MORNING BRIEFING

AT CHICAGO

Time: 6 PDT.

On the air: TV: ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes; Radio: 570 and 1330.

Where: Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Ill.

Records: Galaxy 7-4-10, Fire 9-4-8.

Record vs. Fire (2008): 0-2.

Update: Saturday night’s 2-0 loss to Seattle dropped the Galaxy to third place in the Western Conference and the red cards issued to David Beckham and Eddie Lewis mean they will miss tonight’s match. The shutout loss was the first for the Galaxy since June 13. Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena minced no words in the aftermath. “Simply, it is not a good performance for our team tonight,” he said. “Obviously, the initial red card [on Beckham] put us behind the eight ball, and we had to battle for 70-something minutes with 10, and then eventually nine. . . . Conceding the second goal was highly disappointing; a bunch of guys standing around watching the Seattle guy [Freddy Montero] making the play. Not a good night tonight. We didn’t deserve more than we got.” After tonight, the Galaxy has only eight regular-season games remaining, five of them at home. The Fire, in second place in the Eastern Conference, is coming off a 2-0 win at Kansas City and has a 3-2-4 home record. It has five players with four or more goals, with Mexican standout Cuauhtemoc Blanco having four goals and a team-high eight assists.

-- Grahame L. Jones