Galaxy Advance to Western Conference Championship with 1-0 Win Over Chivas USA

LA Galaxy 1, Chivas USA 0
Sunday, November 8, 2009
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Landon Donovan 2 (Penalty Kick) 73’

Misconduct Summary:
CHV – Carey Talley (Yellow Card) 38’
LA – Sean Franklin (Yellow Card) 60’
CHV – Zach Thornton (Yellow Card) 72’
CHV – Paulo Nagamura (Yellow Card) 78’
CHV – Yamith Cuesta (Yellow Card) 79’
CHV – Sacha Kljestan (Yellow Card) 94+

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin, Dema Kovalenko, Landon Donovan©, David Beckham (Alan Gordon 78’), Chris Klein (Jovan Kirovski 67’), Mike Magee (Eddie Lewis 86’), Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Yohance Marshall, A.J. DeLaGarza, Bryan Jordan.

Chivas USA: Zach Thornton, Jonathan Bornstein, Shavar Thomas, Yamith Cuesta, Carey Talley©, Paulo Nagamura, Michael Lahoud (Eduardo Lillingston 76’), Jesus Padilla (Maykel Galindo 60’), Sacha Kljestan, Justin Braun, Maicon Santos (Jorge Flores 84’).

Subs Not Used: Jon Conway, Ante Jazic, Mariano Trujillo, Marcelo Saragosa.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy advance to the Western Conference Championship against the Houston Dynamo. The Galaxy won their Conference Semifinal Series over Chivas USA 3-2 on aggregate after a 2-2 draw in Game #1 and tonight’s 1-0 win.
• Bruce Arena made one change to the team that played to a 2-2 draw with Chivas USA in Game #1 of the series last weekend. Chris Klein was brought into the lineup in place of Chris Birchall who missed the game through illness. Klein was replaced on the bench by Bryan Jordan.
• In addition to Birchall, the Galaxy were without Alecko Eskandarian, Stefani Miglioranzi and Julian Valentin, who all missed the game through injury.
• Birchall was the only Galaxy player to enter tonight’s game with a yellow card, meaning that nobody will be suspended for the Conference Championship against Houston.
• Landon Donovan scored the game’s only goal with a penalty kick in the 73rd minute. That was his second goal of the postseason, leaving him tied with the Columbus Crew’s Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Real Salt Lake’s Robbie Findley as the leading goalscorer in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs.
• That goal was the 16th of Donovan’s postseason career, tying him with Carlos Ruiz for the most goals in the history of the MLS Cup Playoffs. Donovan has 16 goals in 20 career playoff games, including six postseason goals in six games as a member of the Galaxy.
• Donovan’s penalty kick was the Galaxy’s first penalty kick since the 2-2 draw at Real Salt Lake on May 6. That was the Galaxy’s seventh game of the season, meaning that they went the final 23 games of the regular season and the first posteason game without earning a penalty kick.
• Galaxy goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts made two saves for his first-ever postseason win and postseason shutout.
• This was the seventh game this season that the Galaxy won by a 1-0 scoreline, with all seven coming at The Home Depot Center. This was the third 1-0 win of the year over Chivas USA.
• The attendance for today’s game was a sellout crowd of 27,000, making it the biggest postseason crowd for a non-MLS Cup Final in the history of The Home Depot Center.
• The Galaxy are back in action at 8 p.m. on Friday, November 13 when they host the Houston Dynamo in the Western Conference Championship. That game will be shown live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
• The Galaxy were 1-0-1 against the Dynamo this season, winning 1-0 at The Home Depot Center on June 28 behind a goal from Todd Dunivant and playing to a 0-0 draw at Robertson Stadium in Houston on October 18.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.