Sunday, November 22, 2009

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.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

......so...close...what happened donnie? =(
what happened second half? i wish dema played...no. i wish we won. i cant even THINK of football until at least next year. im so drained. we got so far and it still feels like a waste.

Justin said...

Heart broken!!! I feel so bad for Landon!

Anonymous said...

i just want to comment on one thing and i really hope the heads up at MLS take this into consideration. Fan support at these kinds of games are CRUCIAL. i was very disappointed in the color scheme of the stadium. i think its a bad idea to have the final in a "neutral" stadium when most of these faceless and passionless supporters are wearing green. this would have been MUCH better off if it were at the HDC or Rio Tinto. and as a galaxy fan, i would even take the Rio over fake, soulless turf at Qwest.

Cannon Girl said...

Excellent job Saunders! Hold your heads high guys because you defined the word 'team' tonight and gave the best overall performance this season, but when it comes down to penalty kicks it's anyone's game. Any given Sunday right?

Love and thanks to you all - really proud of you. Enjoy the time off and get ready to go head-to-head in 2010's MLS Cup with my Quakes!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for an interesting season boys. Valiant effort by all.

Penalty shootout is a tough way to lose. Sorry Landon missed his. He also missed his try in the first Super Liga and now this one.

This team exceeded my expectation for the season so I'm satisfied. Rebuilding must continue.

It hurts to see so many talented ex-Galaxy players on the other team. Poor Mathis trained for a whole month with us last year and the idiots in charge then did not offer him a contract.

Congrats to Jason Kries and his boys for a great run in the playoffs. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys.

Anonymous said...

The reasone you guys lost is because you cancelled your game against FC Kaiserslautern!

Anonymous said...

Kudos to Beckham, brickbats to Donovan. Beckham gave 110%, including a PK with a damaged foot. Donovan cost his team the win when he couldn't score a PK at a critical moment in the game. He simply couldn't rise to the occasion the way his team mates Beckham, Berhalter, Klein and Magee did. His feeble attempt at goal makes a mockery of his MVP, Goden Boot, and other awards.

Anonymous said...

This loss was devasting!!! How in the world could Landon and Buddle both miss their kicks!!! They're strikers for goodness sake!! Ahhh!!! So frustrated. Great to see those guys play their hearts out though. Becks, you're the man, 3 shots to kill the pain and u played your heart out. Thanks for the effort. Terrific season and a pleasure to watch!! I look forward to some offseason moves so that we can start the road back to the Finals.....oh and by the way, what the heck were we thinking when we let Findley go....I say we trade back for him.
I'm curious to see what next year's team will look like. Thoughts and prayers go out to Rickets, Becks, and Gonazlez-hope you guys recover quickly from your injuries so you can enjoy the holidays. Becks- Good Luck in AC Milan and making the English National Team.....make us proud!!
Great Season Galaxy, see ya next year!!

Anonymous said...

The trade for Findley was one of the biggest mistakes this FO has ever made. Klein is great, but Findley is the future.

beeb said...

Kudos to the team!
What an exciting game...in a way. Damn the penalty kicks determination!
Hope you guys have a much deserved rest and come back refreshed and ready to kick butt!
We still love and believe in you.
(((HUGS)))
Karen

Anonymous said...

Great teamwork Galaxy. I agree with the anonymous comment about the stadium. I was there and the crowd was 90% for RSL. It was tough to see all the Sounders fans rooting for our opponent. It was an excellent game with a coin toss, so to speak, at the end. Both teams played very well and it could have gone either way. I hope everyone on the field for the Galaxy last night, comes back next year. They played with a heart and as previously mentioned there was a lot of heart and teamwork out there. I was very proud, just sad at the outcome.
Next year guys!!!!
Your fans will be there too.

Unknown said...

Go RSL! People said it was a fluke when we made the playoffs. People said it was a fluke when we beat Columbus. People said it was a fluke when we beat Chicago. Now we are the MLS champions. What more can we do! RSL is the Real Deal whether you like it or not

Anonymous said...

Awww well its been a good season. I wish the Galaxy guys could have won, but im happy they made it that far. It sucks Donovan Ricketts hand broke. I hope that heals soon. He is my favorite.
Josh Saunders did fantastic last night. The picture of him after the game on the galaxy website just breaks my heart. He did fantastic during the penalties and I wish I could just hug him.
I hope they make it to the final next season, but next season, I hope they win it.

Anonymous said...

Great season Galaxy! Tough loss, but you are still the best team in the league in my book!

Anonymous said...

Don't listen to the haters Donovan. Even the best can't be perfect on PKs all of the time. And you are the best in MLS.

Anonymous said...

I'm still proud of you Galaxy. I'm still wearing my Galaxy sweatshirt everywhere with pride. Great season. Great run. A little unlucky on this day. Your fans still love you.

Anonymous said...

nope RSL is still a fluke,

Again thanx for helping the true fans get to Seattle Galaxy, pfffff Flippin joke you guys are

RSLlover11 said...

It is not a fluke RSL won! They totally deserved this title! :) When Donovan missed his P.K. I laughed! RSL was clearly the better team or they wouldn't have won! If RSL didn't deserve this win then how come they made the playoffs, beat Columbus, beat Chicago, and then went to Seattle and kicked some Galaxy BUTT!