(Sports Network) - Two of Major League Soccer's top teams - the Chicago Fire and the Houston Dynamo - square off in a Friday night fixture at Toyota Park.

The Fire (5-1-6) currently lead the Eastern Conference table, but are coming off their first loss of the season, 0-3, vs. FC Dallas last weekend.

"[The FC Dallas game] wasn't a 'trap' game," Chicago coach Denis Hamlett said. "There's no secret that we had a long week with three games in a week and a cross country trip. It caught up with us a little bit. ... We just weren't sharp, and is that a result of us playing three games? I don't know. But giving up the early mistakes we did it's especially tough to come back from that given what we've been through."

The loss snapped the team's three-game winning streak and 11-game unbeaten run to start the season.

"We've never really made a big deal of our being unbeaten," Fire forward Brian McBride said. "We just wanted to get some points at home and it didn't happen."

The Dynamo (5-2-3) are second in the West, trailing league leaders Chivas USA by six points, but have won five of their last six league matches while going 5-0-2 in their last seven. They are coming off a dominating 3-0 win over Toronto FC and will look to build on that fixture.

"I'm really happy; everyone played well," Houston coach Dominic Kinnear said. "It was nice to see Kei [Kamara] keep his scoring going and Brad [Davis] staying bold. Stuart [Holden] was excellent with Ricardo [Clark]. It's also nice to see Dominic [Oduro] get some time with us and get some minutes with the team. All in all really, really pleased with the guys and their hard work. Their good play is paying dividends."

Both teams will be without a number of regulars on Friday because of international duty. The Fire will be missing attacker Cuauhtemoc Blanco and defenders Bakary Soumare and Gonzalo Segares, while the Dynamo will be without forward Brian Ching and midfielder Ricardo Clark.

On top of those absences, the Fire will be without defender Daniel Woolard, while defender Wilman Conde is doubtful, both with injuries.

Houston will be without defender Eddie Robinson, while midfielder Brian Mullan is questionable, with their own injuries.



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