Chicago Fire vs. Houston Dynamo, 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs: Dynamo top Fire to book East semifinal spot

Chicago Fire vs. Houston Dynamo: Final score 1-2, Dynamo rise to playoff occasion again

The Dynamo have a knack for turning it up a notch in the playoffs and they did just that on Wednesday night, defeating the Fire to advance to the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Chicago Fire vs. Houston Dynamo: Lineups

The 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs are here! It begins with the Chicago Fire hosting the Houston Dynamo in the Wild Card Round, which means one team moves on to play Sporting Kansas City and the other call it a season.

The big question coming into the match was whether Dominic Kinnear would go with the 4-3-3 he's introduced this year or revert back to his familiar 4-4-2 and it appears as if the latter has won out. That means Boniek Garcia and Brad Davis will have to pinch in and try to exploit the space that the Fire can leave between their two holding midfielders and their attacking four.

Everything is as expected for the Fire. Call Chris Rolfe a forward or an attacking midfielder, it doesn't really matter. They will play as they always have. The only unknown for them is how their inexperienced players at the back hold up. We're abut to find out.

Chicago Fire: Johnson; Anibaba, Friedrich, Berry, Segares; Fernandez, Pause, Pardo, Nyarko; Rolfe, MacDonald

Houston Dynamo: Hall; Sarkodie, Boswell, Taylor, Ashe; Garcia, R. Clark, Moffat, Davis; Bruin, Carr

Chicago Fire vs. Houston Dynamo, 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs: Preview and TV schedule

The 2012 MLS Playoffs get underway with the Houston Dynamo visiting the Chicago Fire.

Dominic Kinnear, set pieces give Houston Dynamo a chance to upset the Chicago Fire

The Chicago Fire are better than the Houston Dynamo, as they've demonstrated whenever the teams have met in 2012. Unfortunately for Frank Klopas, possessing the better side hasn't helped Dominic Kinnear's previous playoff opposition.

Chicago Fire vs. Houston Dynamo, 2012 MLS Cup Playoffs preview: Houston heads on the scary road, but still have Dom

The Fire and Dynamo both struggled down the stretch, but someone has to prevail.