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Rolfe powers Fire past Galaxy

Sep 26, 2008 - 5:35 AM BRIDGEVIEW, Illinois (Ticker) -- Cuauhtemoc Blanco and Chris Rolfe scored two minutes apart early in the second half to lift the Chicago Fire to a 3-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday.

Rolfe also scored in the first half for Chicago (12-9-5), which moved within one point of the New England Revolution (12-7-6) for second place in the Eastern Conference.

"I think in big games, big players step up like Brian (McBride), Cuauhtemoc (Blanco, Justin (Mapp) and Chris (Rolfe)," Chicago coach Denis Hamlett said. "We are a dynamic team. We moved well tonight. We created some great chances and finished them."

The Galaxy (7-11-8) were coming off a 5-2 victory over D.C. United on Saturday that snapped the club's 12-game winless streak. Los Angeles remains tied with San Jose (7-9-8) for sixth place in the Western Conference.

"That's soccer," Los Angeles midfielder David Beckham said. "Some days are good and some are bad. We need to pick ourselves up from here. We are running out of games."

With the game tied at 1-1, Rolfe sent a through ball down the middle of the field, and Blanco just got a foot on it before defender Troy Roberts and goalkeeper Josh Wicks could clear it away well outside the top of the penalty area. The Mexican striker collected himself and the ball, knocking it into the vacant net in the 57th minute while Roberts toppled over Wicks.

"It felt good to get the goal, but the important thing is that the fans left happy and that the team got three points," Blanco said.

Two minutes later, Blanco passed to Gonzalo Segares, who sent Rolfe in alone down the right side. Rolfe blasted a hard shot to the right of Wicks, who got a hand on it, but the ball had enough pace and went into the net for a commanding 3-1 lead.

The league's leading scorer, Landon Donovan had a great chance to halve the deficit in the 70th minute, but the forward hit a wide-open volley from 10 yards out over the net.

Chicago held a slim 12-11 advantage in shots but put just seven on net as opposed to four by Los Angeles.

"I'm very disappointed in the result," Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena said. "We had two bad 15-minute segments in the game. The first half when we fell behind a goal and in the second half, which certainly cost us the game. (Chicago's) second goal goal decided the match."

Rolfe opened the scoring in the 13th minute, when he took a pass from John Thorrington and did some nifty footwork before blasting a shot from the top of the penalty area into the bottom left corner of the net.

Los Angeles tied the match in the 35th minute on a goal by Eddie Lewis - his first of the season. After receiving a feed from Donovan on the right sideline, Chris Klein sent a crossing pass to the front of the net for Lewis, who redirected the ball past goalkeeper Jon Busch with his left foot.

The attendance for the game was 20,156, marking the second sellout of the season at Toyota Park.

The win snapped Chicago's two-game losing streak.

"Our guys never lost confidence throughout the recent stretch," Hamlett said. "We just believed in ourselves and continue to do the things we know we are capable of doing. Tonight we put it together in front of a great crowd."