So after several days of dealing with flooding in my basement, I'm finally ready to write about United again. (Why in Maryland do we have something like 59 days straight with no rain, and then it rains nonstop for three days? My sump pump and I are not happy about that.) Actually it was a pretty rough weekend altogether between United, the Redskins, and the basement.

But moving onto happier things, let's discuss how badly we are going to beat the Fire tonight. The entire A-squad should be healthy enough to start tonight, and with the atmosphere at RFK, I fully expect United to grab the series tying goal within the first 15 minutes. And the Fire will be forced to attack.

Trust me, Chicago does NOT want this match to go down to penalty kicks, because we have better shooters, and Troy Perkins is a beast and will dominate.

But they MIGHT want this match to be decided in the final 15 minutes of regular time, or in overtime. I think Chicago's counterattacking style lends itself to that sort of situation, because if United makes one mistake late in the game then the whole season could be over.

But I don't think this game will even get that far. I'm predicting the first goal to come early in the match when the teams are still feeling each other out. Probably coming from the wing: either Fred or Olsen. Then United will add two more goals in the second half, one to Luciano Emilio (who will be subbed out shortly afterward). And then… here's a shot in the dark… the third goal goes to either Marc Burch or Bobby Boswell at the back post to put away a Christian Gomez free kick. Chicago might strike on a late goal, but it won't matter, as United wins the match 3-1.