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Fire-Earthquakes Preview

Sep 28, 2010 - 8:24 PM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Chicago (6-10-8) at San Jose (11-7-6), 11:00 p.m. EDT

San Jose Earthquakes goalkeeper Jon Busch has been red-hot, and he'll have more than a little extra motivation to continue his dominant play in his next game.

Busch will face the team that released him earlier this year for the first time when the Earthquakes host the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night.

San Jose (11-7-6) appears headed for the playoffs, while it's likely Chicago (6-10-8) will miss out for the first time since 2004. One of the reasons for the Earthquakes' surge is Busch, who has a 0.92 goals-against average in 12 matches.

Busch, the MLS goalkeeper of the year in 2008, started every game the last two years for the Fire before being released the week before the 2010 opener in a stunning move. He was a fan favorite in Chicago.

While Joe Cannon started in San Jose's 2-1 victory at Chicago on April 10, Busch will get the nod this time. The game comes two weeks after he said of Fire technical director Frank Klopas and first-year coach Carlos de los Cobos: "At the end of the day, they know they made a mistake."

Busch told MLSsoccer.com that he has "no ill will" toward his former team, but that may not be the case given what was said in the past.

"It's just another game and for us," Busch said. "If we get our three points, we're one step closer to the playoffs, and that's all we're concerned about. There's no old grudges."

Chicago released Busch in favor of Andrew Dykstra, who had never played an MLS game and has since lost his job. Busch was originally backing up Cannon with San Jose, but has excelled in starting the last six games with Cannon out with a broken ankle.

Busch may not recognize many of the players on his old team, which has lost three straight 1-0 games and is 0-5-2 in its last seven MLS matches.

De los Cobos indicated that rookie defenders Steven Kinney and Kwame Watson-Siriboe will start Wednesday while designated player Nery Castillo will not make the trip due to a hamstring injury. Defender Steven Kinney is expected to return from a left quad injury.

Freddie Ljungberg, Gonzalo Segares and Bratislav Ristic missed Monday's practice, and their status is uncertain. Ljungberg and Ristic played the entire match in a home loss to Seattle on Saturday.

The Earthquakes improved to 3-0-1 this month with Saturday's 3-2 victory at Toronto FC behind Chris Wondolowski's hat trick. Wondolowski has 12 goals to put him a three-way tie for third place in MLS.

"He does everything that's asked of him and more, whether or not he's been playing up front, out wide, in the middle," defender Chris Leitch said. "He's been playing everywhere, doesn't say anything about it, puts his head down and accomplishes his goal, game-in and game-out."