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FOXBORO - The Red Sox did it. The Patriots have done it. The Celtics appearing to be doing it. And the New England Revolution claimed their stake for Boston being the City of Champions in the U.S. of A.

"You're just looking for a couple of inches here and there," rejoiced Taylor Twellman, whose spectacular bicycle kick in the 38th minute of play gave the Revolution a 1-0 victory over the Chicago Fire for New England's third straight MLS Eastern Conference championship.

New England, with four Eastern Conference titles over the past six seasons, is heading to its third straight MLS Cup championship match (Nov. 18 in Washington, D.C.).

Moreover, the Revolution have yet to surrender a goal through 270 minutes of three playoff matches thus far, blanking a Chicago Fire which launched 18 shots, 11 on goal and amassed seven corner kicks.

But it was not until the three minutes of "stoppage time" at the end of regulation time that the Fire generated its best chances to score - a header by Calen Carr and a point-blank shot by Wilman Conde. "I had a coach tell me once that when you get into the post-season, games are fun, but that's when the men show up," related New England goalkeeper Matt Reis, who had 10 regular season "clean sheets" and recorded his sixth career playoff shutout.

New England extended its unbeaten streak in playoff matches at home to 13 (9-0-4) and did so on the strength of Twellman's magnificently crafted goal - three of his eight career playoff games now occurring against the Fire.

"To score a goal like that, at this stage is really impressive," understated Revolution captain and midfielder Steve Ralston of Twellman's feat, perhaps, the greatest goal ever scored in Foxboro - much to the delight of the boisterous, but small soccer savvy crowd of 10,317.

Wells Thompson kicked a ball deep into the penalty box area that was flicked into the air by a Chicago defender. Twellman, with his back to Fire goalkeeper Matt Pickens, inched between Dasan Robinson and Logan Pause for some space and on the way down to the turf, flicked his foot into the air.

"The ball popped right there," said Twellman of the chance, one of his seven shots in the match. "It was just instinct. It was the only way that I could get a shot off."

Twellman had just missed a header - off of a Khano Smith cross in the 17th minute - that Pickens was just able to punch over the bar. New England was close on numerous chances (18 shots, but only six on goal - with three corner kicks), but unable to "ease the pressure off of the defense," said Twellman.

New England's three-man backline of Michael Parkhurst, Avery John and Jay Heaps gave Reis the opportunity for good looks at any balls that did come through, while Revolution midfielders Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Larentowicz shadowed Chicago's sparkplug, 34-year old Mexican Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who registered just two shots.

"We wanted to shut down the midfield and limit their space," said Joseph of not allowing Chicago to build a sustained attack. "Me and Jeff did a good job on him, it was just win the ball."

Blanco took three of Chicago's four first half corner kicks, had a direct kick taken in by Reis in the 33rd minute and his best drive came in the 55th minute, a left-footed drive that the Revolution net minder again cleanly handled.

"It was nothing really sneaky," said Larentowicz of the defensive assignment. "We stressed a lot of communication. The type of game that they play, they just wanted to counter-attack and go after our mistakes." Those were few and far between.

"It's always a physical battle from start to finish against Chicago," said New England coach Steve Nicol. "Any chances they had were scrappy. Surprisingly they put a lot of high balls in the box early. Again a clean sheet, we're delighted with that.

"You saw a team that was solid when it had to be."

CORNER KICKS

In the 10 previous playoff matches between Chicago and New England, the home team has won five times … The Revolution now have a 19-7 edge in goals for-against in playoff action in Foxboro … New England took 28 points at home during 15 regular season matches at home this season (8-3-4) having scored 32 goals …Twellman was ranked No. 1 in MLS in shots on goal (55) during the regular season and was second only to Blanco with overall shots (90) … Twellman had five regular season match-winning goals and now has both match-winning goals thus far in the playoffs … Nicol made two tactical late-match substitutions, taking off Wells Thompson for James Riley's defensive presence to create a four-man backline in the 82nd minute, then took off Patrick Noonan (four shots) for some fresh legs in rookie Adam Cristman … "They won everything in the air, every tackle," Ralston heaped praise on the New England defense, which did not allow a breakaway bid or breakdown.