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Fire searching for offense against New York

Jun 24, 2011 - 9:41 PM Bridgeview, IL (Sports Network) - The good news for the Chicago Fire is that the club has kept four clean sheets in its last five games, yielding just one goal during that time.

But the bad news is that the Fire has only managed to win one of those five games because they have scored two goals combined during the stretch.

Wednesday's 0-0 draw with Real Salt Lake was just the latest frustration for Chicago, which will try to improve its attack play on Sunday at Toyota Park against Red Bull New York.

"It's frustrating," Fire defender Gonzalo Segares told MLSsoccer.com after the match with RSL. "They came and did a good job. They pinched us on the right side and we were not able to move the ball fast enough to come around and come in on the weak side."

"We've just got to be smarter. We've got to mature in the sense of knowing what they're doing and trying to counter that and find different ways in which we can get through that difficulty."

Chicago has had trouble winning games at home this year as well, with the team bringing a streak of five straight draws at home into its match on Sunday.

"Every game at home is important to win," Segares said. "We're not proud of that record, but we've got a young team and we got to keep working."

New York sits tied atop the Eastern Conference standings despite winning one of its last nine games, with much of the blame being placed on the club's inability to defend set pieces.

In a 4-2 defeat at Seattle Sounders FC on Thursday, New York yielded three goals on corner kicks, including two in the opening 12 minutes that put the team in a hole.

"Conceding three goals on corners hurt us. It's ridiculous," said New York head coach Hans Backe. "You can't win games that way. The way we defend against corners absolutely has to stop now."

Striker Thierry Henry will be back in the lineup for New York after serving a one-game suspension, but Gold Cup participants Juan Agudelo, Rafael Marquez, and Tim Ream will still be missing.