In starting role, Thorrington stokes the Fire
John Thorrington wants Chicago Fire coach Denis Hamlett to know he can give Chris Rolfe all the time Rolfe needs to let his sprained ankle heal.
That's got to worry Rolfe.
While the Fire forwards struggled, Thorrington made his wish to stay in the starting lineup clear by scoring his first 2 goals of the season, giving the Fire a 2-1 victory against Colorado at Toyota Park in Bridgeview.
"He sure did," Hamlett said. "I said last week he played well, too. He defended well. Got himself into some good spots last weekend, and tonight the same thing. The first minute to the 90th minute he was defending, got forward, had 2 good chances and finished them."
Thorrington ended a Fire streak of 214 scoreless minutes in Saturday's 53rd minute. Tomasz Frankowski's cross from the left side deflected off Rapids defender Facundo Erpen and out to Thorrington, who settled the ball about 14 yards in front of the Colorado net and sent a shot ricocheting off the right post and into the goal.
"Anytime you score as a player, but thankfully for me and the team I've been able to score some timely goals," Thorrington said, remembering last year's dramatic goal in the regular-season finale against the Galaxy.
"But tonight my job's to get on the field and help my team win. If it's goals it's goals. If it's defending it's defending. Tonight my teammates got me in a good position to score 2 goals, and thankfully I finished them."
The Fire forwards seemed to get the hint from there, picking up the pressure after a sluggish first half. Frankowski and Chad Barrett both had good chances to score, as did substitute Calen Carr, but all they could do was raise the hopes of the 14,251 Fire fans.
"Forwards are going to go through stretches where they're going to miss some chances," Hamlett said. "Tomasz had a few, Calen had a few. That's all part of it. But you gotta let them know that you believe in them."
It was left to Thorrington again to show the forwards how to finish. This time it was Justin Mapp's turn to find space down the left side, beating Erpen off the dribble and crossing to Thorrington. Thorrington needed a touch to settle the pass and one to send a shot inside the near post as Colorado goalkeeper Bouna Coundoul guessed far post.
The Rapids (2-3-0, 6 points) didn't roll over and play dead. Before Thorrington could savor his second goal, Colorado reminded the Fire (3-1-1, 10 points) the game wasn't over.
"I think for 86 minutes we played pretty solid, didn't give up many chances," Hamlett said.
Then Rapids forward Tom McManus redirected a Christian Gomez free kick from outside the Fire penalty area, and the ball slipped past Fire goalkeeper Jon Busch for a goal.
"We're disappointed because we always say that we don't want to give up any goals on set pieces, and we gave up a goal on a set piece."