Amid all the talk of David Beckham's impending offesason intentions, it was a lifelong MLS superstar who shone for the Galaxy when needed.
Landon Donovan's 72nd minute strike was all the Los Angeles Galaxy needed to dispatch a chippy Houston Dynamo side en route to a 1-0 victory in the 2011 season finale.
Donovan's goal was actually the combined effort of all three of LA's designated players, who each had put their stamp on a game that was dominated by the home side. Beckham flicked a header to an onrushing Robbie Keane, who cut into space at the top of Houston's penalty area. Holding on to the ball as if he was searching for a shot, Keane instead placed a bauetiful little through ball to a charging Donovan, who made no mistake in chipping it past Dynamo 'keeper Tally Hall.
The late goal would stand up as the only marker of the match, although it could have easily been one of many.
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The Galaxy could have found themselves up by three or four at halftime if not for the horrible finishing of Adam Cristman, who filled in for the injured Chad Barrett as Keane's strike partner. Keane himself could have notched a couple, and in the 57th minute he had what looked to be a legitimate goal called by due to offside.
(If Keane's goal had stood, my 2-0 prediction likely would have come true. But I digress...)
On the Houston side, it was predictably a defend-by-the-seat-of-your-pants-and-hope-for-the-best type of night. The Dynamo were clearly looking to nick a goal off a set piece, as has been their M.O. all season long. Unfortunately for the Texas side, their opponents didn't give up many set piece opportunities, and as such the Dynamo only mustered one actual shot on goal.
Defensively, they imposed their physicality from the get go, led by André Hainault's no-nonsense work as a right back. There were definitely some over-aggressive moments (attributable to the occasion), but overall the Quebec native was solid and definitely made his case for a move to that right side of defence whenever he returns to the Canadian national set up.
In the end, the stars aligned for the Galaxy to put the finishing touches on their near-perfect season. A raucous home crowd of 30,000+ bore witness to the icing on the cake of perhaps the finest season ever put together by a team in MLS. It was a fitting end to one of the more memorable years in league history.
Except for the first half.
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Highlights:
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Rudi Schuller contributes Toronto FC, MLS, and Canadian national team content to the 24th Minute. He is MLSsoccer.com's beat writer for all things concerning Canada's men's national teams, and he has spent time as soccer editor for Reuters' online publications. He has also contributed to Goal.com and other soccer media. Follow Rudi on Twitter, @RudiSchuller.