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Fire battles D.C. United to scoreless tie

Oct 14, 2007 - 4:40 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- The Chicago Fire continued their playoff push Saturday, playing Eastern Conference-leading D.C. United to a scoreless tie.

D.C. United's Troy Perkins (nine saves) and Chicago's Matt Pickens (four saves) were credited with shutouts.

The Fire outshot DC United 14-8 but neither club could penetrate the goal line.

"I felt I was on top of my game tonight," Perkins said. "I was relaxed and confident."

"A very good job by Perkins tonight, but our strikers did not shoot the ball with good placement," Fire coach Juan Carlos Orsorio said "They could have been more selective."

Chicago earned a point for the draw, and coupled with Kansas City's loss to New York, pulled even with the Wizards for the seventh seed. Each team has 37 points.

The Fire could be assured of qualification for the MLS Cup Playoffs if Colorado fails to defeat Chivas on Sunday and if the LA Galaxy lose to Toronto FC later on Saturday.

The Fire (9-10-10), who have just one loss in their last eight matches, host the Galaxy next week in their regular-season finale.

The tie extended DC United's unbeaten streak to 13 games and gave it a three-point lead over Chivas USA in the battle for the best overall record in the MLS.

"Winning the Supporters Shield (best record in regular season) is a big thing to us," DC United coach Tom Soehn said. "However, we made it hard on ourselves tonight. we just did not maintain possession of the ball and did not play our game."