Athletes - Zach Thornton

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	Athletes - Zach Thornton

Zach Thornton (born October 10, 1973, in Edgewood, Maryland) is a soccer goalkeeper, one of the best netminders in Major League Soccer's history.

Thornton played college soccer at Loyola-Maryland (coincidentally, he was also a third-team All-American at lacrosse), and was drafted by the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in the 7th round of the 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft. With then-former US national keeper and local star Tony Meola entrenched in Metro nets, Zach played only six games during his first two seasons in MLS. In 1997, he played a few games on loan with the North Jersey Imperials of the USISL, whose starting goalie was future Metro and US national teamer Tim Howard.

The Chicago Fire took Thornton in the 1997 MLS Expansion Draft, and his career took off. Beating out Mexican star Jorge Campos for the starting job, Zach lead the expansion Fire to that year's MLS Cup, and was named the league's Goalkeeper of the Year. He spent six years with the Fire, an automatic starter throughout his time there, and always at the top of MLS goalkeeping charts. In 2004, Thornton signed a six-month with Portuguese club Benfica. He didn't get a single first-team match with them, however, and re-signed with the Fire late in the MLS season. Thornton did not get any playing time, as his former backup Henry Ring had taken hold of the position in Thornton's absence. In 2005 Thornton would reclaim his spot in the Fire's net missing only a few matches due to injury.

Thornton's first cap with the US national team came against Jamaica on November 22, 1994. He backed up overage selection Kasey Keller at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Thornton hasn't been able to translate his success in MLS to the national level, collecting only eight caps, mainly due to the United States's depth at the position.

Thornton is nicknamed The Beast for his imposing size.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Zach Thornton ]

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