The Chicago Fire returned to training on Wednesday morning after two days rest following the team’s 1-0 defeat in New England over the weekend. During a conference call with local media this afternoon, head coach Veljko Paunovic spoke on the importance of Sunday’s visit from Eastern Conference rival New York Red Bulls.
“After two days off, we’re looking ahead to the next game against one of the best teams in the league in my opinion,” Paunovic said. “I would say performance-wise (they are) the best team because the style they play is fantastic. I think they have very good players. I think it’s going to be tough. They’re in a good mood after winning the derby at home against New York City FC…so it’s going to be tough for us.”
The Red Bulls bossed their crosstown rivals 4-1 over the weekend, but remain one spot behind them in second place in the Eastern Conference standings. As the league shifts from its brief All-Star break into the second half of the season, Paunovic recognizes the urgency that lies in the challenge that New York presents.
TICKETS: Chicago Fire vs. New York Red Bulls
“It’s a great challenge for us,” he said. “It’s a game that we are all looking for. They are a fantastic team and we look forward to learning a lot. We have to push ourselves further if we want to win the game, and we do. We really want to win this game because it’s important for us.”
Toyota Park has become something of a fortress for the Fire during the summer months. Paunovic’s men are enjoying an undefeated run of 5-0-3 at home in all competitions that dates back to mid-April. That mark is one his team will certainly look to extend come Sunday evening.
“It’s important to stay strong at home and it’s important for our fans to see that we can compete against one of the best teams in the league here at our field with all our fans,” he said. “We expect a great atmosphere. We expect that the fans are going to be even better than in the last games, and we appreciate all our fans that have been through all this the last couple of months where everything was tough for us, and they were supporting us.”
While home matches have been a point of pride early into Paunovic’s Chicago tenure, his side is coming off yet another disappointing result on the road. As the team resumed training this weekend in advance of another important Eastern Conference clash on the weekend, they’ve used that result to fuel their preparation for the challenge ahead.
“Obviously we’re disappointed with the way that game finished in New England, so we had some extra motivation this week to continue to drive on and try to get a win this weekend against New York,” midfielder Michael Stephens said. “We have a tough game. New York has been getting results. It’s going to be a difficult game, but I think that we have a good idea of what we want to do as far as a game plan that we think we can be successful with.”
As the team transitions into the second half the season, Paunovic notes that his team will continue to build on all of its past experiences to develop into the team that he envisions.
“We finally had that feeling that we can win on the road, and we’ve just got to build and improve on that. All these things are very positive for me. I think those are very important for us to know that we have all our guys healthy and we will manage the loads this week in preparation in order to be very, very competitive on Sunday against New York Red Bulls.”
