Galaxy On the Cusp of the Postseason with 1-0 Win over Chicago

LA Galaxy 1, Chicago Fire 0
Friday, October 2, 2009
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Landon Donovan 11 (Chris Klein 2) 42’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Chris Birchall (Yellow Card) 45’
LA – Chris Klein (Yellow Card) 63’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, A.J. DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin, Chris Birchall, Eddie Lewis (Bryan Jordan 73’), David Beckham, Chris Klein (Mike Magee 67’), Landon Donovan©, Edson Buddle (Alan Gordon 88’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Yohance Marshall, Todd Dunivant, Jovan Kirovski.

Chicago Fire: Jon Busch, Mike Banner, Wilman Conde (Baggio Husidic 78’), C.J. Brown©, Brandon Prideaux, Logan Pause, Justin Mapp (Stefan Dimitrov 82’), Peter Lowry (Calen Carr 64’), Marco Pappa, Brian McBride, Patrick Nyarko.

Subs Not Used: Andrew Dykstra, Dasan Robinson, Austin Washington, David Myrie.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy improve to 11-6-11 on the season, giving them 44 points. LA is now in first place in the Western Conference, one point ahead of second place Houston, who hosts Kansas City on Sunday afternoon and five points ahead of third place Colorado, who hosts New England on Saturday night.
• The win puts the Galaxy in first place in the Western Conference for the first time this season and for the first time since July 10, 2008 when they had a 6-6-4 record to remain tied atop the Western Conference standings.
• The Galaxy now need just a Chivas USA win or tie at D.C. United on Saturday to clinch their first playoff berth since the 2005 season.
• Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that lost 2-0 at Columbus last weekend. David Beckham, Chris Klein and Eddie Lewis all returned to the starting XI, replacing Todd Dunivant, Bryan Jordan and Stefani Miglioranzi. Dunivant and Jordan each began the game on the bench, while Miglioranzi missed the game with a groin strain.
• In addition to Miglioranzi, the Galaxy were also without Alecko Eskandarian, Dema Kovalenko and Julian Valentin, who all missed the game through injury.
• Dunivant started the game on the bench, marking the first time that he had not started a game since the 1-1 draw with Columbus on May 17.
• With Dunivant on the bench, A.J. DeLaGarza and Sean Franklin each started in defense for the first time since the 1-1 draw at San Jose on April 18.
• The Galaxy have now made a change to their back four in each of the last four games after going 12 consecutive league games with the same back four from June 13-October 12.
• Landon Donovan’s goal in the 42nd minute was his team-best 11th of the season and his first since the 2-0 win at Chicago on August 19. He had not scored in five straight games since that goal, tying the second longest scoreless streak of his Galaxy career.
• Chris Klein assisted on that goal for his second assist of the season and his first since the 1-1 draw at Colorado on April 25. That assist was also to Landon Donovan.
• Klein was making his first start since the 2-0 loss to Seattle on August 15. It was his first appearance since having his MLS record 141 consecutive games played streak snapped last weekend at Columbus.
• Donovan’s goal was his team-best third of the season.
• The win was the Galaxy’s sixth 1-0 win of the season, with five of the six coming in home games and all six coming at The Home Depot Center.
• Chris Birchall was booked for the second consecutive game late in the first half.
• Gregg Berhalter, Alan Gordon, Jovan Kirovski and Eddie Lewis all entered the game with four yellow cards, leaving them one away from a mandatory one-game suspension, but none were booked, meaning that all four will be available for the Galaxy’s next game, at Houston on October 18.
• The attendance for today’s game was 21,679.
• The Galaxy return to action in two weeks time when they hit the road for the final time in the regular season to take on the Houston Dynamo in a battle of the top two teams in the Western Conference on Sunday, October 18. That game kicks off at 12 p.m. (PT) and came be seen live in English on FS West, starting with ‘Galaxy Live’ at 11:30 a.m., or in Spanish on Telefutura, starting at 12 p.m.
• For more about tonight’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.