Late Donovan Goal Rescues 2-2 Draw for Galaxy

LA Galaxy 2, San Jose Earthquakes 2
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
SJ – Bobby Convey 1 (Unassisted) 2’
LA – Edson Buddle 12 (Todd Dunivant 2, Landon Donovan 11) 59’
SJ – Brandon McDonald 1(Unassisted) 72’
LA – Landon Donovan 3 (Unassisted) 90’

Misconduct Summary:
SJ – Bobby Burling (Yellow Card) 54’
LA – Landon Donovan (Yellow Card) 70’
LA – Sean Franklin (Yellow Card) 89’
LA – Juninho (Yellow Card) 93+

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, Leonardo, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant (Eddie Lewis 77’); Dema Kovalenko (Tristan Bowen 60’), Landon Donovan©, Juninho, Michael Stephens; Edson Buddle, Alan Gordon (Jovan Kirovski 81’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, A.J. DeLaGarza, Gregg Berhlater, Chris Birchall.

San Jose Earthquakes: Jon Busch; Jason Hernandez, Bobby Burling, Ike Opara, Ramiro Corrales©; Bobby Convey, Sam Cronin, Brandon McDonald, Joey Gjertsen (Arturo Alvarez 53’); Chris Wondolowski (Scott Sealy 67’), Cornell Glen (Ryan Johnson 91+).

Subs Not Used: Joe Cannon, Steven Beitashour, Brad Ring, Javier Robles.

Notes:
• With the draw, the Galaxy are now 12-2-4 on the season and remain alone in first place in the Western Conference. The Galaxy now have 40 points and are 10 points clear of Real Salt Lake at the top of the Western Conference and nine points ahead of Columbus for the best record in MLS.
• The Galaxy are the first team in MLS to register 40 points on the season.
• LA is now unbeaten in their last 11 home games, going 9-0-2 in those 11 games, dating back to a 6-3 home loss to FC Dallas on September 12, 2009.
• Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that won 2-1 at D.C. United on Sunday, July 18, bringing Dema Kovalenko, Leonardo and Michael Stephens back into the team. They replaced Gregg Berhalter, Chris Birchall and A.J. DeLaGarza, who all began the game on the bench.
• Arena made just one change to 18-man squad from the win at United, bringing Tristan Bowen onto the bench in place of Alex Cazumba.
• Kovalenko was making his first appearance in an MLS match since April 1. After starting the first two games of the season, he had missed the last three months with a right hamstring strain. He played 60 minutes before being replaced by Tristan Bowen,
• Bobby Convey’s 2nd minute goal for the Earthquakes was the fastest goal allowed by the Galaxy this season and just the third allowed by the club in the first half. The last time the Galaxy allowed a goal inside the opening two minutes of a game was on April 4, 2009 when Conor Casey scored the second fastest goal in MLS history, tallying after just 16 seconds in a 3-2 Colorado win at The Home Depot Center.
• The Galaxy have now allowed a goal in the opening 10 minutes of four of their last five regular season games against the Earthquakes.
• Edson Buddle tied the score at 1-1 in the 59th minute with his MLS-best 12th goal of the season. He has now scored in each of the last two games and in six of the seven home games that he has played in this year.
• Nine of Buddle’s 12 goals have come at The Home Depot Center.
• Landon Donovan and Todd Dunivant each assisted on the goal. For Donovan it was his MLS-best 11th assist, while it was Dunivant’s first.
• Dunivant is the 11th different player to register an assist for LA this season.
• Of Donovan’s 11 assists, seven have come on goals by Buddle.
• When Dunivant came off the field in the 74th minute, in came in Eddie Lewis, it was the first time all season the Galaxy did not have Dunivant on the field for an MLS game. Dunivant leads the team in minutes played with 1,607.
• Landon Donovan scored his third goal of the season and his first at The Home Depot Center in the 90th minute.
• That goal was the Galaxy’s latest of the season. The last time that LA scored in the 90th minute or later was on September 12, 2009 in a 6-3 loss to FC Dallas. Edson Buddle scored that goal.
• The Galaxy have now allowed a goal in each of their last four regular season games. The last time LA allowed a goal in four straight contests was from July 16 until August 15 last season. LA went 2-1-1 in those four games, winning 3-1 at New York, drawing 1-1 at Kansas City, winning 2-1 at New England and losing 2-0 at home to Seattle.
• The Galaxy went into halftime trailing 1-0. This was the first time this season that the club trailed at the half. Coming into the game, LA was 11-0-0 when leading at the half and 1-2-3 when tied at the break.
• The Galaxy allowed the game’s first goal for just the third time this season. They are now 0-2-1 in those three games.
• LA came from behind to earn a point for the first time since July 25, 2009 when they erased a 1-0 deficit to draw 1-1 at Kansas City.
• Prior to tonight’s game, the last time the Galaxy allowed more than one goal in a home game was September 12, 2009 when they lost 6-3 to FC Dallas at The Home Depot Center.
• Tonight’s game was the Galaxy’s first game this season that they allowed a goal in each half.
• The attendance for today’s game was 17,712.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Tuesday, July 27 when they host the Puerto Rico Islanders in the first leg of their CONCACAF Champions League Preliminary Round series at The Home Depot Center. That game kicks off at 7 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel.
• The Galaxy are back in MLS action on Sunday, August 1 when they host the Chicago Fire in a game that kicks off at 4:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Espanol.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.