Donovan Lifts Galaxy to Win
Joe Cannon, the Colorado Rapids’ goalkeeper, will not be appearing in Major League Soccer’s championship game next week, but at least he has something tangible to show why: Landon Donovan’s jersey.
Donovan beat Cannon twice Saturday, scoring once in each half as the Galaxy defeated the Rapids, 2-0, to win the Western Conference title and advance to next Sunday’s title match.
At the final whistle on a chilly night at Invesco Field, Donovan made a point of approaching Cannon and the two swapped jerseys.
“He’s my buddy,” Donovan said. “I roomed with him for a year and a half [while both were with the San Jose Earthquakes]. We’re just really good friends.”
That did not stop Donovan from scoring his third and fourth goals of the 2005 playoffs, however, and thereby becoming the all-time leading scorer in MLS playoff history with 14 goals.
“That’s cool, but I don’t really care,” Donovan said. “I will one day, I’m not going to lie, but it’s about winning championships.”
Next Sunday’s game in the Dallas suburb of Frisco, Texas, will be Donovan’s third title match in only five years in the league. He won titles with San Jose in 2001 and 2003.
For the Galaxy, it will be the fifth championship appearance in 10 years. Los Angeles won the MLS Cup in 2002 and was runner-up in to D.C. United in 1996 and 1999 and to the Earthquakes in 2001.
Cobi Jones played in all those games, and it was Jones who created the first goal Saturday that put the Galaxy on its way to Texas.
“It’s great for us to get back to the final,” Jones said. “It’s been a few years.
“We’ve had a lot of turbulence over the last couple of years ... so to come through and go to the final after everything that we’ve gone through, it’s a big relief for everybody on this team.”
Donovan opened the scoring 27:10 into the match after Jones, a 10-year veteran playing in his MLS-record 44th playoff game, made a run down the right wing, eluded a couple of defenders and crossed the ball in low.
Donovan met it at the near post and drove the ball into the roof of the net from only a few yards out.
Cannon had no chance of stopping the shot.
“We have a good rapport on the field,” Jones said of Donovan. The pair also combined to score against San Jose earlier in the playoffs.
“The first one was Cobi,” Donovan said. “I’ve said it a lot, but he understands the game and he just gets it. Any time he gets the ball, he’s going to find me. I just got in the box and it worked again.
“Cobi just put it in the perfect spot.”
The Rapids tried to make a game of it, but Donovan finished them off in the 89th minute when the Galaxy forward dribbled past defenders Pablo Mastroeni and Ritchie Kotschau and curved a shot around Cannon.
“It was kind of weird,” Donovan said. “I got caught up a little and almost went down but I somehow stumbled through. I was pretty proud of myself. It was a pretty good effort.”
In the final, the Galaxy will play the winner of today’s Eastern Conference final between the New England Revolution and Chicago Fire.
