Galaxy has a great night in 5-2 victory over Chivas
The Great One came out to see the Galloping One on Saturday night.
But even the first meeting between hockey legend Wayne Gretzky and soccer legend David Beckham failed to overshadow what actually happened on the Home Depot Center field.
As far as Major League Soccer matches go, this one goes straight into the vault, to be taken out whenever an argument needs to be made for just how passionate and engrossing MLS games can be when both teams get serious.
Well, at least for the first hour or so.
It ended in a 5-2 victory for Beckham’s Galaxy over Chivas USA, but it was nowhere near that lopsided, and between all the goals there was enough drama to satisfy everyone in the capacity crowd.
Chivas outshot the Galaxy, 17-14, but the Galaxy had nine shots on target to six for Chivas.
The game was close for just over an hour, when Chivas, which had twice come from behind to forge a 2-2 tie, suddenly wilted under the constant pressure from Beckham, Landon Donovan and a surprising Alan Gordon, who scored twice and assisted on another goal after coming on as an 81st-minute substitute.
“He was excellent,” said Galaxy Coach Ruud Gullit.
Donovan did even better. He scored a hat trick, bagging one goal in the first half and two in the second.
By the final whistle, Donovan had increased his league-leading total to eight goals, but had also initiated some controversy.
Chivas USA got its goals from Sacha Kljestan and Ante Razov, but afterward Coach Preki was angered not as much by the loss as by Donovan’s goal-scoring celebrations, which were purposely done right in front of the Chivas bench.
“That shows a lot of disrespect,” Preki said. “That’s the second time it’s happened in two weeks with Landon. . . . I do not appreciate that. We do not appreciate that as a club.”
Gullit later apologized for the incident.
Such unpleasantness aside, it was Donovan who would have caught Gretzky’s eye even more than Beckham. The forward is off to his best league start ever, with eight goals in only five matches.
On Saturday, he drove the ball into the back of Chivas goalkeeper Brad Guzan’s net in the 18th minute, but only after referee Jair Marrufo and his assistants had failed to see Galaxy midfielder Brandon McDonald handle the ball.
Twenty minutes later, Kljestan tied it with a superb effort, running at the Galaxy defense, beating defender Able Xavier and curling a shot high into the upper right corner.
Donovan scored his second in the 59th minute, but again Chivas responded when Razov took advantage of some horrendous defending by the Galaxy to net his 110th league goal.
Then things fell apart for Chivas as its defense failed to contain a rampant Galaxy attack.
As for Gretzky, he liked what he saw. Told that Beckham was a fan of his and wanted to meet him, Gretzky laughed.
“I’m a little too old, he probably never saw me play,” he said. “He’s done great for soccer in this area. It was time to come down here [to see him play]. Donovan was pretty good too. It was fun to watch.
“There are only a few athletes in the world who have charisma. I don’t try to compare athletes. Tiger Woods, as good as he is, and [Michael] Jordan as good as he is, they have charisma, and that’s what Beckham has.
“He has the charisma -- whether you’re a grandmother, a mother, a wife, a father or a son -- he has the charisma that draws you to the sport.”
Times staff writer Lisa Dillman contributed to this report.
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