Los Angeles Galaxy Vs. Houston Dynamo, MLS Cup Final 2011: Landon Donovan Fires LA To Victory

On one hand, CCL started this season, so there is some logic behind considering the current tournament to be part of the 2011 MLS season. On the other, the actual trophy will be lifted in 2012 by some players who invariably did not play on this year’s team.

That 1997 United team had no such ground on which to have this debate as the CONCACAF Champions Cups was a five-day tournament in 1998. That title clearly belonged as part of the 1998 season.

Still, a goal was going to come eventually, and it was Landon Donovan who got it after good work by both Beckham and Keane to play him in through the left. Donovan was left racing onto the latter’s pass with just Tally Hall to beat, and he finished beautifully, clipping over the keeper with the outside of his right boot to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.

Anyway, after the dust and smoke bombs and paper cups aimed at Donovan’s garguatuan forehead finally cleared, the LA Galaxy found themselves in possession of the MLS Cup. It’s a well deserved win - they’ve been the best team in the league all season and got the job done in the playoffs to boot. Congratulations the Bruce Arena and the players for a fantastic season.

Despite being clean through, Donovan’s finish wasn’t easy, since he was at an acute angle and the ball was on the wrong side of him, but the USA star flicked the ball over Tally Hall with the outside of his right boot. The goalkeeper actually got a hand to it, but he couldn’t do more than slow the ball down as it floated into the back of the net. So that’s the LA Galaxy 1-0 up over Houston with about fifteen minutes left to play. Can they hold on?

We’ll have live coverage of LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo in our MLS Cup Final 2011 StoryStream. For more on the two teams, check out Houston Dynamo blog Dynamo Theory and Los Angeles Galaxy blog LAG Confidential. For more on the entire world of soccer, check out SB Nation Soccer.

We’ll have live coverage of LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo in our MLS Cup Final 2011 StoryStream. For more on the two teams, check out Houston Dynamo blog Dynamo Theory and Los Angeles Galaxy blog LAG Confidential. For more on the entire world of soccer, check out SB Nation Soccer.

A snarkier commentator than I might point out that the LA Galaxy may well have found the perfect replacement for Chad Barrett, but I’ll just tell you the game remains 0-0 and leave it at that.

We’ll have live coverage of LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo in our MLS Cup Final 2011 StoryStream. For more on the two teams, check out Houston Dynamo blog Dynamo Theory and Los Angeles Galaxy blog LAG Confidential. For more on the entire world of soccer, check out SB Nation Soccer.

We’ll have live coverage of LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo in our MLS Cup Final 2011 StoryStream. For more on the two teams, check out Houston Dynamo blog Dynamo Theory and Los Angeles Galaxy blog LAG Confidential. For more on the entire world of soccer, check out SB Nation Soccer.

ESPN’s pre-game show starts at 9:00 pm ET and kickoff is scheduled for 9:25 pm ET. The game can also be seen on Galavision in Spanish, on ESPN in the UK and on TSN in Canada.

We’ll have live coverage of LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo in our MLS Cup Final 2011 StoryStream. For more on the two teams, check out Houston Dynamo blog Dynamo Theory and Los Angeles Galaxy blog LAG Confidential. For more on the entire world of soccer, check out SB Nation Soccer.

Don’t think the fans in San Jose don’t realize all of their former players in MLS Cup this year either. Sure, San Jose got an expansion team after and got to revive the Earthquakes name, but their team was still in Houston. That team in Houston won two MLS Cup titles and Quakes fans have always looked at the Dynamo as the team that got away and the team that should be theirs. At the same time, the Galaxy are the Quakes’ biggest rivals.

Neither the Galaxy nor the Dynamo are among the most beloved teams in the league, but they’re the two most hated teams in San Jose. Good luck to those in the Bay Area trying not to pull their hair out or break things while watching the final.

Whether Beckham really had a cold or not is up for questioning. That a cold would keep him out of two days of training before the biggest match of the year does seem unlikely. Adding in that Beckham has battled a bad back all season and it’s much more likely that Beckham had some problems with his back and calling it a cold was just a bit of gamesmanship by Arena. Whatever the truth is, the Galaxy will take to the field with Beckham on Sunday and really that is all that matter.

But what if the underdog Dynamo win Sunday? Will that be bad for MLS?

Fans of the league remain divided by the many-headed hydra system the league office has been trying to use ever since it’s existence. At the far spectrum are those who don’t believe MLS should have a playoff system, period. Within the playoff system itself, on the one hand, there are those who believe MLS Cup should be seeded in a way that the top two regular season finishers, regardless of conference, can only meet in the final. These two approaches come from an understanding of soccer that is more influenced by European soccer leagues, which of course do not feature conferences or divisions and use a single table to rank all teams. In contrast, the conference system is clearly understood to be a defining feature of all major team professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. The regular season is considered in these other sports to be the precursor to the main event, the playoffs, which culminate in a championship game or series for the remaining participants.

Oscar De La Hoya’s name has been in the news for less than positive things recently. We’ve also been told repeatedly that Sunday’s MLS Cup is being played between two teams that are owned by AEG.

Granted, taking an overnight bus full of the team’s hardest core supporters just to stand for a few hours and then jump right back in the bus and do the 1,500-mile trip all over again is not everyone’s cup of tea. But it’s still a pretty cool gesture on the part of De La Hoya, who is often criticized for being a somewhat absentee owner. The bus is also expected to get to Los Angeles in time for the group to attend Sunday’s Supporters’ Summit. At the very least, this ensures that there will be a vocal group of fans urging on the Dynamo in a match that many fully expect them to lose.