New York, NY (My Sportsbook) - Chicago Fire midfielder John Thorrington was voted Major League Soccer's Player of the Week for Week 16, it was announced on Monday.

Thorrington scored the game-winning goal in the third minute of second-half stoppage time as the Fire defeated Toronto FC 2-1 at home on Saturday night. The victory improved Chicago's record to 7-5-3, good for third in the Eastern Conference, nine points behind leaders New England.

"He's a winner with a big heart," Fire coach Denis Hamlett said of Thorrington. "No matter the circumstances he finds a way to get forward and he did that for us [Saturday] when we needed it."

"I just think it's a great feeling," Thorrington said of his late game-winning goal. "I don't know what it is, but I definitely feel blessed to do it at any point. [Saturday] it helped contribute to the win. That's the most important thing and I just feel very good about that. We deserved this win and I'm glad we got it."

Chicago, which entered the game with the same record as Toronto, opened the scoring in the 6th minute on a long-range strike from Chris Rolfe. Toronto equalized in the second half on a goal by teenager Abdus Ibrahim before Thorrington's late winner sealed the deal.

"As the play went on in the left far side I dropped back a little bit and [Cuauhtemoc] Blanco had the ball on the left side," Thorrington said of his goal. "He found me and I tried to lay it off to Justin [Mapp]. He somehow headed it back and as I turned the ball was bouncing over the Toronto defender. It fell into my foot and this time I slipped it into the net."

This is Thorrington's first Player of the Week selection and Chicago's second Player of the Week award this season. Blanco earned the honor in Week 9.

The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from The North American Soccer Reporters (NASR). Full disclosure of the votes can be found at www.soccerreporters.com.

Below are the 2008 MLS Player of the Week winners to date:

Week 1: Terry Cooke (Colorado Rapids)

Week 2: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 3: Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew)

Week 4: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 5: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 6: David Beckham (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 7: Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew)

Week 8: Edson Buddle (Los Angles Galaxy)

Week 9: Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago Fire)

Week 10: Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake)

Week 11: Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo)

Week 12: Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 13: Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy)

Week 14: Steve Ralston (New England Revolution)

Week 15: Adam Cristman (New England Revolution)

Week 16: John Thorrington (Chicago Fire)