The Los Angeles Galaxy knew the score coming in; as long as they drew or won, they would emerge victorious. Well they came through with a goal to spare, as Mike Magee's header and Landon Donovan's penalty put the Galaxy through to the Western Conference Championship 3-1 on aggregate. They'll host Real Salt Lake at the Home Depot Center on Sunday, at 6pm.
The Galaxy came out after halftime with David Beckham banged up, and with New York a quick goal away from forcing added extra time. It took until the 75' for the Galaxy to get that extra goal they wanted. While gathering the ball inside the box, David Beckham was kicked in the head by Roy Miller. Landon Donovan converted the resulting penalty, straight ahead with Frank Rost diving to his left.
Landon Donovan looked a lot better in the second half than the first. He came out right away with a shot that went just wide. Minutes later, he ran down the pitch to get a flying clearance off the goal line. David Beckham continued to push through, though he wasn't at full strength. Bruce Arena was able to sub him out in the 79'.
Robbie Keane didn't find his way through, and didn't factor much in the second half. New York were given a fair number of yellow cards in the second half, as they got chippy trying to fight back into it. In the end, all that matters is the result.
The Galaxy managed to sell all 20,000 tickets for this match, after raising the cap on attendance twice during the week. Attendance will be back to 27,000 on Sunday, and the Western Conference Champion trophy will be on hand as well.