BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. — John Thorrington and Cuauhtemoc Blanco scored as the Chicago Fire advanced to the Major League Soccer Eastern Conference final with a 2-0 victory over the New England Revolution on Saturday night.
Chicago entered the match trailing in the two-game, total-goals semifinal series after a 2-1 setback at New England last Sunday.
Thorrington scored in the 35th minute of Game 2 with Marco Pappa and Brandon Prideaux getting assists.
Blanco sealed the victory with about six minutes remaining in regulation. Jon Busch posted the shutout before a crowd of 21,528.
It was the second consecutive season in which Chicago has eliminated New England from the playoffs, and fourth in eight all-time postseason matchups.
Chicago will host Real Salt Lake on Saturday.
This will be the Fire's third consecutive appearance in the conference final, where it lost each of the previous two matches.
Chicago outshot New England 21-12 and had 12 shots on net, compared with four for the Revolution.