Chicago Fire 1 LA Galaxy 2

With a depleted squad, Galaxy managed a goal in each half, one on 42 mins from Chad Barrett (an ex-employee of The Fire), and one on 72 mins from Gonzalez. Barrett had earlier had one disallowed on 35 mins, but generally there were chances at either end throughout the match.

In the 89th minute, Chicago pulled one back, but they had left it too late for getting any points out of the game, so The Galaxy come off their three-game 'tour' with 5 points out of a possible 9, and are looking in good shape to remain in the upper echelons of the league table. Technically, this result takes LA to the top of the table, but with the number of games 'in hand' that other teams have (especially Real Salt Lake with the same number of points and three games in hand!), the table is not really representative of reality at the moment.

Saturday sees The Galaxy return to their home ground to take on the Portland Timbers - Beckham should be back, maybe Donovan too, time for the experienced players to put a good shift in!