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| Date | November 20, 2011 | ||||||
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| Venue | The Home Depot Center, Carson, California, USA | ||||||
| Man of the Match | Landon Donovan | ||||||
| Referee | Ricardo Salazar | ||||||
| Attendance | 30,281 | ||||||
| Weather | Rain and 53 degrees[1] | ||||||
The 2011 MLS Cup Final was the sixteenth edition of the MLS Cup championship match held in the United States and Canada. The match was played on Sunday, November 20, 2011 at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.[2] The Los Angeles Galaxy won their third championship, defeating the Houston Dynamo 1–0 off a 72nd minute goal from the Galaxy's Landon Donovan.[3][4] Galaxy, who also won the Supporters' Shield became the first team since the Columbus Crew in 2008 to win both the Shield and MLS Cup.[5][6]
For the Galaxy, it was a league-record seventh appearance in the MLS Cup final, while it was Houston's third apperance in the league final.[7] As MLS Cup champions, the Galaxy earned a direct bye into the Group Stage for the 2012–13 CONCACAF Champions League. Since the Galaxy also won the Shield, which also guarantees a group stage berth in the Champions League,[8] the Shield runners-up, Seattle Sounders FC, earned a direct bye to the Group Stage. As MLS Cup runners-up, the Dynamo earned their third ever berth in the Champions League and their first since the 2009–10 edition. The final Champions League spot went to Real Salt Lake with the third best overall regular season record.
The defending MLS Cup champions were the Colorado Rapids.[9] They were eliminated by Sporting Kansas City in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Contents |
| Los Angeles Galaxy | Round | Houston Dynamo | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Regular season |
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| Opponent | Result | Legs | Playoffs | Opponent | Result | Legs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| New York Red Bulls | 3–1 | 2–1 home; 1–0 away | Conf. Semifinals | Philadelphia Union | 3–1 | 1–0 home; 2–1 away | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Real Salt Lake | 3–1 | 3–1 home | Conference Finals | Sporting Kansas City | 2–0 | 2–0 away | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ahead of the 2011 MLS Cup Playoffs, the Los Angeles Galaxy successfully defended the Supporters' Shield, winning it for the second consecutive year, and for the fourth time overall, tying D.C. United for the most regular season championships earned. The Galaxy became the third straight team to win back-to-back regular season titles.[10] The Galaxy earned the Shield on October 8, two weeks prior to the end of the regular season, and finished the season with a 19–5–10, posting the second total amount of points (67) ever by a league premier.
As Shield winners, the Galaxy earned the benefit of playing the lowest seeded team to advance from the newly created wildcard round. In the Western Conference Semifinals, the Galaxy played the New York Red Bulls, who had the tenth best regular season record, which was the lowest seeded team in the playoffs. The first leg of the two-match, aggregate series began on October 30, 2011 with the opening leg being played at New York's Red Bull Arena. The opening leg ended with a critical way victory for Los Angeles, as the Galaxy earned a 1–0 victory off of a goal from Mike Magee. Following the match, controversy erupted after New York's Rafael Márquez threw the match ball at Los Angeles' Landon Donovan's ankles. Immediately, Márquez was confronted by Los Angeles' Adam Cristman and Juninho which caused some pushing and shoving, before several players on both sides attempted to break up the skirmish. Both Marquez and Juninho were subsequently red-carded, Márquez for throwing a ball at an opposing player, and Juninho for striking an opponent, who was New York's Stephen Keel.
On November 3, the second leg was played at the Galaxy's home ground, The Home Depot Center. With a capped seating capacity due to the match being played on a school night, only 20,000 seats were available. In the fourth minute, New York's Luke Rodgers tied the aggregate series at 1–1 and gave New York a 1–0 lead in the second leg. Magee once again scored against his former club in the 42nd minute, tying the match, and giving the Galaxy a 2–1 aggregate lead over the Red Bulls. In the 75th minute, Donovan scored off a penalty kick to give the Galaxy a 3–1 aggregate lead and 2–1 lead in the match, which ended in the final score of the match.
Houston Dynamo spent the first half of the regular season in inconsistent form, finding themselves in a slew of playoff bubble teams. In mid-September, the club hit a solid form, and finished their final six matches with four wins, two draws and zero losses. The spark in form, found themselves finishing seventh in the overall table, but second in the Eastern Conference, giving the team a direct bye into the Eastern Conference Semifinals. As the second-seeded club, Houston was paired up against Philadelphia Union, who qualified for the playoffs for the first time in their club's history.
Against the Union, the Dynamo post victories in each leg of the two-match, aggregate series, winning the round by a score of 3–1. The first match, played on October 29 at Philadelphia's PPL Park, marked the first time franchise history that the Dynamo won at the Union. Houston defender, and Canadian international André Hainault scored the opening goal in the fifth minute of play, only for Philadelphia's Sébastien Le Toux to draw the match two minutes later. In the 30th minute, Houston's Calen Carr scored the go-ahead goal, which ended up being the game-winning goal.
The final leg of the Conference Semifinals was played at the Dynamo's Robertson Stadium. The second leg was the final match for the Dynamo at Robertson, as the club plans on moving to their own soccer-specific stadium in downtown Houston next Spring. Ending in a 1–0 victory for Houston, the game's lone goal came from longtime Houston striker, Brian Ching who scored three minutes into stoppage time in the first half of play.[11] It was Ching's sixth MLS Cup Playoffs goal, and his first for the club since the 2007 MLS Cup Playoffs.[12]
Since Sporting Kansas City, the top seed in the Eastern Conference, defeated the Colorado Rapids in their Conference Semifinal matchup, the Dynamo traveled to Kansas City, Kansas to take on Sporting for the 2011 MLS Eastern Conference Championship.[13] The two sides finished two points apart from one another during the regular season, as Sporting claimed the Eastern Conference regular season title upon a 1–0 victory at D.C. United.[14] The match was played at Sporting's Livestrong Sporting Park located adjacent to the CommunityAmerica Ballpark and Kansas Speedway, the same location where Sporting defeated the Dynamo 3–0 in regular season play on September 10.[15] The championship, however, played in Houston's favor, as the Dynamo posted a 2–0 victory at Kansas City.[16] Hainault scored his second playoff goal in the 53rd minute, while Houston loanee, and Honduran international Carlo Costly scored a buffer goal in the 87th minute to seal the club's third trip to the MLS Cup championship.[16]
On the afternoon of May 10, 2011, Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber announced that the Home Depot Center in Carson, California would host the MLS Cup championship.[17] The final, which became the fourth league championship held at the stadium, gave it the record for the most MLS Cup finals held. The last time the Home Depot Center hosted the MLS Cup final was in 2008, when the Columbus Crew defeated Red Bull New York.[18]
The Home Depot Center is the home ground of two Los Angeles-based clubs, the Los Angeles Galaxy[19] and C.D. Chivas USA.[20]
The match kicked off at 9:00 pm EST and was broadcast on ESPN for the third consecutive year, as well as Galavisión in the U.S. and on TSN2 in Canada. Additionally, it was aired during prime time for the third consecutive year.[21]
| November 20, 2011 6:00PM PST (18:00 UTC-8) |
Houston Dynamo | 0 – 1 | Los Angeles Galaxy | The Home Depot Center Carson, California Attendance: 30,281 Referee: Ricardo Salazar |
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| Report | Donovan 72' |
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Houston Dynamo
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Los Angeles Galaxy
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Assistant referees:
Craig Lowry
Peter Manikowski
Fourth official:
Hilario Grajeda
Player of the Match:
Landon Donovan (United States)
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