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D.C. United vs. Los Angeles Galaxy: Match Night Commentary

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6a00e54ef2975b88330133ec4ace9d970b-120wi    6a00e54ef2975b883301310ff0f8fe970c-120wi  

BY ADAM SERRANO

Two clubs on opposites sides of the table face off as D.C. United visits the league leading Los Angeles Galaxy. (7:30pm PST, FSC)

Galaxy are riding high after a convincing victory over the Crew last week and will look to avoid a let down against United.

 A win over their illustrious rivals and the Galaxy move closer to being the first club to clinch a playoff spot. D.C. has struggled throughout the season, but will look to build upon an impressive victory at Toronto last week. 

I will be providing commentary throughout the match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and opinions in the comments section below. 

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump):

FINAL – United put in a brave performance, but once again suffers from a break down late in the match that causes them to lose the points. Their poor season has been capped as they are now eliminated from the playoff chance. Los Angeles will now get ready to face off against the New York Red Bulls next week in a clash of the Designated Players. Should LA's arch rival Chivas USA defeat KC tomorrow, the Galaxy will be the first team in MLS to clinch a playoff berth.

That's all for me right now. This has been Adam Serrano, check back on SBI for more coverage of tonight's game and all your soccer needs. Thank you for following along.

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FINAL – Donovan completes the comeback with an inspired final ten minutes to rescue full points for the Galaxy. The Galaxy put in a very inspired performance after appearing lackadaisical in the opening parts of the match. 

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93rd Minute – There is the whistle. Final tonight is LA 2 and DC 1

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92nd Minute – LA with another dangerous free kick. Beckham and Donovan line up.

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90th Minute – 3 minutes additional time. A loss here eliminates D.C. mathematically while LA needs Chivas USA to win tomorrow to get into the playoffs. 

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89th Minute – Carlos Varela about to come on for D.C. 

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88th Minute – Franklin sends in a great ball to Tristan Bowen who plays a beautiful cross to Donovan who heads the ball in. Two goals in 5 minutes for the Galaxy as they complete their comeback.  On the other side Donovan picks up a yellow for a foul that leads to a d.c. free kick.

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86th Minute – GOAL!!!!! LANDON DONOVAN!!!!!! THE GALAXY COMPLETE THE COMEBACK!

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85th Minute – The Galaxy with some pep in their step after that goal. They are raising to the ball with an urgency not seen all night. 

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83rd Minute – Landon Donovan picks the pocket of Simms and Jakovic from about 26 yards out then rushes on goal alone and beats Perkins. 1-1 the score. Can LA get three points out of this one?

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81st Minute – GOAL!! LANDON DONOVAN!!! 

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80th Minute – The Galaxy are looking very flat since the goal. Little to know urgency from Los Angeles. 

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79th Minute – A pair of subs. For LA: Juninho gives way to Bowen while for United Simms enters for Allsopp. 

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78th Minute – DIVING SAVE BY RICKETTS! Hernandez fires a shot that forces a full extension by the Jamaican. 

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77th Minute – Tonight's attendance is 20,094

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74th Minute – Juninho takes a shot from distance that goes just wide. LA pressing for the equalizer, but not getting close. 

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73rd Minute – Perkins punches it out. Galaxy retain possession. 

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72nd Minute – Galaxy earn a corner. Beckham to take. 

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71st Minute – The Galaxy are still looking a bit stunned from that goal. Should they lose tonight, they would fall back into a tie for first with RSL who lead on goal difference. 

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69th Minute – SAVE! Perkins comes up big to deflect the ball after Lewis crosses into Donovan. Very nice move by the goalkeeper. 

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66th Minute – Franklin lands on his head after going up for a header. OUCH. He will stay in the game though which is good news for LA. They can not afford another injury on their thin backline. 

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63rd Minute – LA looking rattled right now. Eddie Lewis coming on for Cazumba. Interesting that we may not see the youth of Michael Stephens and Tristan Bowen last week. 

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61st Minute – Najar with a great finish after LA does a horrible job of clearing the ball. A wild goal line scramble allows the ball to fall to the Honduran who confidently puts it in the back of the net. Great finish. 

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60th Minute- GOAL!! D.C. UNITED!! ANDY NAJAR!

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59th Minute – Beckham sends in a nice cross to Buddle who is alone on net and fires it into the hands of Perkins. 

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57th Minute – Najar sends in a cross that Ricketts handles. The Jamaican uses his big wingspan to keep the ball out from crossing the line. 

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54th Minute – OFFSIDES. Donovan frees up Buddle, but the USMNT forward is ruled offside. 

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53rd Minute – Galaxy Sub: Beckham entering the field for Kirovski. Donovan now pushed up top. 

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51st Minute – For those keeping track at home. Juninho is also on yellow card watch. Another yellow and he'll be suspended for next week's clash. Beckham about to enter the match. 

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46th Minute – Back underway. One Sub for D.C. United Branko Boskovic in for Stephen King. 

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HALFTIME - Whistle blows on an entertaining half. LA with the lion's share of the chances, but D.C. has been threatening way more than one would have expected. LA will need to improve their final pass if they are going to get past a D.C. defense that has been very stiff tonight.Expect David Beckham to come in and play 30 to 35 minutes in the second half. How many minutes would you put him in for if you were Bruce Arena?

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45th Minute – LA earns a corner. Donovan takes a short corner and Juninho fires the effort into the hands of Perkins. 

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45th Minute – LA threatening, but Perkins has stepped up big with a few vital saves. One minute of stoppage. 

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44th Minute – WOW! SAVE BY RICKETTS! Hernandez takes a shot that Ricketts saves, but the ball nearly rolls past him and into the net. Ricketts is able to get to the ball JUST before it crosses the goal line. Yikes!

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42nd Minute – The Galaxy turning on the pressure on D.C. United. Franklin sending in a pair of dangerous crosses, but each are cleared by United.  

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40th Minute – YELLOW CARD: Gonzalez picks up a yellow after knocking Hernandez to the ground after the Argentine beat him to the ball. Omar is now suspended for the Red Bulls game. Costly yellow indeed.

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36th Minute – Juninho plays a poor ball to Cazumba who does not run onto it. Not a great passing display by the diminutive Brazilian so far.  

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32th Minute – James sends in a cross to Allsopp that cuts through the LA defense, but the Australian can not get a handle on it.  

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28th Minute – The last time D.C. United won two road matches was Aug. 25th and Sept 1st of 2007 (against TFC and FCD). Can D.C.U do something that they have failed to do in three years?

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26th Minute – SAVE! Donovan plays the ball to Cazumba, who has been wide open all night, but Perkins comes up big. 

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25th Minute – For the curious, it appears that Boskovic is not match fit after the Euro qualifiers. 

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23rd Minute – OVER THE BAR! Galaxy earn a free kick and it appears that D.C. clears the ball over the bar. Looked like Buddle got a head to it, but TV replays show otherwise. Poor decision to not award a corner there. 

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22nd Minute – Najar is proving way too much for Todd Dunivant early in this match. He sends in a dangerous cross to Quaranta, but the DC captain can not get to the ball. 

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20th Minute – Brilliant build up by the Galaxy as Donovan and Buddle lead a charge up. The ball gets played to Cazumba who chooses to take a chip shot rather than passing to the open Juninho at the top of the box. Poor decision making. 

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19th Minute – Andy Najar with a nice set up, but on the second chance after battling with Dunivant, the Honduran whiffs on the shot. D.C. United season summed up right there?

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13rd Minute – Juninho sends in a beautiful cross to Kirovski who sends a header just wide of net. 

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12th Minute – Bit of a lethargic match so far. LA controlling the possession, but not able to create chances against the D.C. defense.  

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10th Minute – Cazumba takes the FK, but his effort is cleared by Perkins. D.C. trying to establish some possession after some early Galaxy dominance. 

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8th Minute – Free kick for LA after Zayner fouls Donovan. 

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5th Minute – United with a nice counter led by Najar who plays the ball to Allsopp who nearly hits the net. Poor defending from LA. 

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3rd Minute – Donovan with a give and go to Juninho, but the Brazilian crosses the ball into the United defense. Poor cross from the Brazilian. 

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2nd Minute – Vocal crowd out in force tonight. On Native American Appreciation night. 

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1st Minute: We're underway. LA attacking to the right of your computer screen.  If you are following along. Let me hear from you and where you're following along from. 

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PREGAME: Bob Bradley reportedly in the house tonight. Could he be taking a long look at Najar? 

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PREGAME: David Beckham once again in reserve for LA. The Galaxy will once again start a reserve line up without a single (central) defender. Could they be taking D.C. a bit lightly?

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PREGAME: Only one change to the line up that defeated Columbus as recently recalled defender Yochance Marshall starts for Leonardo in Central Defense. The Trindadian had an impressive stint with Division 2 Austin and should be an upgrade over Leonardo, who has been shaky as of late.

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PREGAME: Here are the line ups:

D.C. UNITED

———–Hernandez——–Allsopp———–

Quaranta—-King—–Morsink———-Najar

Zayner———Jakovic—-James——–Graye

———————Perkins————————

BENCH: Harrison, Boskovic, Carreiro, McTavish, Simms, Varela

LOS ANGELES GALAXY

–———-Kirovski———Buddle—————

Alex Cazumba—–Juninho————Donovan

——————–Kovalenko———————

Dunivant—-Marshall——-Gonzalez——Franklin

——————-Ricketts——————–

BENCH: Saunders, Beckham, Birchalll, Lewis, Stephens, Bowen, Magee

Comments

  1. The better team won, but credit to DC; they came to play, fought hard, and I’m liking Ben Olson. He needs some better players, but he seems to have them set up well.

    Reply

  2. The NFL does the same thing. It seems to be working for them…in this country at least. I think that Americans need a face and a personality behind each team. Trust me, there are dozens of men and women wearing Italian suits, sitting at a boardroom table thinking about these things

    Reply

  3. I caught the last half hour. It was surprising to see how frequently and casually LA was giving the ball away. Happy to see Donovan notch a couple.

    Reply

  4. Good to see Donovan get rewarded. For long stretches of that game he looked like the only LA player that didn’t have his head up his butt.

    Reply

  8. I kind of wish they wouldn’t always advertise games as Beckham and Donovan against Henry, Marquez, and Angel et al. I just feel it encourages games to be one-off “events” instead of people following the actual teams. I’m a NY fan and love the quality players coming over, just feel like they could do better marketing. I do guess they have to mention the star power though.

    Reply

  12. LA keeps giving up these soft goals I really think that RSL can really repeat as league Champions because they have a deep YOUNG and experienced squad with lots of potential, unless LA picks up the slack and puts away bottom table teams they are unlikely to win the cup this season.

    Reply

  31. With Everton absolutely struggling to score goals Im curious to see if come January they will make a push to sign LD outright or if not do another loan but this time maybe for the rest of the season.

    Of course LD has had an extremely LONG year and it might do him well to actually just sit out the entire MLS off-season.

    Reply

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