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Fire, Crew fight for playoff positioning

Fri 10th, October 2008

Bridgeview, IL (Sports Network) - Two of the top three teams in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference table square off with positioning in the upcoming playoffs on the line when the Chicago Fire host the Columbus Crew at Toyota Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Crew (16-6-5) have the Supporters' Shield, given to the top team in the regular season, on the line. With a win the team clinches it. A tie and a tie or loss by Houston later in the day and the Crew earn the second Supporters' Shield in club history.

"The Supporters' Shield is arguably the hardest thing in this league to win," Crew goalkeeper Will Hesmer said. "The MLS Cup is that you get hot for four games. The Supporters' Shield is a testament of what you've done over a 30- game season. If you look at most leagues, how you judge the champion is their success over the course of a long season. It's something we're definitely proud of. Also with it hopefully comes qualifying for some big tournaments next year and hopefully put the Crew on a bigger stage in the region and the world."

The Fire (12-9-6) need a point to book their spot in the upcoming playoffs with three games to go.

Chicago is coming off a 1-1 draw at Kansas City last week and will be looking to get back in the win column at home this week.

"We stuck to our game plan. We had some good chances on the counter, but we didn't finish them," Fire coach Denis Hamlett said. "I'm disappointed because we felt we could have got three points, but at the same time we came here with the mindset to leave with some points and we did that."

The Crew are coming off a 1-0 win vs. Los Angeles, the team's seventh victory in the last eight.

"For them it was a must-win. They have to do something. For us, with the win [on Sept. 27], maybe the edge is off a little bit," Crew coach Sigi Schmid said of the win last week. "I still thought the guys did a great job of defending and shutting most everything down. They really didn't get very many chances. Obviously, to get to the playoffs you've got to win games like that. You've got to grind it out and we did that."

Chicago will be without Gonzalo Segares and Marco Pappa while the Crew will be without Frankie Hejduk and Alejandro Moreno on Sunday, all because of international duty.

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