Draw costs Fire valuable points

In a split second Sunday, Jaime Moreno went from speculative shooter to unlikely D.C. United goal scorer.

In that same moment, Matt Pickens went from assured shot-stopper to a Chicago Fire goalkeeper with gloves covering his face.

Moreno's shot from a tight angle on the right wing went past Pickens, who seemed to have the shot covered. But Pickens let the ball go past him, and the shot nestled into the left-side netting to give D.C. United a 1-1 tie with the Fire at Toyota Park.

"They crossed the ball in," Pickens said. "I got to it. I thought it was going wide. I was wrong and it cost us 2 points."

Dropped points have become an issue for the Fire (8-10-8, 32 points), who still find themselves in the eighth and final MLS playoff spot.

The Fire sits 1 point ahead of Columbus, and both teams have four matches left.

But the Fire has gained only 6 of 15 possible points in September, and not only is Columbus closing, but Colorado also is in the hunt.

"As I said from Day One, I just take one game at a time," Fire coach Juan Carlos Osario said. "Now we have to prepare the team for Chivas and try to win as many games as possible and see where it takes us."

D.C. United (15-6-5) has the most points (50) in MLS this season.

But as the match progressed, when the Fire's Section 8 die-hards shouted, "Who's the best?" more and more of the sellout 20,079 joined in.

The Fire led from the 18th minute, when Cuahtemoc Blanco threaded a ball to Chad Barrett. He took the ball inside defender Bryan Namoff and scored.

"I had made a run, and Blanco had it on his right foot," Barrett said. "The defender closed him down and my defender went. I pulled back and (Blanco) cut it back to his left. There was this huge lane. It came right into my path."

The goal was Barrett's fifth of the season. After scoring twice in April, he scored once in July, once in August and now once in September.

"It's always nice to get back on the score sheet," he said. "It seems like everybody's scoring, which is good."

D.C. United was competing for the first time since Sept. 9.

"We had a long stretch off," said D.C. United coach Tom Soehn. "How you respond from that time off often is that you come out flat, and it showed."