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Stretch run heats up with Fire traveling to Dallas

Frisco, TX (Sports Network) - Both the Chicago Fire and FC Dallas will be battling for playoff positioning when they meet in Primetime at Pizza Hut Park Thursday night.

The home Hoops are much more secure, needing only a win over the Fire, a Colorado loss to Real Salt Lake and a Toronto win or draw with Columbus to clinch their spot in the 2007 MLS Cup tourney this weekend.

The Fire will probably have to wait until the final weekend of the season to know for sure if they have a spot booked for the postseason, although they are in control of their own destiny. Chicago currently is in the eighth and final playoff position by one point over the Rapids and two over the Crew, with a game in hand on both teams.

Despite their shaky position in the playoff standings, the Fire have been the hotter team as of late, mainly because of the play of Cuauhtemoc Blanco. The Mexican international has led the club to 4-2-2 record in their last eight since he joined the squad, including a 2-2 draw with Red Bull New York in their last contest. That result was considered a positive because the team was forced to play a man down because of a red card in the second half to defender Wilman Conde, who will miss Thursday's match.

"In general, I think the players showed great character and mental strength to play with one man down and manage to come back to 2-2," Chicago coach Juan Carlos Osorio said after the tie with New York. "I think there was some general good play, especially with Chris [Rolfe] and Cuauhtemoc [Blanco] in the middle. I think we kept the ball better and I'm pleased. Obviously we needed to win, but I will take that point and hopefully we'll keep improving and next game we will be more clinical in our final third."

Dallas is coming off a 4-2 loss at New England and has lost three of its last four.

"In the first half we played better and we don't know what happened in the second half," said Hoops forward Carlos Ruiz, who scored tow goals in the game. "Maybe we didn't have control of the ball in the middle of the field. Every time New England went forward they created chances to score and they scored against us because we made a lot of mistakes."

Thursday's fixture will see a lot of skill on both sides, particularly in the middle of the field. The Fire feature Blanco, Chris Rolfe and Paulo Wanchope up the middle while Dallas features Denilson, Juan Toja and Carlos Ruiz in that area.

Both teams have busy week, with the Fire hosting league-leaders D.C. United on Sunday afternoon while Dallas travels to Los Angeles for a match with the Galaxy later that night.

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