Photos by USA TODAY Sports

By FRANCO PANIZO

PURCHASE, N.Y. — Longtime friends Sacha Kljestan and Jason Hernandez had dinner together on Thursday night. The two tried their best to avoid talking about the hot topic of going up against one another in MLS’s first New York derby on Sunday, but the competitive juices got the better of them.

Kljestan took the first dig, bringing up the fact that he scored on Hernandez in one of the midfielder’s last games for Chivas USA.

“I was trying to rub that in his face a little bit,” said Kljestan.

Hernandez laughed when asked about that goal on Saturday, making it clear Kljestan didn’t beat him for the finish.

“If he was a striker, I’d say he scored on me,” Hernandez told SBI. “But he’s a midfielder shooting from 35 (yards) out. I couldn’t do much about it.”

The playful banter will get a little more serious on Sunday, as Kljestan’s New York Red Bulls host Hernandez and expansion club New York City FC in one of the most anticipated matches of the 2015 MLS season.

The game will reunite the two former college and Chivas USA teammates on the field, and be played in front of a sold-out crowd at Red Bull Arena, located just seven miles away from the Seton Hall campus where their friendship was first forged, and where they first shared dreams of becoming professional soccer players more than a decade ago.

Kljestan, 29, is a shoo-in to be included in the Red Bulls’ lineup, but the 31-year-old Hernandez is more of a question mark. A calf strain has taken Hernandez out of NYCFC’s lineup in recent weeks, but the veteran may be able to slot back into his starting centerback spot after making progress in recent days.

If the two do face off, they will do so in front of friends, family and former colleagues. The match will be special not only because Kljestan and Hernandez will share the field for the first time since 2010, but also because it will serve as a reminder of how far they each have come.

Teammates and roommates at Seton Hall during the 2003 and 2004 seasons, Hernandez and Kljestan formed a strong bond in part because of their similar drives and commitments to the game. Hernandez left for MLS first, scooped up in 2005 by the New York/New Jersey MetroStars – the franchise that eventually became the Red Bulls – before linking up with Kljestan again a year later via a draft-day deal that landed both at Chivas USA.

“It was the wildest thing, to be honest with you,” said Hernandez, a New York a native. “I was watching the draft obviously because my roommate, my buddy is getting drafted and they announced that the pick was being traded and they selected Sacha and a player to be named later. I was like, ‘Oh, that’s interesting.’ Then my phone rings, and I figure out I’m that player to be named later.

“It was really surreal and I couldn’t have asked for it to happen a different way because it really worked out for the best. Getting to be out there, get close to him and his family, all in all it was a good experience and just wild stuff. You can’t write this stuff.”

The years spent as teammates at Chivas USA only served to strengthen then friendship even more, as evidenced by the fact the were groomsmen in each others weddings.

Instead of tuxedos, Hernandez and Kljestan will be sporting clashing colors on Sunday in a match both New York teams are eager to win. Both the Red Bulls and NYCFC have failed to win in recent weeks, and the two teams’ passionate fan bases are clamoring to start what could be a major rivalry with three points.

The match will mark the first chapter in the history of the Red Bulls vs. NYCFC, and the latest of many in the friendship Hernandez and Kljestan share.

“We kind of went to a fork in the road and split ways,” said Hernandez. “To come back kind of where a lot of it started for us – these aspirations and idea that we can be professionals one day – and play in front of a lot of the same people that helped us get here is a tremendous feeling.

“I think to be a part of the history of what goes into that, I hold in high regard. I’m sure he does, too, and we’re looking to represent well.”

Not only by playing well for their respective clubs, but also by beating one another.

“We’re happy that we live close to each other,” said Kljestan. “We can see each other a lot more often now, but we’re definitely big rivals on Sunday.”

“We’re very close,” Hernandez said. “But not (Sunday).”