Sun Oct 21 19:03:49 2007

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Thorrington's winner lifts Fire over Galaxy, into playoffs

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Bridgeview, IL (Sports Network) - The Major League Soccer schedule maker couldn't have planned it any better.

The last game of the regular season was between two teams that were still in the hunt for the last playoff spot, while also featuring two of the league's biggest stars - Chicago's Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Los Angeles' David Beckham.

The Galaxy seemed out of the race just three weeks ago, but ran off a seven game unbeaten streak, including five wins to get back into the race. The Fire were also on a seven game unbeaten streak heading into the last game, but only two of those were wins.

But the hopes of L.A. and its fans came to an end Sunday at Toyota Park. The Galaxy, needing a win to advance to the second season, fell to Chicago, 1-0, after a goal by the Fire's John Thorrington three minutes into second-half stoppage time.

It was Thorrington's first goal of the season and just the second of his career.

Blanco played a ball to Calen Carr in the offensive third before Carr found a streaking Thorrington headed toward the goal. L.A. goalkeeper Joe Cannon came out to challenge the chance, but Thorrington, in his third season in MLS, chipped a shot over him and into the goal to seal the visitors' fate.

The Fire just needed a draw to advance to the playoffs, but came out firing in the game - out-shooting the visitors 22-5 for their 10th win of the season. The Galaxy seemed uninspired for much of the contest, even though they needed just one more win to keep from missing the playoffs for the second straight season.

Cannon made 10 saves in the game, many of them of the spectacular variety, to give his team a chance, but as has been the story most of the season, it wasn't enough to push the Galaxy over the top.

Beckham came on in the 58th minute, but made little impact in the game as he was obviously not in game shape.

The loss starts a very interesting offseason for the Galaxy, with question marks all through the organization, from the GM to the coach to the players.

Chicago, on the other hand, will host D.C. United in the first leg of an Eastern Conference Semifinal Series this week.