Galaxy Win 3-2 Over Colorado

LA Galaxy 3, Colorado Rapids 2
October 12, 2008
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Edson Buddle 14 (Sean Franklin 1) 36’
COL – Cory Gibbs 1 (Terry Cooke 11) 43’
LA – Own Goal (Ugo Ihemelu) 71’
LA – Brandon McDonald 1 (Alvaro Pires 1) 80’
COL – Tom McManus 5 (Penalty Kick) 88’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Joe Franchino (Yellow Card) 58’
COL – Cory Gibbs (Yellow Card) 66’
LA – Eddie Lewis (Yellow Card) 74’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders, Greg Vanney, Troy Roberts, Sean Franklin, Peter Vagenas© (Brandon McDonald 38’), Joe Franchino (Alvaro Pires 78’), Eddie Lewis, Chris Klein, Bryan Jordan, Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon (Landon Donovan 63’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Wicks, Julian Valentin, Mike Randolph, Israel Sesay.

Colorado Rapids: Preston Burpo, Kosuke Kimura, Gory Gibbs, Ugo Ihemelu, Jordan Harvey (Mike Petke 85’), Pablo Mastroeni, Nick LaBrocca (Jacob Peterson 78’), Mehdi Ballouchy, Colin Clark, Terry Cooke (Jose Burciaga Jr. 78’), Tom McManus.

Subs Not Used: Mike Graczyk, Greg Dalby, John DiRaimondo, Nico Colaluca.

Notes:
· With the win, the Galaxy are now 8-12-8 on the season, giving them 32 points. The Galaxy are now in sixth place in the Western Conference, four points behind Real Salt Lake for the third and final guaranteed playoff spot and three points behind FC Dallas for fourth place in the Conference. Kansas City and New York hold the two wildcard positions with 36 points each, four points ahead of the Galaxy.
· Bruce Arena made two changes to the starting XI from last weekend’s 1-0 loss at Colorado. David Beckham and Landon Donovan were out of the lineup after having played for their National Teams on Saturday. They were replaced in the lineup by Bryan Jordan and Alan Gordon.
· Despite playing 90 minutes for the U.S. National Team on Saturday in Washington D.C., Landon Donovan flew cross-country on Sunday morning and was an available substitute for the game. He entered the game in the 63rd minute, replacing Alan Gordon.
· Edson Buddle scored his 14th goal of the season in the 38th minute of the game, giving LA a 1-0 lead. He remains third in MLS in scoring, five goals behind Landon Donovan (19 goals) and four behind Kenny Cooper of FC Dallas (18 goals).
· The Galaxy are now 3-0-3 when Edson Buddle scores at home and 5-2-3 overall when he scores.
· Sean Franklin assisted on that goal for the first assist of his MLS career.
· This was the first time since the 2-2 draw with Real Salt Lake on September 6 that the Galaxy scored the game’s opening goal. They are now 6-0-4 this season when scoring the first goal of the game.
· The Galaxy took a 2-1 lead on an own goal by former Galaxy defender Ugo Ihemelu. It was the second own goal scored for the Galaxy this season, with the first being scored by Duilio Davino in the 5-1 win over FC Dallas on May 18.
· Brandon McDonald scored the game-winning goal in the 80th minute with the first goal of his MLS career.
· Alvaro Pires assisted on that goal for the first assist of his MLS career. Pires also has one goal in MLS, with that coming against the Rapids in the 3-2 win on June 7 at The Home Depot Center.
· Cory Gibbs tied the score at 1-1 just before halftime with his first goal of the season. It was the 12th goal allowed by the Galaxy in the final 15 minutes of the first half and the fifth goal allowed in the final five minutes of the first half.
· The attendance for tonight’s game was a sellout of 27,000. This was the seventh consecutive sellout for the Galaxy and the 10th in 14 home games this season.
· For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.
· The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday, October 18, when they take on the Houston Dynamo at Robertson Stadium. The match will kick off at 5:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live locally on FSN West, starting with the ‘Galaxy Live’ Pregame show at 5 p.m., and nationally on HDNet. The match will also be available live on the radio on AM 570 (English) and KWKW 1330 ESPN Deportes Radio (Spanish).