Fri Aug 22 00:49:03 2008

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Thorrington, McBride spoil Arena's return to MLS

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Carson, CA (Sports Network) - The Los Angeles Galaxy played their ninth straight Major League Soccer fixture without a victory Thursday night as the Chicago Fire came to town and earned a 1-0 win at The Home Depot Center.

Brian McBride, making his first start for the Fire since signing from the English Premier League, set up John Thorrington in the 65th minute for the only goal of the game as Chicago goalkeeper Jon Busch earned his ninth clean sheet of the season.

Bruce Arena, who was making his debut as the new Galaxy coach three days after being named to the position, was in a tough spot without his two best players - midfielder David Beckham and forward Landon Donovan - because of national team duty.

The Fire were missing a pair of key players for the same reason, with midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco and defender Gonzalo Segares playing for their respective national teams in World Cup qualifiers on Wednesday.

The first half saw few chances for either side as the lack of creativity, especially in the midfield, was evident with key players missing on both sides.

The Galaxy's best chance came in the 23rd minute when Alan Gordan had a wide open header from the edge of the six-yard box that went wide left. The play was made possible by a perfect cross from Galaxy midfielder Chris Klein, who was wearing the captain's armband with the absences of Beckham and Donovan.

The Fire's best first-half chance occurred when Chris Rolfe had a shot from 15-yards on the right side tipped off the left post by Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin.

Chicago finally did get the game's only goal in the second half when McBride flicked a pass to Thorrington in the midfield after being double-teamed. After taking the pass, Thorrington broke toward the Galaxy box where the defense parted enough for him to fire a shot just inside the far post, past the diving Cronin for the 1-0 lead. It was Thorrington's fifth goal of the season.

Chicago (10-6-5) takes over second place in the Eastern Conference table ahead of the weekend fixtures while the Galaxy (6-9-6) drop further back in the West with the loss. The Fire will be back in action on Aug. 31 when they travel to take on Western leading Houston while the Galaxy play at Eastern leading New England the day earlier in their next MLS fixture.