Late Gonzalez Goal Rescues 1-1 Draw for Galaxy

LA Galaxy 1, Chicago Fire 1
Saturday, September 4, 2010
TOYOTA Park – Bridgeview, Ill.

Scoring Summary:
CHI – Collins John 3 (Unassisted) 88’
LA – Omar Gonzalez 2 (Landon Donovan 12) 91+

Misconduct Summary:
CHI – Gonzalo Segares (Red Card) 21’
CHI – Logan Pause (Yellow Card) 63’
LA – Omar Gonzaalez (Yellow Card) 87’
CHI – Collins John (Yellow Card) 88’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, Leonardo, Todd Dunivant (Mike Magee 81’); Dema Kovalenko, Jovan Kirovski, Tristan Bowen (Bryan Jordan 61’), Alex Cazumba (Eddie Lewis 71’); Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan©.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, A.J. DeLaGarza, Chris Klein, Michael Stephens.

Chicago Fire: Sean Johnson; Steven Kinney, C.J. Brown, Wilman Conde, Gonzalo Segares; Logan Pause, John Thorrington, Patrick Nyarko (Collins John 82’), Mike Banner; Nery Castillo (Calen Carr 69’), Brian McBride© (Krzystof Krol 77’).

Subs Not Used: Andrew Dykstra, Kwame Watson-Siriboe, Corben Bone, Baggio Husidic.

Notes:
• With the draw, the Galaxy are now 13-5-5 on the season and remain in first place in the Western Conference with 44 points. They are now four points ahead of Real Salt Lake for first place in the Western Conference and three points ahead of Columbus for the best record in MLS, with both teams in action tonight.
• Because of the result, the Galaxy will remain in first place in the Western Conference heading into next week’s games. They have been in first place in the Western Conference all season long.
• The draw snapped the Galaxy’s two game losing streak.
• Bruce Arena made four changes to the team that fell 2-0 at home against Kansas City last weekend, with Tristan Bowen, Alex Cazumba, Jovan Kirovski and Dema Kovalenko all returning to the starting lineup replacing Chris Birchall, who was suspended for yellow card accumulation, as well as Chris Klein, Mike Magee and Michael Stephens, who all started the game on the bench.
• The Galaxy also played the game without defender Gregg Berhalter, who missed his third straight game because of viral complications and midfielders David Beckham and Juninho. Beckham remains on the Disabled List after undergoing surgery in March to repair a torn Achilles tendon, while Juninho returned to Los Angeles today after dealing with personal matters back in Brazil over the past two weeks. He was last in the lineup on August 21 at San Jose.
• Landon Donovan missed a penalty kick in the 23rd minute, with Sean Johnson saving the shot by diving to his left. That was Donovan’s first missed penalty in an MLS game since September 1, 2007 in a 2-1 home loss to Real Salt Lake. Since then, the Galaxy captain had 12 straight penalties in the regular season, including two against Johnson and the Fire at The Home Depot Center on August 1.
• The three penalty kicks for Donovan against Johnson are the most he has taken against a single goalkeeper in MLS.
• The Fire’s Gonzalo Segares was sent off for a foul on Leonardo that led to the penalty kick attempt. He is the fourth player to be sent off against LA this season, and the third to be sent off in the first half.
• LA is now 2-0-2 when the opposition has a player sent off, winning at Houston and vs. Philadelphia and drawing at home against Toronto FC.
• Omar Gonzalez tied the score for LA in the first minute of stoppage time, heading home a Landon Donovan corner kick.
• That goal was Gonzalez’s second of the season while the assist was Donovan’s MLS-best 12th.
• Gonzalez’s goal in the first minute of stoppage time snapped the Galaxy’s 350 minute scoreless streak dating back to Edson Buddle’s goal in the 10th minute of the 1-0 win at New York on August 14.
• This was the first time since August 14 and just the second time since July 18 that LA did not allow a goal in the opening half of play.
• Omar Gonzalez was booked in the 87th minute for a foul on John Thorrington. That was his seventh yellow card of the season, leaving him one caution shy of a mandatory one game suspension.
• Dema Kovalenko played the 240th game of his MLS career in the game, while Landon Donovan played his 225th and Todd Dunivant played his 180th.
• Michael Stephens did not enter the game for the Galaxy. This was the first time this season that Stephens did not play in a regular season game.
• LA is 0-5-2 now on the season when allowing the game’s opening goal, compared to 13-0-0 when scoring the first goal.
• The attendance for today’s game was 21,068.
• The Galaxy are back in action next Saturday, September 11 when they host the Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew at The Home Depot Center. That game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Fox Sports West starting with Galaxy Live at 7 p.m.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.