ON SOCCER: Push will come to shove

In D.C. United’s opener the club’s rookies were impressive, but coach Tom Soehn will get a better sense of where his team stands when the Chicago Fire come to town Saturday night.

The Fire began their season with a 3-1 win on the road at FC Dallas last week. Brian McBride and Mexican ace Cuauhtemoc Blanco both got on the score sheet.

“Chicago is pretty much returning with the same guys from last season, so they will be ahead of everybody else,” Soehn said.

There’s no love lost between the Fire and United these days - especially when Blanco plays.

“It’s always going to be feisty,” Soehn said.

United will be without defender Greg Janicki and midfielder Devon McTavish, who suffered head injuries in a collision in the 2-2 tie with the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday.

“These days with head injuries, you side with caution,” Soehn said.

The games between the conference rivals Fire and United last season were physical contests.

United lost 2-0 at home in the first match in April last year. On the road in June, United won 2-1 in a game that featured nine yellow cards and the ejection of United defender Bryan Namoff.

In a U.S. Open Cup game in July, Blanco and United defender Marc Burch were ejected after a tussle. Blanco also head-butted a venue official on the way off the field.

The teams last met in August, when United again won on the road in a game with eight yellow cards - seven issued to United players.

“There’s definitely an accumulation of yellow and red cards when we play Chicago,” Namoff said.

“There’s a nice intensity between these teams with quite a bit of history,” United midfielder Ben Olsen said.

Playing like a veteran, rookie Chris Pontius scored a goal in the Galaxy game and is looking forward to facing the Fire.

“On the goal I scored, I couldn’t believe I had so much space,” Pontius said. “I was waiting for someone to close me down.”

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