MLS Cup Postgame Notes

LA Galaxy 1, Houston Dynamo 0
MLS Cup 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.
Scoring Summary:

LA – Landon Donovan 3 (Robbie Keane 1, David Beckham 4) 71’

Misconduct Summary:

HOU – Bobby Boswell (Yellow Card) 13’

LA – Adam Cristman (Yellow Card) 40’

HOU – Andre Hainault (Yellow Card) 74’

LA – David Beckham (Yellow Card) 82’

LA – Landon Donovan (Yellow Card) 94+

Lineups:

LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders; Sean Franklin, A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant; Landon Donovan©, David Beckham, Juninho, Mike Magee; Adam Cristman (Chris Birchall 58’), Robbie Keane.

Subs Not Used: Donovan Ricketts, Gregg Berhalter, Frankie Hejduk, Michael Stephens, Jovan Kirovski, Paolo Cardozo.

Houston Dynamo: Tally Hall; Andre Hainault, Bobby Boswell, Geoff Cameron, Jermaine Taylor; Adam Moffat, Danny Cruz (Colin Clark 78’), Luiz Camargo, Corey Ashe (Je-Vaughn Watson 84’); Calen Carr (Carlo Costly 66’), Brian Ching©.

Subs Not Used: Tyler Deric, Hunter Freeman, Eddie Robinson, Will Bruin.

Referee: Ricardo Salazar

Referee’s Assistants: Craig Lowery and Peter Manikowski

4th Official: Hilario Grajeda

Notes:

• With the win, the Galaxy have now won their third MLS Cup and first since 2005.
• This was the Galaxy’s MLS record seventh appearance in MLS Cup and their second in the last three years.
• The Galaxy have now won three of their seven all-time MLS Cup appearances. All three have finished 1-0, with tonight’s game the first that they won in regulation.
• Prior to tonight’s game, only one of LA’s six MLS Cup appearances had been played on the West Coast. In 2009, the Galaxy lost on penalties to Real Salt Lake in Seattle. Prior to that, they had played three MLS Cups in Foxborough, Mass., one in Columbus, Ohio and one in Frisco, Texas.
• This was the second time that the Galaxy and Dynamo had met in the postseason with LA winning the 2009 Western Conference Championship 2-0 in extratime at The Home Depot Center.
• Bruce Arena made one change to the team that beat Real Salt Lake 3-1 in the Western Conference Championship on November 6 with Adam Cristman coming into the starting lineup in place if the injured Chad Barrett.
• With Cristman starting, Jovan Kirovski took his spot in the 18-man squad. Kirovski was in the squad for Game Two of the Conference Semifinal Series against New York but did not play.
• Gregg Berhalter was in the 18-man squad for the first time in the postseason, replacing Dasan Robinson, who had dressed but not played in any of LA’s first three playoff games.
• The Galaxy were once again without Sean Alvarado, Chad Barrett and Leonardo who all missed the game through injury.
• Of the 11 players that started for the Galaxy tonight, six started MLS Cup 2009 while 12 of the 18 players in tonight’s squad also played in that game.
• The Galaxy failed to score in the first half for the first time this postseason.
• Robbie Keane appeared to give the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in the 57^th minute, but he was flagged for offside, cancelling out the goal.
• LA made their first substitution of the night a minute later, taking off Adam Cristman in favor of Chris Birchall. Birchall played in all four postseason games this season, making three appearances off the bench and one start.
• Landon Donovan eventually gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in the 72^nd minute, flicking a right-footed shot just inside the far post.
• The goal was Donovan’s third of the postseason, leaving him tied with Mike Magee and Alvaro Saborio as the top goal scorer in the MLS Cup Playoff.
• The goal was also the 20^th in Donovan’s postseason career, which are the most in MLS history.
• Robbie Keane collected his first postseason assist on the goal.
• David Beckham was also credited with an assist on the goal. He had one assist in all four of LA’s postseason games this year.
• Josh Saunders finished the game with one save for his second postseason shutout.
• Saunders played every minute of the postseason, allowing just two goals in four games.
• Landon Donovan was selected at the MLS Cup MVP for the second time in his career.
• The Galaxy became the first team in MLS history to win all four of their playoff games under the current format.
• The attendance for today’s game was a sellout crowd of 30,281 at The Home Depot Center. This was the biggest crowd in the history of The Home Depot Center.