Fire focused on victory, playoffs ... not Beckham

David Beckham is coming to Bridgeview on Sunday, but the focus for the Chicago Fire remains where it has been since Juan Carlos Osorio became head coach in July.

It can be summed up in one word: playoffs.

The Fire has surged since Osorio's appointment as head coach on July 9.

The Fire, which has a 2 p.m. match Sunday with the Los Angeles Galaxy at sold-out Toyota Park, has 37 points and sits in seventh place in the MLS eight-team playoff standings.

"That was my message to the players in the first meeting I had with them -- that I was here to win as many matches and to gain as many points as we could," Osorio said. "I felt we were capable of reaching our objective, which is making the playoffs.

"We have given the players enough confidence to go in on Sunday and do that."

But the Fire is not assured of a postseason berth. Los Angeles, Colorado and Columbus all enter the final weekend with a chance to move ahead of the Fire and into the playoffs.

There are a number of scenarios by which the Fire can make the playoffs. One certainty is that a victory puts the team into the postseason. In existence since 1998, the Fire has only missed the playoffs once, in 2004.

"It think it's a very important game," Osorio said. "We are preparing the team to win."

Despite their position in the standings, the Fire and Galaxy are two of the most difficult teams to beat at the moment. The Fire is unbeaten in seven matches. Los Angeles is also unbeaten (5-0-2) in seven straight matches, including Thursday's 1-1 tie with New York.

Los Angeles (9-13-7, 34 points) must win Sunday to have a chance at the postseason, which means the contest could feature end-to-end action from two teams determined to win.

"I would think they would try to take their chances," Osorio said. "They are unbeaten for a long time and they have been doing very well lately."

The Fire is 2-0-5 in its unbeaten streak, and a number of those matches featured squandered leads.

"I do think that we have done enough in every single one of those draws to have won those matches," Osorio said. "Unfortunately, we have tied those games and we haven't been as clinical in front of goal as I would have liked. We're on a good run and the team is still unbeaten."

Many neutral eyes will be focused on Beckham, the international star who moved from Spanish giant Real Madrid in midseason in a transfer that attracted interest not only in the soccer world but also among paparazzi on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

The Englishman has struggled to make an impact with the Galaxy. He arrived nursing an ankle injury and suffered a knee injury in July.

Those injuries are behind the 32-year old, who played the final 22 minutes of Thursday's match.

To Osorio, Beckham's presence on the field becomes a tactical challenge.

"If he plays wide, his ability to put in early crosses is something we have to deal with," Osorio said. "If he plays centrally, his distribution and ability to pass the ball is the key. In both cases, we are ready to take his game on and get the result we want."

The Fire has its own superstar in Cuauhtemoc Blanco. Both Beckham and Blanco were signed this year under a rule that allows each MLS team to sign one player outside the league's restrictive salary cap.

"If I were a fan, I would say it would be a good match," Osorio said of the Beckham-Blanco matchup.

"We don't see it that way. We see Chicago Fire against the L.A. Galaxy. We want to take the necessary steps to go into the match knowing what we want to achieve."

Sunday's match could be the last for two original MLS players. Both the Fire's Chris Armas and the Galaxy's Cobi Jones -- Los Angeles teammates in 1996 for the inaugural MLS campaign -- have announced retirement plans when the season ends.

"I just think that Cobi Jones and Chris Armas have been very influential and have been an important part of this league," Osorio said. "Both of them have been in the MLS since the beginning.

"Unfortunately both of them are coming to the end of their professional careers. Hopefully (Armas) will have more games to go."