The chip off Fire's shoulder hits Osario in the midsection

Wouldn't you have wanted to be a fly on the wall in the Fire's locker room immediately after Sunday's 5-1 victory against the New York Red Bulls, before the media were allowed in?

There must have been a couple of knowing chuckles, wider-than-usual grins and hard high-fives, as if to say, "Yeah, we got him. We got him good."

Him would be Juan Carlos Osorio, Fire coach from July 2007 to December 2007, Red Bulls coach since December.

Osorio said his family would feel more comfortable in New York with its large Colombian community, but he reportedly also felt dissed that he didn't get a raise after the Fire found new life after July, squeaking into the playoffs and reaching the Eastern Conference championship.

Yeah, there was a chip on the Fire's collective shoulder, and it wasn't potato. And while Fire owner Andrew Hauptman clearly held a grudge, publicly making known his lack of respect for Osorio, the Fire players also didn't appreciate Osorio's coach-and-run move.

The funny thing is, nobody in Chicago seems to be mourning Osorio's loss now. It's the fans in New York thinking they have the wrong coach, criticizing him in chat rooms for over managing while the Fire sits in a three-way tie for first place, 7 points clear of fifth-place New York.

Here's another funny thing. Osorio is supposed to be a defensive genius, and indeed his club had done well defensively through its first seven games, allowing just 6 goals.

The Fire nearly matched that total in one game against the defensive genius, not from sparklingly creative play, though it was good. The Red Bulls defense looked like it couldn't mark my U-9 team, which did have a much better weekend than the New Yorkers.

It's the Fire that has the best defensive record in MLS, with just 6 goals allowed, 4 fewer than the next best team.

So yeah, it's easy to imagine a little private gloating in the Fire's locker room, as well as the owner's box, or wherever Hauptman was watching from.

Round 1 goes to the Fire. Round 2 is Sept. 6 at Toyota Park, with a third match closing the regular season Oct. 23, also in Bridgeview.

Feeling patriotic: Today, the fun starts for the U.S. national team. The Americans meet England in a friendly at London's Wembley Stadium (2 p.m., ESPN Classic), with matches to follow against Spain and Argentina, all serving as warmups to the start of 2010 World Cup qualifying.

Possibly the most interesting question leading up to the match is, who will start up front?

Clint Dempsey figures to be one of the forwards, but who will be the other, assuming coach Bob Bradley goes with two.

Will Bradley want to see if Eddie Johnson is ready to go, even though he didn't see much first-team action recently with Fulham? Same with Freddy Adu, who fell out of favor at Benfica. Will he move Landon Donovan up top? Maybe surprise everyone with former Fire players Josh Wolff or Nate Jaqua?

The coach needs to find some consistent offense.

I'm an optimist: USA 2, England 1.

And I'm guessing Dempsey will be the lone forward.