Galaxy Earn 2-1 Road Win Over United

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LA Galaxy 2, D.C. United 1
Sunday, July 18, 2010
RFK Stadium – Washington D.C.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Edson Buddle (Unassisted) 38’
DC – Andy Najar (Pablo Hernandez) 54’
LA – Landon Donovan (Penalty Kick) 58’

Misconduct Summary:
DC – Julius James (Yellow Card) 58’
DC - Carey Talley (Yellow Card) 84'

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant; Sean Franklin, Chris Birchall, Juninho (Michael Stephens 62’), Landon Donovan©; Edson Buddle (Eddie Lewis 77’), Alan Gordon(Jovan Kirovski 90').

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Leonardo, Alex Cazumba, Dema Kovalenko.

D.C. United: Troy Perkins; Devon McTavish, Dejan Jakovic(Carey Talley 68’), Julius James, Jordan Graye; Andy Najar, Stephen King (Branko Baskovic 73’), Clyde Simms, Chris Pontius (Jaime Moreno 46’); Santino Quaranta, Pablo Hernandez.

Subs Not Used: Bill Hamid, Kurt Morsink, Thabiso Khumalo, Danny Allsopp.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy are now 12-2-3 on the season, leaving them with 39 points. They remain alone in first place in the Western Conference, nine points ahead of second place Real Salt Lake who fell to Dallas 2-0 on Saturday night and have 30 points from a 9-4-3 record.
• The victory also improved the Galaxy’s all-time record to 208-159-78 to become the first team in MLS history to register 700 points in the regular season.
• Bruce Arena made four changes to the team that fell a week ago against the New England Revolution on July 10, bringing on Landon Donovan, Alan Gordon, A.J. DeLaGarza and Omar Gonzalez, who returned from serving his one game suspension for yellow card accumulation. They replaced Tristan Bowen, Leonardo, Alex Cazumba and Michael Stephens.
• Tonight marks Alan Gordon's first start since May 5 against Colorado when he scored his first goal of the season in the Galaxy ‘s 1-0 win over the Rapids. He now has three starts in nine appearances this season.
• This was the first game back for Gonzalez after serving his first career suspension due to yellow card accumulation after playing all 30 regular season games last season and the first 15 games of the 2010 campaign.
• Edson Buddle gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in the 38th minute, running onto the end of a Sean Franklin cross from the right flank and hitting a low first time shot that was saved by United goalkeeper Troy Perkins.However, Perkins was not able to hold onto the ball and Buddle knocked in the rebound from just outside the six yard box. The goal was the MLS-best 11th of the season for Buddle. This is the third time in Buddle’s career that he has scored 10 or more goals in a single season, also doing so in 2003 and 2004 with Columbus and in 2008 when he had a career-high 15 goals in his first full season with the Galaxy.
• The goal from Buddle also marked the club’s first unassisted strike of the season following 24 assisted goals and an own goal.
• Andy Najar’s goal for United was just the eighth goal allowed by LA this season and the sixth in the second half.
• Landon Donovan scored his second goal of the season in the 58th minute, converting from the penalty spot. The last time he scored a penalty kick was May 6, 2009 against Real Salt Lake in extra time to earn a 2-2 draw. All-time, Donovan has scored 12 goals from the spot since joining the Galaxy in 2005. It was his first penalty kick goal the season for club.
• Sean Franklin created the penalty kick in the 58’ minute streaking up the right side and in to the box. He fired a low shot that was deflected off the arm of a sliding Julius James. Marking the first penalty kick awarded to the Galaxy this season.
• The Galaxy scored the game’s first goal for the 12th time this season. They are now a perfect 12-0-0 in those games. Additionally, LA went into halftime with a 1-0 lead, marking the 11th time this season that the club has led at the half. They are 11-0-0 in those games.
• The attendance for today’s game was 17,688.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Thursday, July 22 when they host the California rivals San Jose Earthquakes at The Home Depot Center. That game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on ESPN2.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.