Chivas USA wasted little time once Brad Guzan’s transfer to Aston Villa was confirmed today, trading for former Chicago Fire MLS Goalkeeper of the Year Zach Thornton.
They had only the inexperienced Dan Kennedy and Lance Parker on the roster.
The 34-year-old former U.S. international (eight caps), has been on the downside of his career ever since moving overseas for an unsuccessful stint in 2004 with Portugal’s Benfica.
He has played sparingly for the Colorado Rapids and New York Red Bulls the last couple of seasons. But Chivas USA was desperate; all the Red Bulls got anyway was “future considerations.”
“Zach is an experienced goalkeeper who has played in big games and won championships in our league,” said Chivas USA Head Coach Preki Radosavljevic. “With the departure of Brad Guzan, we hope Zach will help Chivas USA both on and off the field as we make our push for a playoff spot.”
Here’s the rest of the (edited) Chivas USA press release:
In his 13-year MLS career, Zach Thornton has earned many accolades, including being named MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 1998, the year he helped the Chicago Fire to two championships, the MLS Cup and a U.S. Open Cup. He is a five-time MLS All-Star (1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003), and won two additional U.S. Open Cups with Chicago in 2000 and 2003, as well as the Supporters Shield with the Fire in 2003. A fixture in Chicago from 1998-2006, Thornton played a total of 215 games with the club (starting 212), and was named the team’s MVP in 2002 and the Fire’s defender of the year in 2001 and 2002.
In 222 career MLS matches, Thornton has posted 57 shutouts and a goals-against-average of 1.28. Prior to the 2008 season, Thornton had played in MLS in every year of the league’s history except 2004, when he was a member of the Fire but did not play a match with the team due to his joining Portuguese club Benfica in February of that year. He first came into Major League Soccer as a member of the MetroStars, as the New York club was known, prior to Major League Soccer’s 1996 season, and played six games (starting five) in two seasons with the team before moving to Chicago.
Born October 10, 1973, the Edgewood, Md. native has also made eight appearances for the United States National Team. He attended Loyola College in Maryland, where he was a two-sport standout, earning All-America honors in lacrosse.
