D.C. United a 1-0 lead. Pickens momentarily smothered a crossing pass from Fred in front of Chicago's net, but the ball squirted loose and Dyachenko punched it into the net for his first goal of the year.

"We're playing well right now," Emilio said of D.C. United, which began the season with three straight losses and a tie before getting untracked. "We're feeling real good about ourselves. This gives us good satisfaction in our effort because we began the season very low.

"It's important for us to keep this thing going and keep getting wins."

Reserve forward Jerson Monteiro scored Chicago's goal in the 54th minute.

The Fire, who have only one victory in their last eight matches, lost their second in a row.