Halftime: Chicago Fire at Galaxy

Galaxy 1 Fire 0

The Galaxy took a deserved lead in the 42nd minute, a long Chris Klein pass up the right wing from his own half finding a sprinting Landon Donovan who left a sprawling Logan Pause in the dust before impudently chipping first-time over a helpless Jon Busch in the Fire net from 18 yards.

That was the one true moment of class in a first half that until then had featured fairly static stuff from both teams, Chicago largely content with defending in numbers and the Galaxy trying to find a way through.

Almost a half hour was gone until the Fire tested Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts with a low hard shot, but until then it was the Galaxy that had three good chances and really should have gone ahead much earlier.

On two of the three chances Chris Klein had the final shot after David Beckham had found Landon Donovan in acres of space on both occasions just outside the box inside the first 20 minutes. And both times Klein, apparently breaking his rhythm after missing his first game in years last weekend, fired point blank at Busch.

Chris Birchall also sent a shot wide of the mark in the 22nd minute failing to capitalize on punishing the Fire for a poor clearance.

Both teams ended the half with three shots on goal apiece, although the Galaxy chances were of much better quality