(Sports Network) - When the Chicago Fire travel to take on the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium on Sunday afternoon, both teams say it's just another Major League Soccer fixture. "The Chicago match is like any other important match and I am disappointed that I won't be with my team on the sideline when we face them," New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio said after being ejected from his team's last MLS fixture.

"It's just another game on our calendar," Chicago coach Denis Hamlett said in the USA Today. "We know it's going to be a competitive game. It's no different than New England and D.C. We have good rivalries with those teams, and I'd put New York in that boat, too."

But there is a little more to it than that. Osorio led Chicago to the Eastern Conference final last season before bolting for New York in the offseason. Add Fire defender Wilman Conde's bitter dispute with management after he requested a trade to New York to follow Osorio, and the back-and forth battle over Paraguayan defender/midfielder Lider Marmol between the teams - he eventually signed with Chicago, which had his rights, after training with the Red Bulls in the hopes of playing for Osorio - and the stakes are a little higher.

On top of all that, it is a very important game for both sides in the standings. Chicago is coming off just its second loss of the season and sits second in the Eastern table while New York is in fifth with a game in hand on all the teams in front of it.

Chicago (5-2-1) let up a late goal to fall 2-1 in its last league fixture at home to Houston, which had won just one previous game all year.

"The first half we took it to them and we created some good chances and didn't finish," Hamlett said. "The second half we stopped playing, stopped moving. It was an even game until the end."

New York (3-1-3), on the other hand, scored a late goal in its last league fixture to earn a 1-1 draw at home with the Kansas City Wizards.

"I think that was a great response in the second half," Osorio said. "In the first half, we couldn't get a hold of the game. It was however, a game that [Kansas City] only one chance all game and it was from a set play that we conceded. I am very disappointed with that considering the height and the time that we dedicated to defensive plays during the training. But, give credit to the boys. They responded very well in the second half."

With the draw, the Red Bulls are on a five game unbeaten streak, although only two of those are wins.

"This is five games unbeaten and the guys get more confidence every game and I think for me personally, I will be very frustrated because I think we probably deserve a little bit more," Osorio said. "If I am realistic, they only created chances from set plays and that's something that we have to work on and keep improving. As far as open play, I think it was another solid performance from our back four, back five. So, I am glad for the point for the guys."

On top of all the other subplots, Sunday's game features two of the league's most well known stars in Chicago's Mexican midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco and New York's Colombian veteran striker Juan Pablo Angel.

Angel played down the importance of Blanco to the Fire, however.

"To be honest, I don't look at Blanco as an individual," he said. "I think he has the ability to perform well when the team does it for him to. He has the ability, obviously, to change things around because he is a quality player, but it is not just about Cuauhtemoc Blanco. I think Chicago is playing well because they are solid and they are giving him the freedom to play well. I am not worried just about him, but the whole team. He has a particular style that has been doing the job for him over the years."



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