Fire pleased with defensive effort

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- When Chicago Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch entered the locker room after Saturday's game, he had a message for his teammates.

"He said 'Next week, we go for No. 11,'" Fire defender Bakary Soumare related to reporters after the Fire recorded their league-best 10th shutout of the season with a 1-0 victory against the New York Red Bulls at Toyota Park.

Busch faced only two shots on goal Saturday as the defensive unit of Brandon Prideaux, Wilman Conde, Soumare and Diego Gutierrez held the Red Bulls to only four shots in all. Juan Pablo Angel and Sinisa Ubiparipovic were each credited with one shot on goal.

Busch entered the game with nine shutouts, one better than San Jose's Joe Cannon and Nick Rimando of Real Salt Lake. On Saturday, the total reached double digits and the margin increased.

"The guys love that even more than I do," said Busch, whose career was restarted in Chicago this season after Matt Pickens moved to Europe at the end of last season. "A lot of my plays tonight were picking off long balls. But it was a great defensive effort by the whole team. We didn't turn off one single time tonight."

The victory pushed the Fire into a second-place tie with New England in the Eastern Conference. The Revolution fell to 11-7-5 with their 4-0 loss to Columbus, while the Fire raised their record to the same 11-7-5 with their win.

The game was significant for both teams. New York entered the game with a six-game unbeaten streak and was just three points behind the Fire for third place going into the contest.

The Fire got their goal in the 36th minute on a shot by rookie midfielder Stephen King, who was in the lineup only because of the absence of three starters due to national team commitments. The Fire were without starters Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Mexico), Gonzalo Segares (Costa Rica) and Marco Pappa (Guatemala).

The Fire got the game's only goal in the 36th minute when Chris Rolfe dribbled in on Jimenez on the left side. Jimenez tackled the ball away, but his clearance squirted out to the center of the box, where King was alone in front of Conway to easily slot the ball into the right side of the goal.

"I made a run into the box, no one really followed me, it happened to come out to the right spot and I put it away," King said. "The ball just came my way."

King said shots that wide open are almost more difficult to make than more complicated ones.

"You almost are surprised to get the ball in that instance, but you try just to compose yourself and put it away," King said.

In sharp contrast to what Busch had to deal with, Conway faced seven shots on goal and 14 shots total from the Fire.

To fill in for his missing starters, Fire coach Denis Hamlett used second-year midfielder Mike Banner along with King, and he put Gutierrez on the back line to fill in for Segares.

For the second time in the last three games, Hamlett had veteran midfielder Justin Mapp as a reserve. Mapp, a six-year veteran with U.S. national team experience, signed a four-year contract extension with the Fire Saturday.

In the 18th minute, the Red Bulls had their best chance to score, but Juan Pablo Angel's long blast bounced off the crossbar. While the Red Bulls were more aggressive in the second half, they could not get any clear shots on goal.

"We played with a playoff mentality tonight. I think our guys did well as far as keeping their concentration for the full 90 minutes," Hamlett said. "It was 1-0 but I think the second half we had some good looks. Our group feels we can definitely win games with a single goal in a match the way we're playing."