Real Salt Lake Beats the Odds Again, Wins MLS Cup on Penalties

SEATTLE -- Real Salt Lake's playmaker, Javier Morales, was lost in the 22nd minute, the victim of a hard tackle from David Beckham. Nineteen minutes later, Beckham and Landon Donovan combined to create a goal by midfielder Mike Magee that put the favored Los Angeles Galaxy ahead. It was hard to imagine then that there was any way the upstarts from Salt Lake City could find their way back into Sunday night's MLS Cup final.

But Morales' replacement, American soccer's prodigal son, Clint Mathis, and striker Robbie Findley led the way. Real Salt Lake has been beating the odds for more than a month now, qualifying for the postseason on the final weekend despite an 11-12-7 record and defeating two heavily-favored playoff opponents on the road. On Sunday they again made the impossible possible, tying the game at 1-1 on a second-half goal by Findley and riding goalie Nick Rimando and Donovan's stunning miss to a 5-4 win in the penalty kick shootout.

The final, played before 46,011 at Qwest Field, would be the sixth to go into overtime and just the second to proceed to the penalty kick tiebreaker. While the Galaxy had participated in five of those previous extra sessions, it was the five-year old franchise from Utah that seemed more composed. They were unlucky not to find the winner during those 30 minutes, and had the experience of the shootout win over Chicago in the Eastern Conference final to boost their confidence.

Beckham went first, sliding his shot low and to the left. Rimando and Los Angeles goalkeeper Josh Saunders, who replaced the injured Donovan Ricketts midway through the second half, traded saves in the third round. Then Donovan unleashed his shocker. Practically automatic on penalties throughout his career, he blasted his effort over the net and ripped his captain's armband off his arm on the way back to midfield.

"The penalty I hit like I hit any penalty. I made sure he was going the other way and I closed my body. I just put it in the air. Probably partially due to tired legs and not concentrating in that moment," Donovan said. He was 21 for 23 on penalty kicks in MLS play. Both failed attempts were saved.

RSL's Andy Williams, who'd been cramping at the end of overtime, missed his bid to win the match in the fifth round, but Rimando would bail out his team again. In the seventh round, he lunged left to snare Edson Buddle's weak shot. Defender Robbie Russel then converted and won a very unexpected title for Salt Lake.

It was not the sort of game one would have expected RSL to win. Instead it was a choppy, disjointed affair, one that was hard on spectators hoping for some attacking rhythm and players hoping to avoid a scrap. The ultra-slick Qwest Field turf produced plenty of loose balls and wayward traps, and players on both teams were more than willing to throw themselves into the fray with their season on the line. The first to go down was Morales, who was taken out by Beckham in the 17th minute and exited the field in tears a few moments later. Williams was there to put an arm around Morales as he left the field, and Mathis took his place.



It seemed at the time that Salt Lake's ability to play its quick possession game departed with Morales. Although the underdogs hadn't yet established any sort of flow with the Argentine on the field, losing him before the match was a half-hour old was a cruel blow.

The Galaxy took its first shot on goal shortly thereafter, and Rimando looked shaky bobbling Jovan Kirovski's bid. Although Los Angeles failed to dictate play, RSL was in disarray and the advantage tilted the Galaxy's way. Defender Omar Gonzalez put a toe to Beckham's 28th-minute corner kick, and Mike Magee sent a low shot from the left across the face of goal and wide in the 36th.

In the 41st minute, the Galaxy's stars struck.

Having drifted into the middle from his spot on the right flank, Beckham slid the ball to Donovan in the right channel. The captain took a couple of quick touches and whipped a perfect cross to the far post, where Mike Magee hammered it home. The Galaxy celebrated, and although Salt Lake created a bit of trouble in stoppage time, L.A. must have felt confident taking its lead into the locker room.

But the RSL that emerged from the break was a different team. Led by Mathis, who was an unpredictable thorn in L.A.'s side throughout, Salt Lake came close to leveling terms in the 47th minute on a Robbie Findley breakaway. The collision that ended the play was the beginning of the end for Ricketts. In the 64th, Salt Lake got the goal it deserved. Mathis and captain Kyle Beckerman moved the ball through midfield, finding forward Yura Movsisyan. His shot was blocked, but the ball squired out to an alert Findley, who finished.

"They did a good job of moving the ball and putting us under pressure," Donovan said. "In the end they probably deserved to get a goal at some point."

The likely deserved more. Suddenly the RSL possession game was back, and Fabian Espindola's entry in the 75th minute tilted the game even further toward the underdogs. Donovan and Beckham were dangerous in spurts but not consistently, and there was a growing sense that either Mathis, Findley or the speedy Espindola would end affairs before the tiebreaker was needed. Mathis had a few dangerous-looking shots blocked and Espindola hit the side-netting just before the end of regulation.

Both teams clearly were exhausted in overtime. L.A. coach Bruce Arena called it a "battle of attrition." But it was hard to deny, again, that RSL was the better team. It overcame significant adversity on Sunday and outplayed the Galaxy for much of the game. It found a way to overcome obstacles. And so MLS has a champion that suffered a losing regular season and won both the semi and final on penalties. But there likely won't be many people saying the new titlist is not a deserving one.