Donovan Double Gives LA 2-1 Win

LA Galaxy 2, D.C. United 1
Saturday, September 18, 2010
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
DC – Andy Najar 4 (Unassisted) 60’
LA – Landon Donovan 6 (Unassisted) 81’
LA – Landon Donovan 7 (Tristan Bowen 2, Sean Franklin 6) 86’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Omar Gonzalez (Yellow Card) 39’
LA – Yohance Marshall (Yellow Card) 62’
LA – Landon Donovan (Yellow Card) 88’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, Yohance Marshall, Todd Dunivant; Dema Kovalenko, Landon Donovan©, Juninho (Tristan Bowen 78’), Alex Cazumba (Eddie Lewis 63’); Jovan Kirovski (David Beckham 53’), Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Chris Birchall, Michael Stephens, Mike Magee.

D.C. United: Troy Perkins; Jordan Graye, Julius James, Dejan Jakovic, Jed Zayner; Andy Najar, Kurt Morsink (Carlos Varela 90’), Stephen King (Branko Boskovic 46’), Santino Quaranta©; Danny Allsopp (Clyde Simms 78’), Pablo Hernandez.

Subs Not Used: Chase Harrison, Junior Carreiro, Devon McTavish.
Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy improve to 15-5-5 on the season and remain in sole possession of first place in the Western Conference with 50 points. They remain three points ahead of Real Salt Lake for first place in the Western Conference and the best record in MLS, with five games left in the season.
• LA are now six points ahead of the Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew, who lost 4-0 to Seattle earlier today.
• The Galaxy are now unbeaten in their last three games, giving them their first three-game unbeaten streak since opening the year without a loss in their first 12 games. They are 2-0-1 in those games.
• Bruce Arena made one change to the team that defeated Columbus 3-1 at The Home Depot Center last weekend, giving Yohance Marshall his MLS debut in central defense in place of Leonardo, who missed the game because of right quad fatigue.
• In addition to Leonardo, the Galaxy were without defenders Gregg Berhalter and A.J. DeLaGarza, who missed their fifth and second straight game respectively.
• Marshall was recalled from his loan assignment with the Austin Aztex of the USSF Division 2 Pro League on Monday. He had been with the Aztex since April, appearing in 24 games for the club, scoring three times and helping them reach the postseason for the first time ever.
• The only other time that Marshall was in the Galaxy’s 18-man squad for a league game this season was on May 20 at FC Dallas, when he was an unused substitute. He did play the final 45 minutes of the 1-0 friendly win over Boca Juniors at The Home Depot Center a few days later on May 23 before returning to Austin.
• Marshall played the full 90 minutes and was booked in the second half.
• Omar Gonzalez was booked in the 39th minute for a foul on Pablo Hernandez. That was his team-high eighth yellow card of the season, earning him a mandatory one-game suspension. Gonzalez will now miss next week’s game against the New York Red Bulls.
• Andy Najar gave D.C. United a 1-0 lead in the 60th minute. He scored in each of the two games this season between the Galaxy and D.C.
• Landon Donovan equalized for the Galaxy in the 81st minute with his sixth goal of the season.
• That goal was Donovan’s 70th as a member of the Galaxy, tying him with Cobi Jones for the most regular season goals in club history.
• He became the club’s all-time leading scorer with his second goal of the game five minutes later, scoring the game winning goal.
• This was his second multi-goal game of the season, with both coming at The Home Depot Center.
• Sean Franklin and Tristan Bowen each assisted on the game-winning goal. For Franklin it was his sixth assist of the season and Bowen’s second.
• Both of Bowen’s assists this season have come on game-winning goals.
• Franklin has assisted on the game-winning goal in each of LA’s last two games.
• LA got the full three points after allowing the game’s first goal for the first time this season, They are now 1-5-2 when allowing the first goal. Prior to tonight, the last time LA won after allowing the opening goal was September 20, 2008 when Landon Donovan had a hat trick in a 5-2 win over D.C. United.
• This was the first time this season that D.C. did not win when scoring the game’s opening goal. They are now 4-0-1 when doing so.
• LA have now come back to earn a point in each of the last two games in which they have allowed the game’s first goal.
• Donovan Ricketts made five saves in the game and allowed just one goal for the third straight game. He claimed his MLS-best 15th win of the season in the game.
• This was the final game of the season between the Galaxy and D.C. United, with LA sweeping the season series after also winning 2-1 at RFK Stadium earlier this year.
• Juninho was not booked in the game, meaning that he is eligible to play in the Galaxy’s next game against New York. He remains one caution away from a mandatory one game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
• As a result of tonight’s win and Chicago’s loss at Real Salt Lake, the Galaxy can become the first team to qualify for this year’s MLS Cup Playoffs with a Chivas USA win over Kansas City on Sunday.
• The attendance for today’s game was 20,094.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Friday, September 24 when they complete their three game homestand against the New York Red Bulls. That game kicks off at 8 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.