Thorrington's late winner propels Fire over TFC

Posted: Sat Jul 12 11:10 PM

Bridgeview, IL (Sports Network) - With time running out late in stoppage time in a 1-1 tie with Toronto FC, the Chicago Fire's John Thorrington scored his fourth goal of the season to give his team its first Major League Soccer victory since May 25.

The 2-1 win also propelled the home Fire (7-5-3) to third in the Eastern Conference table while Toronto (6-6-3) dropped to fifth with the loss.

Fire forward Chris Rolfe and TFC rookie Abdus Ibrahim scored the game's first two goals before Thorrington's late winner.

Rolfe got things going early when he took a diagonal pass from forward Chad Barrett at the top of the Toronto penalty area, pushed the ball to pull ball away from a defender, turned and fired from about 23-yards to beat TFC goalkeeper Greg Sutton to the far post just six minutes in.

The Fire had a couple chances to go up 2-0 in the first half, but Sutton came up big on a chip shot from Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Thorrington chipped a shot over the crossbar, keeping the margin at one goal.

TFC, which was badly outplayed in the first half, made the Fire pay for not adding to their lead just after the hour mark.

Maurice Edu played a ball to fellow midfielder Amado Guevara at the top of the Fire box. The Honduran international then took a touch, cut back and slotted a pass through the Fire defense to Ibrahim, who was breaking in on goal. The 16- year-old took a touch around Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch and cooly tapped in his first MLS goal in his first MLS appearance.

Chicago had the last laugh, however, when Thorrington slotted home the winner in the 92nd minute. Thorrington played a ball back to Justin Mapp in the offensive third before the U.S. international headed back over the Toronto defense to the 27-year-old, who poked the shot through Sutton's legs.

Chicago will aim to start a winning streak when it hosts Western Conference leading Real Salt Lake next Saturday in its next league fixture while Toronto hosts San Jose earlier the same day.