You have heard plenty of talk this week about Sunday’s match between the Chicago Fire and the New York Red Bulls being just another game.
Don’t believe it because it’s far more than that.
Sunday’s match will the first between feuding clubs, a coach and the team he spurned, an owner and the club that took his coach. For fans, players and coaches, the Fire-Red Bulls match will be worth much more than the three points that will go to the winner, if there is a winner.
So how did this rivalry get so heated? It’s origins have little to do with on-field actions, but rather off-field conflicts through the years.
You could go all the way back to the chilly days of November of 2002, when the New York/New Jersey MetroStars were trying to determine who would replace fired head coach Octavio Zambrano. MetroStars president Nick Sakiewicz was firmly leaning toward a former assistant coach who had gone to England to ply his trade just a year earlier. That man was Juan Carlos Osorio.
Osorio probably would have been hired by the Metros back then, and could had a chance to live his dream of being a head coach in New York five years sooner, if not for the developments that followed. Chicago Fire head coach Bob Bradley was synonymous with the Fire, having been the only head coach the club had ever known. The problem was he was a New Jersey boy, and was feeling some pressure to move his family back home.
Once Bradley let it be known that he wanted the MetroStars job, there was no stopping it from happening. AEG, which owned both the Fire and MetroStars at the time, made it happen. Fire fans were left angry at the coach they loved for so long, and bitter at the club that took him away. As for Osorio, he would have to wait a while longer to arrive in MLS.
Fast-forward to the fall of 2007. Osorio was in the midst of helping the Fire to an impressive turnaround from last place in the East to the Eastern Conference final. He was expected to help rebuild the Fire into the type of consistent title contender Bradley once built the Fire into, but that chance never came. The Red Bulls parted ways with head coach Bruce Arena, opening up the one MLS job Osorio wanted above all others. He left the Fire, angering fans who couldn’t believe their club had lost yet another head coach to a club that has had nowhere near the success the Chicago Fire has had.
What has followed since has only served to stoke the flames. From Chicago owner Andrew Hauptman privately insisting that MLS investigate tampering charges (an insistence that led to an investigatin by the league), to Chicago defender Wilman Conde publicly expressing his desire to leave the Fire and reunite with Osorio, to the tug-of-war over Paraguayan midfielder Lider Marmol, who wanted to play for Osorio and the Red Bulls before signing with the Fire, which had his rights, there has been plenty of ammunition for the fans of both teams to stir up an ever-growing hatred.
It isn’t just the fans either. Despite what you have heard in interviews, both teams WANT this game. Osorio has had this match circled on his calendar for months. Chicago’s players and staff have also been looking forward to it, eager to show the league and their former coach that they are doing just fine without him. Throw in Hauptman’s disdain for his former coach, and it wouldn’t be surprising if he is offering up a reward for whoever scores the game-winning goal against Osorio’s Red Bulls.
So what should we expect from Sunday’s game? A physical battle with plenty of cards and maybe even a shoving match or two. There will be plenty of quality on-field match-ups to drool over (Angel and Altidore vs. the Chicago defense, Cuauhtemoc Blanco vs. Claudio Reyna, Dane Richards vs. Gonzalo Segares), but the sub-plots will be just as tantalizing.
So here’s the question for Red Bulls and Fire fans. Does this match mean more to you than most? Do you absolutely hate the other team? Why do you hate the Red Bulls/Fire? Share your thoughts on the rivalry and the importance of Sunday’s match below.
I guess the above answers your question Ives. As if the dozens of other similar posts didn’t answer it.
I would love for it to be exciting and dramatic but I think chippy and sloppy is more likely.
I don’t see this being any more exciting than a 1-1 game.
I grew up in New York (gone since 1994) and now call Chicago home both great cities. All this is just the wonderful outlet that sports provides us all.
Oh yeah, the Red Bulls S*CK!! GO FIRE!!!!!!
All I have to say is – how many trophies have the New York franchise brought home? Hmmm… I can withstand your insults because you’re just jealous… After all, our youth squads here in Colorado garner more support than RBNY fans bring to home games.
Oh wait – and how many coaches have RBNY had? Go ahead, whip it out and measure… because in every single aspect you lose. Go ahead and make your insults – you know its true.
Chris- i wasnt comparing your teams…. im refering to NY fans are starting to remind me of LA fans… in the sense that LA fans hold their team and city up to rediculous standards despite the fact that noone else sees it that way…. couldve been worse.. couldve compared you to DCU fans O.o
its quite clear that NY has more talent then LA, but goldenballs with landycakes seem to be performing some form of magic… but with them both being gone during the up coming friendlies, i wonder how well they’ll do??
just recalling tho (as i know two others have pointed out) but JCO never redeemed us from last place… if i recall correctly we were almost always above CLB and always above TFC last season… only a couple games off of KC and NY last season as well for the bulk despite our crap streak…
“Osorio was in the midst of helping the Fire to an impressive turnaround from last place in the East to the Eastern Conference final.”
As far as well can tell he had nothing to with it. Maybe at the time, but from a distance….not so much. We do know that he wouldn’t see any kind of reason regarding playing Wanchope.
Yeah that is the worst chant of all time, wow.
I agree that it is unlikely that many people in the less than capacity crowd will even be aware that there is a feud. Hate is a strong word. This is not the Milan derby.
Kudos to anotherbodymurdered though, who has officially proven that is possible to come up with a chant that is the antithesis of clever.
“Osorio was in the midst of helping the Fire to an impressive turnaround from last place in the East to the Eastern Conference final.”
Nope, never last place last year. Wrong.
The Fire haven’t been any fun to watch since the days of Lubos Kubik and Peter Nowak. As for this Sunday, zzzzzzzzzzzzz.
adapted prose from a fire fan who can’t/won’t post here
ahem
Oh, Dane-us Richards has a cold sore,
Has a cold sore,
Has a COLD SORE!
Now Juan-Pablo An-gel has a cold sore,
Has a cold sore,
Has a COLD SORE!
Now Clau-dia Reyna has a cold sore,
Has a cold sore,
Has a COLD SORE!
Now Ju-das Osorio has a cold sore,
Has a cold sore,
Has a COLD SORE!
Now Jooozy Altidor has a cold sore,
Has a cold sore,
Has a COLD SORE!
And Jonnn Conway has a cold sore,
From suck-ing off his mom!
It’s funny to me all the mention of Fire fans crying right before the the New Yorkers go on to moan about us holding “their” player hostage. Take a look in the mirror.
As for the rivalry between the two cities, it mostly historic. Bulls-Knicks in the 90s was good and really the only sports rivalry. Other than that there really hasn’t been anything. My first post was more about why Chicagoans get easily riled up by New Yorkers (to sum it up they are loud obnoxious A-holes that believe they are entitled to, well anything they want) than any real sports rivalry. For the Fire, NE and DC are more fierce rivals, cause those teams have been historically strong. Maybe if the Red Bulls pull together some cup runs than this can turn into a rivalry, until then it’s just another opportunity to get points.
“RBNJ fans are starting to remind me of the vast majority of LA fans… always hyping their team/city… the only difference is LA actually have hardware..” –brett
Wow thats just wrong were not by any stretch MLS’s favorite team and we def have way more talent. Unless you think that giant tool Golden Balls is actually good. I mean come on rivalry or not comparing us to LA is just low.
I can’t wait to see the NYRBs do their best FLUGTAG directly onto their green spray-painted cement floor.
Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey FIRE GO!
You’re right, I’m just looking for an exciting game Sunday. Who watching Team America today?
Kpugs,
I’m a season ticket holder.
The game will be on Telefuture, on a Sunday afternoon, and Blanco has been here before. But, I hope you are right and the number is much higher.
As a Fire fan I’m very much looking forward to the game. However, until New York beats us in a meaningful game, New England is still the top rivalry.
What I love about this is what I also love about the rivalry between the cities of Chicago and New York.
Chicago will insist that they have a better city, and will always win the rivalry.
New Yorkers will always say, “Wait – we’re in a rivalry with Chicago?”
Frank the Frowner – see my post above for Pat….
that topic is pointless
David Berger- we arent trying for your attention… we just dislike your organization…
Pat the Red Bulls Fan- next time just ignore that comment… lets try to avoid the “where you play” arguement as its pointless…
Yes we play in Jersey. And you play in Bridgeview wtf is your point?
Mighty- if the fire fans (as well with the rest of the team’s fans) left this blog to be nothing more then a RBNJ fan blog, then it would be quite the boring blog….
im sure Ives loves the participation by fire fans as its more people visiting his site…
anyhow, back to my point… players like Marmol and Conde couldnt care less about NY/NJ, they only want to play for JCO… if JCO were to go to another city then they’d be wanting to play for them instead.. stop hyping your city and your team to being some fantastic destination for player and/or coaches… especially since you are running on an average life expectancy for coaches of a season to a season and a half….
Call yourselves the Bridgeview Fire. If you want to be accurate.
I hate Chicago but we have closer rivals. I hate New England and D.C. more. When Philly joins that will be another closer rival.
Chicago can try to make us their #1 rival but it isn’t going to happen.
You guys dont represent NY, you guys play in Jersey, and most of your fans are from there.
@MIGHTY
I do believe Ives asked “So here’s the question for Red Bulls and Fire fans.”
I didn’t realize this was a Red Bull only blog. Sorry Ives us Fire fans will leave now…
Nice Job Ives of starting the Fire…. Between The bulls and the Fire… Lets Go Red Bulls!!!!
Why you so mad Chicago… is not our fault everyone wants to be in the Big city… of New York!!!
Capital of the world!
P.S. This is a Red Bull Blog… So fire find your own place to cry!
Hate is way to strong a word. Do I want the Fire to lose 8-0, reminisent of Besiktas/Liverpool? Yes, but I see a 2-2 draw, with yellow’s a plenty.
Kpugs,
I come to every game with a group about the same size, if not bigger. We move around the stadium so we can sit close to the goal that RBNY are attacking. In the first half we usually sit in 137 and try to cheer/sing along somewhat with ESC.
For the 2nd half we move over to 127 and while we’re close to the attacking goal, the atmosphere over there is TERRIBLE. People seem to not care at all about the game. They just sit and stare into space…so I know your pain.
For this weekend, unfortunately many of our numbers won’t be present because they are on vacation in Las Vegas. Maybe we could join forces. If you come to section 137 and move down to the first 5 rows or so, you’ll see us. We’ll be standing, holding scarves above our heads and being generally crazy. The people down there in 137 are very cool and are used to us by now, haha.
i’ll be laughing when Barrett has another stand out performance like the TP home opener…. i know its a LONG shot but hopefully my shot wont be to far wide 😀
Kpugs I appreciate the offer and completely understand how 70+ people would be hard to accommodate. Don’t worry I know what you mean about long drives home after a loss but luckily for me I will be flying home after a win 🙂
i forgot another thing i dislike about RBNJ is the LARGE number of arrogant fans they seem to have(not all but at least the vocal fans)… but i cant complain, they are only adding fuel to the fire 😛
RBNJ fans are starting to remind me of the vast majority of LA fans… always hyping their team/city… the only difference is LA actually have hardware..
Rob C, please come to section 133 and tell that to my neighbors. There are usually 8-10 of us there and it’s effing impossible to get anyone to make any noise, much less stand up.
I can’t stand Chicago and this will be a hell of a match. I really hope the Sunday 3pm start time doesn’t deter TOO many people from coming to the stadium. At least SOME atmosphere would make this match very memorable. I’m sure ESC will provide what they can, but we need noise all around the stadium!
I hope JPA and Jozy really get on the same page this week and bust through this supposedly rock-solid Chicago defense. It would be uber-sweet to light this team up like we did last season 3-0.
Hahahaha, I forgot all about Chad Barrett. I’m gonna light him up.
Chow…that’s a long drive home after a loss. Trust me, I made the opposite one coming back from USA vs. England.
If you weren’t bringing 70 people I’d ask you to swing by our tailgate for some friendly smack talk…but I definitely won’t have enough food and beer for 70 my friend.
NYRB defense has looked pretty solid so far. Barrett and Rolfe are a joke. They will both be a non-factor. Chicago is going to need Blanco to try to work some magic and hope he can beat Conway from long distance. However that won’t happen because Blanco will spend the entire time on the turf crying for calls like he did last year in NY.
It’s definitely more than just a game, but not because of this so-called “feud.” The feud is just Fire fans crying. It is not reciprocal. They actually benefitted in all of the feud-related happenings, and they cry anyway.
The reason this is more than just a game is because of the Mexican fans that are going to show up. They hate us. HATE. We found out the hard way last year. And it’s support your troops day. Not sure about the rest of the fans but my particular group are going to be decked out USA-style to boot.
VictorM, I think you’re underestimating the attendance. Were you at the Fire game last year or are you a stay at home fan? That’s not even a criticism, but you obviously forgot about Blanco. Mexican fans are going to show, big time.
The problem is they waited too long for this matchup and now JCO isn’t even on the field coaching……another boring MLS match.
The EURO championship and WC qualifying cannot get here fast enough.
Prediction: the way the refs have been this year in MLS I expect a bad PK call close to the end and the Energy Drinks win 1-0
I can see it now. They’ll put Conde and Marmol on the field, and they’ll rip off their Shitcago shirts to unveil Red Bulls jersey’s underneath. Haha.
Osorio beating up on the Fire from the press box will be great as well.
Sassano is going to keep Blanco screaming at the ref out of frustration all night.
I cant wait.
Let’s see… there will be what… 12 to 15 thousand people there and of those, maybe 100 or 200 give a rat’s butt about this feud, and maybe another few hundred more even know about it (I follow the league closely and had forgotten already that Bradley came from Chicago).
It would be nice if these were all reasons to fire up a solid base to come to the game, but sadly, that’s not so.
Besides, Chicago will always, always, always, in every way, and in everything be second to New York, at best. 😉
Let’s see… there will be what… 12 to 15 thousand people there and of those, maybe 100 or 200 give a rats ass about this feud, and maybe another few hundred more even know about it (I follow the league closely and had forgotten already that Bradley came from Chicago).
It would be nice if these were all reasons to fire up a solid base to come to the game, but sadly, that’s not so.
Besides, Chicago will always, always, always, in every way, and in everything be second to New York, at best. 😉
Yeah it means a little bit more than any other game we’ve played this season. There is a healthy animosity between the two clubs’ fans and management that gives it a little extra spice.
Since when did all these fire fans take over our blog?
The bottom line is NO ONE wants to coach in your s–t city. No one wants to play there either but you force them too anyway.
Don’t worry about the game though. They’ve got nothing on us.
I think it’d be funny if they put Conde and Marmol on the field and they started playing on our side. It’d be classic.
I dislike Osorio more than I dislike the Red Bulls, a historically mediocre franchise.
I save my team hate for New England, Dallas & Columbus.
The MetroCows are going down!
Heeeeey Fire Go!
Segares is going to shut down whomever is on his side… FACT!
Clearly it’s a huge rivalry between the front offices and coaching staffs of the two teams, and between the hard core supporters. Those folks all can’t stand each other I’m sure.
But is it really so much of a rivalry between the players, or between sets of less-than-hard-core fans?
Not saying it isn’t. Just asking.
The NY-Chi rivalry has been a long standing one. Something about New Yorkers (their arrogance and perceived self-importance) really rubs Chicagoans the wrong way. We mid-westerners have a very different attitude (more relaxed and less in everyone’s face) when it comes to relating to other people and this underlying humility clashes with New Yorker’s often very vocal and abrasive assertion that they are the be all and end all. This megalomania more than anything is why NYC and Chicago won’t ever get along in any sport.
Just to make sure I have this right – Osorio won’t be allowed on the bench because of a suspension, right?
I don’t think that this game will be drastically more exciting or whatever. I just think that beating Blanco on Telefutura would be great for the NY Red Bulls.
I hate the Pink Cows and am making my journey along with 70+ close friends to make sure you hear about it! Go Fire!