Galaxy Fall on Penalties in MLS Cup

LA Galaxy 1, Real Salt Lake 1 (Real Salt Lake Wins 5-4 on Penalty Kicks)
MLS Cup 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Qwest Field — Seattle, Wash.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Mike Magee 2 (Landon Donovan 1, David Beckham 1) 41’
RSL – Robbie Findley (Unassisted) 64’

Penalty Kicks:
LA – David Beckham (Goal) 1-0 LA
RSL – Clint Mathis (Goal) 1-1
LA – Gregg Berhalter (Goal) 2-1 LA
RSL – Robbie Findley (Goal) 2-2
LA – Jovan Kirovski (Save) 2-2
RSL – Kyle Beckerman (Save) 2-2
LA – Landon Donovan (High) 2-2
RSL – Ned Grabavoy (Goal) 3-2 RSL
LA – Mike Magee (Goal) 3-3
RSL – Andy Williams (Save) 3-3
LA – Chris Klein (Goal) 4-3 LA
RSL – Chris Wingert (Goal) 4-4
LA – Edson Buddle (Save) 4-4
RSL – Robbie Russell (Goal) 5-4 RSL

Misconduct Summary:
RSL – Will Johnson (Yellow Card) 14’
LA – Chris Birchall (Yellow Card) 39’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts (Josh Saunders 66’), Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez (A.J. DeLaGarza 89’), Sean Franklin, Chris Birchall (Chris Klein 79’), Jovan Kirovski, Landon Donovan©, David Beckham, Mike Magee, Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Yohance Marshall, Dema Kovalenko, Eddie Lewis, Alan Gordon.

Real Salt Lake: Nick Rimando, Robbie Russell, Nat Borchers, Jamison Olave, Chris Wingert, Kyle Beckerman©, Will Johnson (Ned Grabavoy 46’), Andy Williams, Javier Morales (Clint Mathis 22’), Robbie Findley, Yura Movsisyan (Fabian Espindola 75’).

Subs Not Used: Chris Seitz, Tony Beltran, Jean Alexandre, Pablo Campos.

Notes:
• With the loss, the Galaxy are now 2-4 all-time in MLS Cup, winning in 2002 and 2005 while losing in 1996, 1999, 2001 and now 2009.
• Tonight’s game was the fifth time in the Galaxy’s six trips to MLS Cup that the game went to extratime. LA lost in extratime in 1996 and 2001, while winning in 2002 and 2005.
• This was the second time in league history that the MLS Cup went to penalty kicks and the first time that the Galaxy have ever gone to penalty kicks in an MLS match. LA did lose on penalties in the final of the 2007 SuperLiga and the 2009 Pan-Pacific Championship.
• The Galaxy entered tonight’s game with 11 of the club’s 31 players and coaches having won an MLS Cup at some point of their career. Of those players, Landon Donovan had the most Cup victories with three, winning in 2001, 2003 and 2005.
• This was the first-ever postseason game between the Galaxy and the Real Salt Lake.
• The two teams met twice in the regular season, playing to a 2-2 draw at Rio Tinto Stadium on May 6 and RSL winning 2-0 at The Home Depot Center on June 13, snapping the Galaxy’s 10-game unbeaten streak.
• Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that beat the Houston Dynamo 2-0 in the Western Conference Championship on November 13. Todd Dunivant returns from an illness to replace A.J. DeLaGarza at left back, Chris Birchall replaces Dema Kovalenko in central midfield and Jovan Kirovski replaced Chris Klein in the midfield as well. DeLaGarza, Klein and Kovalenko all started the game on the bench.
• However, the Galaxy were without Alecko Eskandarian, Stefani Miglioranzi and Julian Valentin, who all missed the game through injury.
• Mike Magee scored his second goal of the postseason in the 41st minute to give LA a 1-0 lead.
• Landon Donovan and David Beckham each assisted on the goal. Those were the Galaxy’s first assists of the postseason as each of the first five goals LA scored in the playoffs were unassisted.
• This was the first time all season that the Galaxy did not win a game in which they scored the game’s first goal. They had been 2-0-0 in the postseason and 12-0-1 in the regular season.
• Chris Birchall was booked in the first half of tonight’s game. It was his second yellow card in two games this postseason. He collected his two yellow cards in nine regular season games.
• Former Galaxy forward Robbie Findley tied the score for Real Salt Lake in the 64th minute. That goal snapped the Galaxy’s string of 314 consecutive minutes played in the postseason without allowing a goal.
• Donovan Ricketts suffered a right hand contusion early in the second half of the game but remained on the field until the 66th minute. He made two saves before being replaced by Josh Saunders.
• This was the third time this season that Saunders entered a game for an injured Donovan Ricketts. Saunders came on midway through the first half of the 1-1 draw at Kansas City on July 25 and late in the 2-0 win at Chicago on August 19.
• Saunders made his MLS postseason debut in the game, making one save in his 54 minute on the field.
• The Galaxy’s goalkeeping substitution was the first substitution of a goalkeeper in MLS Cup history.
• All three of Real Salt Lake’s former Galaxy players played in the game, with Findley starting and Ned Grabavoy and Clint Mathis each coming off the bench. Just one of the Galaxy’s three former Real Salt Lake players entered the game, with Chris Klein replacing Chris Birchall in the 79th minute.
• A.J. DeLaGarza replaced Omar Gonzalez in the 89th minute. It was just the second time this season that the Gonzalez did not play the match in its entirety.
• Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made his full complement of three substitutions in all 30 regular season games and all four postseason games this year.
• Landon Donovan and Robbie Findley finished as the joint top scorers in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs, each finishing with three goals. Donovan scored in each of the first three of the Galaxy’s postseason games.
• The attendance for today’s game was 46,011, making it the fourth biggest crowd in MLS Cup history and the largest since 2002.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.