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BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - The weather had such an impact that referee Terry Vaughn slipped 12 seconds into Thursday's MLS match between Chivas USA and the host Chicago Fire at Toyota Park.

With playoff implications on the line, the steady rain and some harsh wind conditions were not about to get in the way of Chicago's mission. It took the full slate of 30 regular-season games, but the Fire benefited from a Chivas USA own goal en route to a 1-0 victory and a spot in the postseason. No playoff opponent is set heading into the weekend's full slate of MLS matches.

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Cuauhtemoc Blanco celebrates after his corner kick found Chivas' Eduardo Lillingston's head and then the back of the net.

Chivas' Eduardo Lillingston had the own-goal mishap in the 67th minute off of Fire midfielder Cuauhtemoc Blanco's corner kick from the left side. Although the Fire didn't kick in that goal, Chicago (10-7-12) held the advantage in the run of play, creating high-quality chances and exposing plenty of weakness within Chivas' defense. The Fire had 14 corner-kick chances and several other close connections that put Chivas (13-9-6) on its heels.

"I think we earned that one," Fire forward Chris Rolfe said. "It's been a long time coming, and to get the win at home, and obviously a shutout, that's great."

Rolfe had one of the best scoring chances, in the 24th minute. Libertyville native Baggio Husidic had the setup from the back to start the play, and Rolfe's shot was just barely batted away by Chivas goalkeeper Zach Thornton. Thornton's deflection was just enough as the ball bounced off the left post.

"Baggio laid a great ball off, and it was set up nicely for me," Rolfe said. "I actually kind of mishit it, which caused it to knuckle. Zach went down to get it, and I think it kind of moved on him and hit the bottom of his wrist and hit the post."

Momentum has been difficult for the Fire to find this season. But with the defense holding opponents to only one goal over the past three matches, the Fire will take that as their momentum builder heading into the playoffs.

"The momentum is we've had two [straight] shutouts," coach Denis Hamlett said. "I told the group that you can't win championships without defense. We've got enough attacking guys on the field on this team that we'll create chances. As I said last week, it was 100 percent a red card and PK [when Rolfe was fouled against New England], and we didn't get that. Tonight, we had 14 corners. We still feel we have momentum because we've been playing well in these past two games, and we played a good team tonight."

BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. - Chicago Fire technical director Frank Klopas struck a chord in his description of former Fire midfielder Chris Armas. Armas was the model of consistency. Sometimes you see peaks and valleys in many athletes, but not with Armas.

"I think Chris, more than anyone, did his role better than anyone. He did it very well and on a consistent basis for his whole career," Klopas said. "It's not one game, not one season or two seasons. That's what you see a lot of times with some of these younger guys. They play one or two games, but no … it's about consistency. It's about every day at practice. It's about work ethic. He knew his niche, and he battled every day."

Armas was inducted into the Fire's "Ring of Fire" Hall of Fame in a halftime ceremony at Thursday's Chivas-Fire match at Toyota Park. Peter Nowak (Class of 2003), Klopas (2004), Peter Wilt (2006) and Bob Bradley (2007) were there to share in the festivities. Lubos Kubik (2005) was not in attendance.

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Chris Armas, best known for his consistent intensity, was honored Thursday night at Toyota Park.

There is a resounding appreciation among the Fire family regarding Armas' attributes. And now his No. 14 becomes the sixth jersey to grace the east wall of Toyota Park.

"Every player has a strength, a certain quality that they bring to the table to make it at this level. Some guys have that gift of speed and strength and height. My ability was to be tuned into games, to bring a consistent level of play," Armas said. "That's something that's been a strength of mine. It's one of the attributes I had. I could stay focused on players and stay tuned in on what was going on. It sounds like an easy thing, but to be tuned in for 90 minutes, it takes a mental and physical exercise."

Here is what some other people within the Fire organization had to say about Armas:

CHICAGO -- The Chicago Fire's long list of key absences has been prevalent for much of the season. You can chalk up another potential setback for Fire defender Wilman Conde. The talented center defensive back has played in only 19 of the team's 29 games, and this time it is not his frequent hamstring problems that are the main issue.

Fire head coach Denis Hamlett said Wednesday that Conde has battled the past two days with flu-like symptoms and will play things by ear Thursday to see if he is ready to go for the Fire's match against Chivas USA at Toyota Park (7 p.m. kickoff, ESPN2).

Former Chicago Fire and current Chivas USA goalkeeper Zach Thornton has had a robust 2009 season. In fact, the 36-year-old has posted a career-best 12 shutouts and currently a personal-best 0.78 goals-against average. Thornton went through a two-year stretch from 2007 to 2008 that included only nine regular-season games and 683 minutes in the net. I caught up with Thornton on Wednesday to chat about his return to form this season and, of course, some Fire topics:

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The Fire are going to have to beat their former mate to ensure a trip to the playoffs.

On this date in Chicago Fire history, Oct. 21, 2000, the Fire defeated Major League Soccer counterpart Miami Fusion, 2-1, to win the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at Soldier Field. It marked the third championship in the Fire's first three years (1998 and 2000 U.S. Open Cup champions, 1998 MLS Cup champions).

Bulgarian forward Hristo Stoitchkov netted the Fire's first goal in the 44th minute off of an Ante Razov cross to take a 1-0 lead. The match stayed that way until the 88th minute with an own goal from Fusion defender Tyrone Marshall. Marshall's lapse came from a DaMarcus Beasley cross as Chicago garnered a 2-0 advantage.

Brazilian forward Welton did tally a goal deep into second-half stoppage time for the Fusion, but it was too little, too late.

The Fire controlled the match with a 13-7 advantage in shots. Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton made two saves.

Also noteworthy on this date: In 2005, the Fire and D.C. United set an MLS playoff record with the fewest shots on goal in a game, combining for just three during their Eastern Conference semifinal series match. Not surprisingly, the game ended in a scoreless draw.

With a win or draw Thursday against Chivas USA, the Chicago Fire will advance to the MLS playoffs. It is that plain and simple. They still control their postseason fate.

But "simple" and "Toyota Park" have not gone hand in hand for the Fire. They are 4-4-6 in front of their home crowd in league play -- the third-worst MLS home record. And with Chivas on a mission to earn the Western Conference's top seed, this game (7 p.m. CT kickoff, ESPN2) carries added meaning.

If the worst-case scenario occurs and the Fire (10-7-12) fall to Chivas (13-9-6), they'll remain at 42 points. The No. 2 spot in the Eastern Conference still would be within the Fire's reach. But Toronto FC, New England and D.C. United all have 39 points with one game remaining.

Should any of them win during the weekend and equal Chicago's 42-point total, the tiebreaking rule factors in head-to-head regular-season competition. Chicago would like to avoid this scenario.

The Fire have a 1-3-3 record this season against those 39-point East teams: 0-2-1 against D.C., 0-1-1 against New England and 1-0-1 against Toronto. If D.C. or the Revolution beats Chicago for that second East spot, you then would have to factor in that the four wild-card spots can come from either conference.

Two of those wild cards are guaranteed to come from the West, with four teams (Chivas, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle) still battling for the top two playoff positions in their conference. Aside from the remaining East teams in the hunt, the West's Colorado Rapids (40 points), red-hot FC Dallas (39) and Real Salt Lake (37) still are in the mix.

This is a glass-half-empty way of looking at Thursday's game, but the Fire are tinkering with their first losing home record in their 11-year history. Should they win, however, they'll earn their rightful spot in the postseason once again.