Galaxy Remain Undefeated with 4-1 Win Over Houston

LA Galaxy 4, Houston Dynamo 1
Saturday, June 5, 2010
The Home Depot Center — Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Jovan Kirovski 2 (Sean Franklin 3, Michael Stephens 4) 1’
HOU – Cam Weaver 1 (Unassisted) 7’
LA – Jovan Kirovski 3 (Sean Franklin 4, Michael Stephens 5) 21’
LA – Tristan Bowen 2 (Unassisted) 48’
LA – Alex Cazumba 1 (Michael Stephens 6) 56’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Gregg Berhalter (Yellow Card) 60’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter© (A.J. DeLaGarza 78’), Omar Gonzalez, Sean Franklin; Chris Birchall, Alex Cazumba, Juninho (Chris Klein 61’), Michael Stephens, Tristan Bowen, Jovan Kirovski (Clint Mathis 70’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Eddie Lewis, Alan Gordon, Bryan Jordan.

Houston Dynamo: Pat Onstad, Craig Waibel (Brian Mullan 60’), Eddie Robinson, Bobby Boswell, Andrew Hainault, Danny Cruz (Dominic Oduro 60’), Brad Davis (Richard Mulrooney 67’), Lovel Palmer, Corey Ashe, Brian Ching©, Cam Weaver.

Subs Not Used: Tally Hall, Ryan Cochrane, Francisco Navas Cobo, Joseph Ngwenya,

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy are now 10-0-2 on the season, giving them 32 points. They remain alone in first place in the Western Conference and are now 12 points ahead of second place Real Salt Lake who have 20 points. The Galaxy face Real Salt Lake on Wednesday night at Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.
• Bruce Arena made two changes to the team that defeated Columbus 2-0 in Ohio last weekend. Alex Cazumba and Juninho each returned to the starting lineup, replacing Mike Magee, who missed the game with right hip soreness and A.J. DeLaGarza, who started the game on the bench.
• In addition to Magee, the Galaxy were also without Dema Kovalenko and Leonardo who missed the game through injury, while Edson Buddle and Landon Donovan were in South Africa with the U.S. National Team ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
• Alex Cazumba was making his first start for the club since the 2-0 win over Chivas USA on April 1.
• Jovan Kirovski gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead 47 seconds into the game with his second goal of the season. The goal was the third fastest in club history behind Clint Mathis who scored 33 seconds into LA’s 2-1 win over Kansas City on July 25, 1999 and Brian Mullan, who scored 39 seconds into a 4-4 draw at Tampa Bay on May 9, 2001. The goal is Galaxy fastest goal in 2010, surpassing A.J. DeLaGarza’s 53-second goal against Philadelphia on May 1.
• Cam Weaver tied the game at 1-all with his first goal of the season in the seventh minute. The goal snapped the club’s streak of minutes without allowing a goal at 463 minutes. The streak, which was the longest in MLS this year, started on the 84th minute of a 3-1 win over Philadelphia on May 1.
• Kirovski gave the lead back to the Galaxy in the 21st minute with his second goal of the game, his first multi-goal performance with the club since October 9, 2004 and fourth overall. Kirovski moves into a three-way tie with forwards Carlos Hermosillo and Welton for sixth place on the club’s all-time list for most-goal games.
• Tristan Bowen scored his second goal in as many games early in the second half, giving LA a 3-1 lead. He has now recorded a goal or an assist in all three MLS games that he has started this season.
• Alex Cazumba gave the Galaxy a 4-1 lead with his first career goal in MLS in the 56th minute. Cazumba, who will turn 22 later this month, played the full 90 minutes.
• Rookie Michael Stephens recorded a career-high three assists on the evening, doubling his season total to six. He is now just three assists shy of MLS and team leader, Landon Donovan.
• Sean Franklin recorded two assists on the day to bring up his season total to four.
• Donovan Ricketts improves his season record to 10-0-1. He recorded one save in the game and now has an MLS best 0.28 goals against average.
• When Gregg Berhalter left the field, he handed the captain’s armband to Chris Klein, who came in for Juninho in the 61sth minute of the game.
• LA is now 12 points ahead of the Eastern Conference leading Columbus Crew, who lost 1-0 at Colorado tonight, for the best record in MLS. The Crew are 6-1-3 for 21 points this season.
• The attendance for today’s game was 20,826.
• The Galaxy are back in action this Wednesday, June 9 when they travel to Sandy, Utah to take on Western Conference Second-Place Real Salt Lake. That game kicks off at 6:00 p.m. (PT) and can be seen delayed on Fox Sports West at 11 p.m. (PT).
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.