Galaxy Claim Third Straight SuperClasico with 2-1 Win Over Chivas USA

LA Galaxy 2, Chivas USA 1
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Edson Buddle 15 (Michael Stephens 8) 24’
LA – David Beckham 1 (Unassisted) 39’
CHV – Alan Gordon 2 (Jonathan Bornstein 2) 63’

Misconduct Summary:
CHV – Carlos Borja (Yellow Card) 38’
LA – Eddie Lewis (Red Card) 76’
CHV – Rodolfo Espinoza (Yellow Card) 76’
LA – Michael Stephens (Yellow Card 88’)

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant; Juninho, Chris Birchall (Alex Cazumba 85’), David Beckham (Eddie Lewis 64’/Sent Off 76’), Michael Stephens; Landon Donovan©, Edson Buddle (Tristan Bowen 90’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Yohance Marshall, Jovan Kirovski, Mike Magee.

Chivas USA: Zach Thornton; Mariano Trujillo, Carlos Borja (Sal Zizzo 77’), Ante Jazic, Jonathan Bornstein©; Paulo Nagamura, Ben Zemanski (Rodolfo Espinoza 46’), Michael Lahoud, Justin Braun; Alan Gordon, Giancarlo Maldonado (Jorge Flores 46’).

Subs Not Used: Kevin Guppy, Yamith Cuesta, Marcelo Saragosa, Jesus Padilla.
Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy move back into first place in the Western Conference and all of MLS with a 16-6-5 record for 53 points. They are now two points ahead of Real Salt Lake with each team having three games remaining on the schedule.
• This was the Galaxy’s first game this season in which they were not the best team in MLS entering the game. Real Salt Lake defeated New England 2-1 on Saturday night, moving them into first place ahead of the Galaxy.
• The win gives the Galaxy their third consecutive Honda SuperClasico title and their fifth in the six year history of the competition. The Galaxy swept the season series against their in-stadium rivals this season, also winning 2-0 as the home team on April 1.
• The Galaxy are now 12-3-5 all-time against Chivas USA in the regular season and are unbeaten in the last eight meetings between the sides.
• The win for LA also eliminated Chivas USA from postseason contention.
• Bruce Arena made four changes to the team that lost 2-0 to the New York Red Bulls at The Home Depot Center last week. Omar Gonzalez, and A.J. DeLaGarza returned in central defense, replacing Leonardo and Yohance Marshall, while Chris Birchall and Michael Stephens were brought back into the midfield in place of Jovan Kirovski and Dema Kovalenko.
• Leonardo and Kovalenko each missed the game through injury, as did central defender Gregg Berhalter, who did not dress for the seventh straight game because of a neck strain.
• Edson Buddle gave the Galaxy the lead in the 24th minute with his 15th goal of the season. That goal tied his career-high for goals in a season, a record that he set in 2008 as a member of the Galaxy.
• Buddle now has three goals in the two games against Chivas USA this season and has four goals in his last five regular season games against them.
• With his goal, Buddle became the first player in MLS history to score 40 or more goals for two different teams. He had 42 goals in 106 career regular season games with the Columbus Crew and now has 40 goals in 84 regular season games with the Galaxy.
• Michael Stephens collected his eighth assist of the season on the goal, making him the first Galaxy player other than David Beckham or Landon Donovan to record eight or more assists in a season since Cobi Jones did so in 2003.
• Stephens was making his first appearance for the Galaxy since Auguest 28 vs. Chivas USA. He has appeared in every game of the season up to that point but did not play in any of the previous four games before tonight.
• The Galaxy are now 15-0-0 when scoring first, making them the only team in MLS not to drop a point when scoring the game’s opening goal.
• David Beckham gave the Galaxy a 2-0 lead just before halftime with his first goal of the season. Prior to that, Beckham last scored in an LA uniform on September 19, 2009 vs. Toronto FC.
• Beckham has now scored in each of his last two games against Chivas USA. Both of those goals turned out to be the game-winners.
• The goal came directly from a freekick, the first such goal LA has scored this season. The last time LA scored directly from a freekick was in May 2008 when Beckham did so against Real Salt Lake.
• Alan Gordon’s goal for Chivas USA in the 63rd minute was the first goal allowed by the Galaxy against Chivas USA since the 2008 season, snapping a string of four consecutive clean sheets for LA against Chivas.
• LA remain one clean sheet shy of tying the club’s all-time record of 12, which was set last season, while Donovan Ricketts remains one shutout shy of tying Kevin Hartman’s record for the most clean sheets by a Galaxy goalkeeper in a single season.
• Eddie Lewis was sent off in the 76th minute, becoming the first LA player to be shown a red card this season. Four players have been sent off against LA.
• Ricketts made four saves in the game and remains on pace to record the lowest single season goals against average in Galaxy history.
• Juninho was not booked in the game, meaning that he is eligible to play in the Galaxy’s next game at Philadelphia on September 7. He remains one caution away from a mandatory one game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
• The attendance for today’s game was a sellout crowd of 24,283.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Thursday, October 7 when they play their final road game of the season at PPL Park against the Philadelphia Union. That game kicks off at 5 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.