Landon Donovan came out of retirement to help the Galaxy chase a sixth MLS Cup, and on Sunday in Kansas City his first goal delivered a valuable point in the chase for Western Conference playoff seeding.
Down 2-1 and lacking inspiration on a hot day at Children's Mercy Park, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena turned to Donovan in the 74th minute and the MLS and US national team legend combined with Robbie Rogers just two minutes later to cancel out second-half goals from Jacob Peterson and Dom Dwyer.
LA's Alan Gordon got things rolling in a first half that saw SKC outshoot LA 14-1 but trail 1-0 after the veteran forward got on the end of an Emmanuel Boateng cross in the seventh minute. Overall, Sporting enjoyed a sizeable advantage in possession and shots, but couldn't make it count in a match that saw them hold steady in the sixth and final playoff spot in the West.
With each team picking up a point from the 2-2 draw, LA (11-4-15, 48 pts) moved into second in the West, while Sporting KC (11-12-7, 40 pts) trail Portland by two points and lead seventh-place Seattle by five points.
LA Galaxy Postgame Notes
LA Galaxy 2, Sporting Kansas City 2
Sunday, Sept. 18, 2016
2016 MLS Regular Season
Children’s Mercy Park – Kansas City, Kansas
Scoring Summary:
LA – Alan Gordon (Assisted by Emmanuel Boateng, Sebastian Lletget) 7’
SKC – Jacob Peterson (Assisted by Dominic Dwyer) 50’
SKC – Dominic Dwyer (Assisted by Saad Abdul-Salaam, Benny Feilhaber) 69’
LA – Landon Donovan (Assisted by Robbie Rogers) 76’
Misconduct Summary:
LA – Jeff Larentowicz (caution) 44’
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Brian Rowe; Robbie Rogers, Daniel Steres, Jelle Van Damme, Ashley Cole; Raul Mendiola (Landon Donovan 74’), Jeff Larentowicz, Sebastian Lletget, Emmanuel Boateng (Rafael Garcia 83’); Alan Gordon (Baggio Husidic 74’), Robbie Keane ©
Substitutions not used: Dan Kennedy, Dave Romney, A.J. DeLaGarza, Giovani dos Santos
Head Coach: Bruce Arena
SHOTS: 4; SHOTS ON GOAL: 2; CORNERS: 0; OFFSIDES: 3; SAVES: 1
Sporting Kansas City: Tim Melia; Saad Abdul-Salaam, Kevin Ellis, Matt Besler, Jimmy Medrana (Nuno Coelho 87’); Benny Feilhaber, Soni Mustivar, Roger Espinoza; Jacob Peterson, Dominic Dwyer, Brad Davis (Diego Rubio 64’).
Substitutions not used: Alec Kann, Ike Opara, Seth Sinovic, Paulo Nagamura, Cameron Porter.
Head Coach: Peter Vermes
SHOTS: 21; SHOTS ON GOAL: 3; CORNERS: 6; OFFSIDES: 2; SAVES: 0
Referee: Ricardo Salazar.
Referee’s Assistants: Peter Manikowski and Frank Anderson
4th Official: Younes Marrakchi
Attendance: 19,480
