AP News, April 29th, 2007
Landon Donovan scored one goal and set up two others to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 3-1 victory over Chivas USA on Saturday night.
Donovan scored his first goal of the season in the 8th minute, helping the Galaxy (1-1-1) improve to 8-1-1 against Chivas USA.
"We wanted to take control of the game early," Donovan said. "We had tons of chances in both of the (other) games and things weren't going our way. It's just getting that little bit of luck, that break, and it came in that first goal."
Kyle Martino's crossing pass from the left flank drew goalkeeper Brad Guzan away from the net. The ball deflected off Chivas USA defender Claudio Suarez to Donovan, who converted into an empty net from four yards.
Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon made two saves in 2 minutes to keep Chivas USA (2-2-0) from scoring the tying goal.
Cannon dived to his left to deflect Amado Guevara's 23-yard shot away from the right post in the 11th minute, then leaped to redirect Alex Zotinca's 7-yard header over the crossbar in the 12th minute.
Kevin Harmes gave the Galaxy a 2-0 lead in the 17th minute. Donovan passed the ball through two defenders to end a give-and-go to Harmes, who eluded two more defenders and kicked a 7-yard shot inside the left post.
"We hardly gave ourselves a chance," Chivas USA forward Ante Razov said. "We made a couple of mistakes and they punished us for it. Two mental breakdowns just killed us."
Suarez narrowed the deficit to 2-1 in the 63rd minute before Cobi Jones ended the scoring with a 13-yard shot in the 78th minute. Donovan set up the goal with a 60-yard run, in which he jumped over Lawson Vaughn's attempted tackle.
"We've got to have some serious conversations next week," Razov said. "If you don't come out ready to play 100 percent like they did, and if you've got one or two guys screwing around, you're going to be in big trouble."
Guevara was ejected in the 78th minute and will miss Chivas USA's next game against D.C. United on May 6.
Chivas USA midfielder Sacha Kljestan served the first of a two-game suspension for a violent tackle against Real Salt Lake's Andy Williams on April 21.
