Loss could be devastating for New York

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. -- The New York Red Bulls had their playoff destiny on the line Thursday in Chicago, needing a win to clinch a spot and a tie to improve their chances of advancing.

Instead, they put together perhaps as poor of a performance as they did against Chicago earlier this year, when they lost 5-1 to the Fire back on May 25 at Giants Stadium.

This time, the final score was 5-2, thanks to three goals and two assists by Chris Rolfe, but the effect of this game was even more devastating.

The Red Bulls could have clinched a wild card playoff spot with a win. Instead, they have to wait to see what happens with the D.C. United-Columbus Crew game on Sunday to find out their playoff fate.

"After a performance like that, I have a very big question mark as to if we deserve to be in the playoffs," Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio said. "I think it is unacceptable. We let everybody down, mainly ourselves."

Rolfe scored his goals all in the first half, and became the first Fire player ever to get a hat trick in one half. Juan Pablo Angel had a first-half goal for the Red Bulls, but they played very poorly on defense in the first half and staged no sort of comeback in the second.

"In any league in the world, against any team, it is very hard to come back when you are down like that," Angel said.

Rolfe headed the Fire into the lead after just 11 minutes, after Stephen King pulled Danny Cepero out of the goal and sent a cross into the open goalmouth. The Red Bulls tied the score in the 32nd minute when Angel headed home a Dave van den Bergh cross.

But Rolfe chested down a half-clearance from a corner kick and volleyed home his second in the 38th minute, then just before halftime, a Cuauhtemoc Blanco backheel sent Rolfe in alone on Cepero and he calmly passed the ball into the lower left corner.

"I could criticize every single goal," Osorio said. "From the first goal, I thought we were not doing what we were supposed to do. We were making (grade) school errors. We played very bad today."

It might not have seemed possible for things to get worse in the second half, but they did. Both of Chicago's second half goals were easy scores.

Rolfe started the Fire's fourth goal in the 53rd minute when he sent a through ball from midfield to Fire defender Diego Gutierrez streaking down the left side. Gutierrez sent another long through ball past two Red Bulls to Brian McBride streaking in from the far right side for an tap-in.

The Fire scored their fifth goal in the 75th minute and Rolfe earned his second assist of the game, when Daniel Woolard dove to head home a Rolfe cross from the right, after the ball was knocked away by a Red Bulls defender -- but right to the Fire forward.

"In my opinion, they are the best team in the league, and if you concede plays like that, they have a couple of players who can really kill you," Osorio said.

Now the Red Bulls must wait until late Sunday afternoon to know if they have any more games to play. If D.C. United ties or loses in their season finale with Columbus, then the Red Bulls will earn a meeting with the Western Conference top seed, the Houston Dynamo, in the first round of the MLS Cup Playoffs.

"It was the most important game of the season," Angel said. "I thought our confidence was high enough for us to play well here, but we didn't do it."