Galaxy Season Ends with 3-0 Loss to FC Dallas in Western Conference Championship

LA Galaxy 0, FC Dallas 3
Western Conference Championship
Sunday, November 14, 2010
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
FCD – David Ferreira 1 (Marvin Chavez 1, Atiba Harris 1) 26’
FCD – George John 1 (Brek Shea 2, Ugo Ihemelu 1) 54’
FCD – Marvin Chavez 1 (David Ferreira 3) 73’

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Dema Kovalenko (Yellow Card) 31’
LA – David Beckham (Yellow Card) 73’
LA – Chris Birchall (Yellow Card) 82’
LA – Alex Cazumba (Yellow Card) 84’
FCD – Zach Loyd (Yellow Card) 85’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Eddie Lewis (Jovan Kirovski 82’); Dema Kovalenko (Chris Birchall 65’), Juninho, David Beckham, Landon Donovan©; Mike Magee (Alex Cazumba 55’), Edson Buddle.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant, Michael Stephens.

FC Dallas: Kevin Hartman; Jackson, George John, Ugo Ihemelu, Jair Benitez; Daniel Hernandez©, Dax McCarty (Eric Alexander 87’), Marvin Chavez (Zach Loyd 74’), David Ferreira, Brek Shea; Atiba Harris.

Subs Not Used: Dario Sala, Bruno Guarda, Eric Avila, Jeff Cunningham, Ruben Luna.

Notes:
• With the loss, the Galaxy have been eliminated from the 2010 MLS Cup Playoffs.
• With the loss, the Galaxy are now 2-2-0 all-time when reaching the Western Conference Championship under the current playoff format, winning the game in 2005 and 2009 while losing in 2004 and now 2010.
• The Galaxy finish the year 2-1-0 against FC Dallas in all competitions, winning both games in the regular season, but losing tonight.
• Bruce Arena named an unchanged starting XI on the evening, using the same 11 starters that played both legs of the Western Conference Semifinal Series against Seattle. The only change in the 18-man squad was the return of Michael Stephens, who was in the 18-man squad for the first time during the postseason. He replaced Tristan Bowen, who did not dress, on the bench.
• Nine of the 11 players that started for the Galaxy tonight also started in the 2009 Western Conference Championship. The only differences between the two starting lineups were Eddie Lewis and Juninho included in the lineup in place of Gregg Berhalter and Chris Klein.
• David Ferreira scored in the 26th minute to give FC Dallas a 1-0 lead. This was the first time all postseason that the Galaxy trailed in a game.
• The goal was the first goal that the Galaxy had allowed in the first half of a postseason game since the first leg of the Western Conference Semifinal Series against Chivas USA on November 1, 2009.
• The Galaxy went into halftime trailing 1-0. This was the first time that they did not score in the first half of a playoff game this season. During the regular season, LA were 0-5-1 when trailing at halftime.
• The Galaxy went into the half trailing despite outshooting Dallas 8-3 and holding a 5-1 advantage in shots on goal.
• The Galaxy went behind 2-0 in the 54th minute when George John scored his first-ever postseason goal. This was the first time that the Galaxy trailed 2-0 in a postseason game since the 2004 Western Conference Championship at Kansas City, a game that the Wizards won 2-0.
• Shortly after that goal, Alex Cazumba entered the game for Mike Magee, making his MLS Cup Playoff debut.
• Dallas went in front 3-0 in the 73rd minute through Marvin Chavez, who finished off a feed from David Ferreira.
• The 3-0 loss tied the record for the Galaxy’s biggest postseason defeat. The had lost by three goals on four other occasions, including once against Dallas in 1997.
• The Galaxy had not been shutout in 10 straight postseason games before tonight, dating back to their 2-0 loss to Kansas City in the 2004 Western Conference Championship.
• Donovan Ricketts made two saves in the game, but suffered his first-ever postseason loss. He is now 4-1-1 in the MLS Cup Playoffs. He saw his goals against average rise from 0.66 to 0.99 after allowing a postseason career-high three goals.
• Prior to tonight’s game, the Galaxy had not allowed three goals in a postseason game since losing 5-2 in the second leg of the 2003 Western Conference Championship against San Jose.
• This was the Galaxy’s first home postseason loss since 1998, when they lost 1-0 to the Chicago Fire. The Galaxy are now 20-3-1 all-time at home in the postseason.
• The Galaxy were 2-6-2 during the regular season when allowing the first goal.
• LA are now 4-11-4 all-time when allowing the first goal in the postseason.
• The Galaxy have now allowed a goal in 12 consecutive MLS games at home, last keeping a clean sheet on May 15 against Toronto FC.
• Including the regular season, the Galaxy finish the year 10-5-2 at home this season.
• The attendance for today’s game was a sellout crowd of 27,000. This was the Galaxy’s second consecutive home postseason sellout and their fourth in the last five games at the stadium.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.