The Fire got a late goal from Jim Curtin to post a 1-1 draw against the Los Angeles Galaxy Saturday before 19,107 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

Curtin's late tally canceled out Chris Albright's goal for the Galaxy, earning Chicago its first point of the season in the second of the team's nine consecutive away games.

Fire coach Dave Sarachan expressed pride in taking a share of the spoils on the road against the defending MLS champions.

"Coming into this building is never an easy task and given the fact that L.A. last week didn't come away with points, we knew we had to be ready to play against a team that might show some urgency," Sarachan said. "They get the goal off a restart but our guys didn't drop their heads."

After giving up the lead twice in last week's season-opening 3-2 loss at Dallas, Sarachan singled out his team's renewed defensive efforts as a key factor.

"We didn't feel good about giving up three goals last week," Sarachan said. "This week, we made a pretty strong attempt to do a better job as an overall group of being better collectively on the defensive end."

Just as the match appeared to be headed for a scoreless draw, Albright, who had watched a header rebound off the crossbar just minutes earlier, broke the deadlock on 78 minutes.

The Fire defense left Albright with just enough space to get his head on a Josh Gardner corner kick 15 yards from goal. The ball looped just past the outstretched fingers of Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton, giving L.A. a 1-0 lead.

"We were like, 'Oh no, here we go giving up a late goal on a restart,'" Curtin said. "To our credit, a couple of the older guys said, 'Keep your heads up. There are still 12-15 minutes left to try and get a goal.'"

Eight minutes later, Curtin stepped up to erase the Galaxy's advantage after Justin Mapp earned a free kick on the right flank.

Curtin met Thiago's swerving service with a glancing header from eight yards that eluded L.A. 'keeper Kevin Hartman and nestled into the far corner of the net, securing a point for the Fire.

"There was a lot of traffic inside the six-yard box and I decided not to go in there, so I peeled my run back towards the penalty spot," Curtin said. "Thiago kind of made a little eye contact [with me] before and kind of clipped a good ball, and I was just lucky enough to get a little glancing header on it."

The Fire will look to build on its first point of the season next Saturday when the team heads to Ohio for a meeting with the Columbus Crew.

"I felt that in these first few games that we have to build on our confidence," Sarachan said. "When we come away with no points like last weekend, it does affect you a little bit.

"I think with the effort we put in tonight and coming away with a point, it will go a long way as we get into the following weeks."

By Richard Snowden

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