Fire, Dynamo close out season at Toyota Park

Bridgeview, IL – Bridgeview, IL (SportsNetwork.com) - The Houston Dynamo and Chicago Fire will be playing for pride when the two sides meet at Toyota Park on Friday.

Both sides were previously eliminated from playoff contention, meaning that Friday's regular season finale offers little in the way of substance.

Houston will wave goodbye to longtime head coach Dominic Kinnear, who has agreed to join the San Jose Earthquakes in 2015.

"The unknown is the scary part for us players because you never know what type of coach is going to come in here," said Dynamo talisman Brad Davis. "We've known the style that we've had for nine years. There's a lot of unknowns and what-ifs and things we think about.

"I think this change could be good for us. The organization's at an opportunity to go in a different direction if they want too. Let's look at it as a positive moving forward with the things that are going to happen to this organization. That's what we're trying to do."

Houston is coming off of a 2-1 defeat to the playoff-bound New England Revolution, a second successive defeat for the Dynamo.

"It's been a difficult year, it really has, and I don't think anybody's going to deny that," Davis said. "We hold ourselves to a high standard. Nobody's more disappointed the way things went this year than the guys in that locker room."

Chicago's season has been just as disappointing. The Fire, entering the weekend second from bottom in the Eastern Conference with 33 points, set an MLS record with 18 draws this season.

The club saw its winless streak extended to eight games with a 2-1 defeat to D.C. United last time out.

"It's been good working with this group," Fire head coach Frank Yallop said. "We've struggled to win games, but we've not lost many. That was our 10th loss of the season, it's not great, but it's not terrible.

"The group itself has not given up, each player individually and collectively have been in every game, we've competed, the coaching staff have set them up to do their thing and they've executed, other than giving goals up at the wrong times, giving goals to the opposition and not finishing our chances. But that's football."