Zach Thornton (born October 10, 1973) is an American former goalkeeper who spent 16 seasons in Major League Soccer with the New York/New Jersey MetroStars (1996–97), Chicago Fire (1998–2006), Colorado Rapids (2007), New York Red Bulls (2008) and Chivas USA (2008–11). He was the starting goalkeeper for the Fire when it won MLS Cup '98 in its inaugural year. He, Chris Armas,. and C. J. Brown are the only three Fire players to be a part of all six of the club's domestic championships from 1998 through 2006. Thornton is currently the goalkeeping coach for Houston Dynamo. Youth and college The youngest of four siblings, Thornton began playing soccer at age five and lacrosse a year later. His father Ernest, who had endured his share of injuries while playing football at Kentucky State College, had gently steered him away from the gridiron sport. Thornton was a three-sport star in soccer, lacrosse and basketball at The John Carroll School. He attended Essex Community College before completing his education at Loyola College in Maryland. At Loyola, he played both soccer and lacrosse, the latter as a third-team All-American. He was named to the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference 40th Anniversary Men’s Soccer Team on September 1, 2020. Playing career Professional Thornton was selected in the 7th round (69th overall) by the New York/New Jersey MetroStars in the 1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft. With then-former US national keeper and local star Tony Meola entrenched in Metro nets, Thornton 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 international 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 frequently at the top of MLS goalkeeping charts. In 2004, Thornton signed a six-month contract 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