The Los Angeles Galaxy's rise to prominence is complete after winning a bizarre but ultimately historic Western Conference Championship, defeating the Houston Dynamo 2-0 on Friday night at The Home Depot Center.
Gregg Berhalter and Landon Donovan scored for the Galaxy, who will play in their sixth MLS Cup on Nov. 22 at Seattle's Qwest Field.
The Galaxy endured a late kickoff (8:25 p.m. PT), two 18-minute power outages and the stingiest defense in the playoffs thus far but still overcame those odds in order to keep their season alive.
Entering the match, Houston's defense had played about as well as could have been asked as the club did not allow a goal in 210 minutes against Seattle in the Western Conference Semifinals. By contrast, the Galaxy allowed two goals in their first playoff game, a 2-2 draw against Chivas USA on Nov. 1, but the Galaxy recovered to post a 1-0 shutout a week ago.
Houston's playoff scoreless streak was at risk just four minutes into the match. Donovan raced down the left side of the penalty box and straddled the end line before leaving a ball to Mike Magee. The Galaxy forward knocked a shot on goal but Houston's Pat Onstad was quick to make the save, and the rebound fell hamrlessly by the wayside. A more fortuitous bounce for the hosts could have resulted in another scoring chance.
At 17:45 into the game, a bit of the bizarre that could possibly be attributed to Friday the 13th hit the game. As the Galaxy held the ball in the middle of the field, the lights in the stadium suddenly went out, save for a few random ones who refused to go dark. Both teams walked over to their respective sidelines as the game took an unexpected pause.
A Galaxy spokesman said the power outage was due to a Southern California Edison power dip. Once the lights came back on and play resumed, more than 18 minutes had passed. However, the clock was stopped at 17:55 and resumed play then.
Just as they had done at the start of the game, the hosts started quickly during the re-opening of the match. The Galaxy held the ball inside Houston's penalty area but could not get a shot off on goal.
Donovan nearly poked a ball into an empty net in the 25th minute after the Galaxy caught Pat Onstad off his line, but Stuart Holden did well to get back and Brian Mullan was booked after a rough challenge on Edson Buddle. Mullan slid and knocked Buddle down after going in from an awkward angle.
The foul set up a 27-yard free kick for David Beckham. His attempt was on goal but Onstad did well to parry the ball out of bounds.
On the half hour, Buddle tried his fortune with a 30-yard shot but hit the ball right to Onstad as Chris Klein raced nearly alone to his right.
Brad Davis tested Galaxy 'keeper Donovan Ricketts in the 34th minute with a 30-yard bomb but Ricketts did well to dive to his left and push the ball away safely.
Davis again put pressure on the Galaxy's backline when he dribbled into the penalty area one minute later, but his attempt sailed well high of the crossbar.
The Galaxy got off a quick shot on goal in the opening moments of the second half when Donovan ripped a 20-yarder on goal. Onstad got to the ball but it had too much power on it and the ball slipped through Onstad's fingers and went out for a Galaxy corner kick.
Once again, however, the lights went out. Six minutes into the second half, a second power dip caused the lights to stop shining and delayed the game for another 18 minutes. It was past 10 p.m. local time before the match got underway once more.
Once the game started, neither side seemed to have much continuity as the teams tried to regain their tempo and sharpness following another extended delay.
Perhaps because of the delays, the game never seemed to get into a rhythm for either team -- although that could also have been attributed to the team's defenses. Still, with a quarter-hour to go, neither team looked dangerous enough to score.
Finally, Houston showed danger in the 79th minute but Ricketts was up for the challenge. Brian Ching powered a header on goal after a cross from Davis but Ricketts got enough off the ball to deflect it up and off the crossbar.
On the ensuing corner kick, Houston scored but the goal was disallowed after Luis Angel Landin was ruled to have knocked down A.J. DeLaGarza.
With less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation, the game resumed its choppy play.
Perhaps fittingly, the game finished in a scoreless draw and the teams needed extra time to decide the match.
Six minutes into extra time, both sides went to the bench. Alan Gordon replaced Edson Buddle while Houston took out Davis in favor of Eddie Robinson.
Four minutes later, the Galaxy used their final substitute of the game when Eddie Lewis replaced Magee.
In the 103rd minute, the Galaxy won a free kick when Ricardo Clark fouled Gordon some 35 yards out. Beckham lined up the restart that eventually found its way into the back of the goal. It was an unlikely source who picked up the goal as Berhalter finally broke the Dynamo's scoreless streak.
Beckham swung the free kick to the front of the goal and Omar Gonzalez got a head on it. The ball deflected off Houston's Eddie Robinson and fell to an open spot in the box. Berhalter raced onto the ball and buried it into the back of the net.
After the teams changed ends, Gordon won a penalty kick when he was taken down by Clark after a dribbling run into the Dynamo area. Donovan stepped to the spot and rifled the spot kick into the back of the net for the insurance goal, his third of the postseason and 17th playoff goal of his career.
Luis Bueno is a contributor to MLSnet.com.
