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MLS Playoffs: Los Angeles Galaxy at Chivas USA (Matchday Commentary)

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The biggest rivalry in Major League Soccer will have its first playoff installment today when the Los Angeles Galaxy faces Chivas USA in the first game of their Western Conference playoff series (5:30pm, ESPN2).

The Galaxy enters as the No. 1 seed in the West, and this series will feature David Beckham's debut in the MLS playoffs, while also signaling Landon Donovan's first appearance in the playoffs since he helped lead LA to the 2005 MLS Cup title.

Chivas USA will be looking to exorcise its own playoff demons after a trio of first-round playoff exits. Goalkeeper Zach Thornton has enjoyed a career year while Sacha Kljestan stands poised to be Chivas USA's go-to player in the series.

I will be providing live commentary on today's match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below.

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):

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FINAL– These teams return to action next Sunday, when the Galaxy will be the home team. Will Ricketts be healthy enough to play? Will LA's defense rebound? Can Chivas USA produce more chances and not just at the start of the half?

That's all for now. Feel free to share your post-game thoughts in the comments section below.

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FINAL– Beckham and Cuesta exchange words in the post-game scrum, no love lost there.

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FINAL– Chivas USA 2, LA Galaxy 2. Chivas USA had some good chances to win this game but Ricketts came up big on several occasions. The Galaxy's attack showed glimpses, but its defense looked extremely shaky.

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93rd minute– We're winding down to the end and this looks destined for a tie.

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91st minute– Wow, LA dodges a bullett after Kljestan stripped Beckham at midfield and springs Galindo with a long ball.

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90th minute– LA keeps trying, but Chivas USA is thwarting every build-up.

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87th minute– Thornton catches a long free kick by Beckham that was never threatening.

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87th minute– Chivas USA fans shower their own net with streamers. Not sure how smart that was.

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85th minute– Not sure if either team will be upset with this result, but LA is pressing for a winner.

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84th minute– Gordon and Cuesta are both down after tough challenges on seperate plays.

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81st minute– Saragosa with a yellow card and LA has a long free kick. Chivas USA clears out a handful of chances and Padilla goes in very hard on Beckham, who is laughing after the challenge.

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80th minute– Ten minutes to go. The game has hit a lull.

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79th minute– Jorge Flores comes in for Jazic. Last sub for Chivas USA.

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78th minute– Ricketts does well to run out and beat Kljestan to a ball. He's not completely limited in terms of mobility.

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77th minute– Chris Klein comes in for Chris Birchall and Jesus Padilla comes in for Maicon Santos.

Ricketts is nursing a hip flexor strain, and LA is now out of subs so Ricketts must stay healthy.

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76th minute– Gordon with a golden chance to spring Donovan for an easy chance, but he takes the shot instead, much to the disgust of Donovan.

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75th minute– Great sequence by LA, as Donovan gets into the final third and combines with Gordon. Donovan's shot is saved easily though.

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74th minute– And just like that, Galindo gets forward on the counter, earning a corner for Chivas USA.

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73rd minute– Galaxy starting to pour on some pressure.

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71st minute– Ricketts is going to gut it out.

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69th minute– Alan Gordon is coming in for Edson Buddle. Ricketts is down, holding his right leg/hip.

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68th minute– Galaxy 2, Chivas USA 2. We've seen blunders galore. Will someone step up with a moment of brilliance to net a winner?

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65th minute– Buddle misses high on a volley in front of goal. LA doing better and looks to have settled down.

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64th minute– Lewis is hurt, got hurt right off the bat, but he's shaking it off.

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63rd minute– Eddie Lewis comes in for Magee. Look for Donovan to move up top.

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60th minute– SAVE RICKETTS!!! Santos catches Gonzalez napping again and hits one on frame. Chivas USA is feeling it right now.

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57th minute– Chivas USA's corner is dealt with, but LA's defense has come out looking extremely shaky this half.

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56th minute– Ricketts dives to stop a Nagamura shot. Chivas USA corner.

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55th minute– Braun beats Birchall and draws a corner kick.

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54th minute– It's time for Beckham and Donovan to impose themselves on this match.

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51st minute– Gonzalez is having a nightmare day. First he gets torched on Maicon's opening goal, then he delivers Chivas USA's equalizer with a bad back-pass. Will he shake it off?

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50th minute- GOAL CHIVAS USA!!!! Galindo pounces on a bad back-pass from Gonzalez and rounds Ricketts before finishing into an open net. Chivas USA 2, Galaxy 2.

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48th minute– Maykel Galindo is in for Lahoud and had a great look early.

Chivas USa corner is cleared away by Beckham, who finds Donovan on the counter.

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47th minute– And we're back. Chivas USA on the early attack.

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HALFTIME– Galaxy 2, Chivas USA 1. The Galaxy pounce on some Chivas USA errors that spoil a great start for Chivas USA. 

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47th minute– Foul by Dunivant on the corner.

Nice shot of Talley poking Magee in the face during an argument. You know Magee considered falling, but thought better of it.

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47th minute– Galaxy earn another corner off a long blocked shot.

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45th minute– Galaxy leading 2-1 off a pair of absolute blunders by Chivas USA.

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42nd minute– Chivas USA is punished after failing to deal with a corner kick that it failed to clear away. Maicon Santos with a poor attempt at a clearance and Donovan finishes it off. There are appeals of offside, and Donovan was in an offside position, but it was a Chivas USA botched back-pass/clearance so Donovan gets the goal.

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41st minute- GOAL GALAXY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Landon Donovan finishes off a loose ball in the area.

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39th minute– Will we see Jesus Padilla in the second half? He's the type of player who could cause problems for LA's centerbacks.

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37th minute- Kljestan looked good early, but hasn't done much in the past 20 minutes.

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34th minute– Chivas USA's offense has gone into a shell. Unfortunate after such a promising start.

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33rd minute– Beckham showing off some moves. He's getting into this match.

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29th minute– Waiting to see Beckham make his mark on this match.

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27th minute– Things get testy after Birchall tackles Lahoud from behind. Ugly tackle and a deserved yellow.

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26th minute– Nagamura with a nice boot to Donovan's eye.

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25th minute– Donovan and Magee with consecutive shots that are blocked. LA looking lively right now, moving the ball well in midfield.

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23rd minute– Good job of Arena deploying Donovan on the left, where he can exploit Carey Talley's lack of speed.

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18th minute– Lahoud looks like such a sharp player. There's a reason so many teams were so high on him going into the draft.

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16th minute– Chivas USA looked very confident early. How will that goal impact their psyche? It will be more important to the Galaxy's confidence and could very well swing this game.

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15th minute– Cuesta completely botches the clearance attempt, leaving it on a platter for Magee, who is deadly in the area.

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14th minute- GOAL GALAXY!!! And it's Mike Magee, pouncing on a poor Chivas USA clearance attempt to equalize.

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13th minute– Shadows are wreaking a bit of havoc on this game, with half the game in blazing sunlight, and the other half in the dark shade.

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11th minute– LA is starting to pick up the pace and a Beckham corner led to a weak header.

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6th minute– Will Chivas USA keep attacking, or will they take this defensive-minded lineup and sit on this lead?

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5th minute– Omar Gonzalez gave Santos too much space on the left side of the area and he blasted a low shot that Ricketts got a late read on.

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3rd Minute- GOAL CHIVAS USA!!! And it's Maicon Santos beating Donovan Ricketts to the far post with a laser of a shot. Chivas uSA 1, Galaxy 0. WOW.

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1st Minute– And we're off.

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PRE-GAME– Here is Chivas USA's starting lineup:

———————Santos——————-

Braun————-Kljestan——–Nagamura

————-Lahoud—Saragosa————-

Jazic—-Cuesta——-Bornstein——Talley

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PRE-GAME– Here is LA's starting lineup:

—————Buddle———–Magee————–

Donovan————–Beckham————-Birchall

———————–Kovalenko———————

Dunivant—–Berhalter—-Gonzalez——-Franklin

———————–Ricketts———————–

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Comments

  1. No. Most games are played there at night under the lights or at noon with full sun above. Blame it on late afternoon during Fall playoff scheduling.

    Reply
  2. of course they are, just look at all the commercials and any other promotions
    espn shows is generally pro north-east and LA and it shows in almost every sport they talk about. The only time they are pro anything else is when they talk about college football.
    ESPN is a completely biased network in every regard and shoves those biases at us whenever they get the chance.

    Reply
  3. Jen Chang ESPN, said Gordon sucked in practice also. To paraphrase Jen, if he can’t put a shot on goal in practice why do they think he will in a game.

    Reply
  4. There must be so many forwards in the USL watching Gordon and wondering why he’s in MLS and they are in the USL. He needs to go to the USL.

    Reply
  5. Gordon should have a freakin’ hat trick already! Why didn’t they give Buddle these chances! Arena should go beat himself with a baseball bat.

    Reply
  6. This performance doesn’t bode well for the Galaxy. I think and hope we will see a different lineup for LA in their next game.

    Reply
  7. haha, i was just thinking how does Gordon ever get on the field. he must bust his butt in training cause he never does anything in games. i especially liked when the announcer said “Gordon is good in the air”

    Reply
  8. Imagine Gordon mistiming his jump like that.

    Doesn’t seem like a good sub at this point. No one wants to play defense for LA.

    Nice pass back to Thornton by Donovan.

    Remember that song “Gordon is a moron”?

    Reply
  9. There is something not right about the Galaxy lineup. They need some subs soon. Get Kovolenko out of there and also get Delagarza in there. This Galaxy defense is taking the defense off. Klein would probably help too.

    Reply
  10. You know, as much as I’m an LA fan and want them to win, it ANNOYS me how obviously biased these ESPN commentators are towards the Galaxy. If LA do something great it’s “genius” and “pure” and whatever. When Chivas score it’s “what’s wrong with LA” and blah blah blah. Just saying.

    Reply
  11. I did miss that game as Im not really a manu fan but I misread the rules. I missed the teammate part…but I think its kinda bunk just like the goal holland scored against italy in the euros when the defender was off the field of play.

    Reply

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