Real Salt Lake stuns Galaxy in shootout to win MLS title

SEATTLE — Real Salt Lake refused to lay down.

The team that squeaked into the Major League Soccer playoffs on the regular season’s final day dimmed the bright lights of the L.A. Galaxy and pulled off one of the biggest upsets in league history with a penalty kick-win in the MLS Cup championship final Sunday night at Qwest Field.

A David and Goliath story from the get-go — except for one major difference: David played for Goliath — this title tilt in front of 46,011 fans was predicted to be an easy Galaxy win with it’s star-studded roster that included league MVP Landon Donovan and English international star David Beckham.

But instead of the Hollywood behemoth running wild across the field against Real Salt Lake, a familiar face came to the rescue in goalkeeper Nick Rimando.

Rimando, who made three penalty kick saves in RSL’s Eastern Conference finals victory at Chicago, came up huge with two saves and a beneficial miss by Donovan after the two teams finished tied 1-1 after regulation time.

Donovan, who’s seen Rimando save a spot kick of his before, put the ball high over the crossbar on the Galaxy’s fourth attempt on goal.

“The penalty I hit like I hit any penalty,” Donovan said. “I made sure he was going the other way, and I closed my body. I just put it in the air. It’s probably partially due to tired legs and not concentrating in that moment.”

Rimando, the MLS Cup MVP, said he was confident heading to penalty kicks after the team “handled business in Chicago.”

“Landon’s been in that position before, probably with more people in the stands,” Rimando said. “I wanted to stay in the middle as long as I could, because I knew he was going to look up and he likes to go down the middle high. … I was fortunate that he went over, because he usually buries those.

“But I’m 2-for-2 with him, right?” Rimando added with a laugh.

The game appeared headed to its predicted end with the two-time champion Galaxy grabbing a 1-0 lead on a Mike Magee goal in the 41st minute.

Beckham, playing though a bruised ankle, ignited the scoring break with a pass to Donovan streaking to the left wing. Donovan corralled the pass and carried the ball to the edge of RSL’s box before crossing onto Magee’s run to the far post.

RSL, just the fourth team in MLS Cup history to come into the league championship game with a sub-.500 regular season record, was forced to make some tactical adjustments when playmaker Javier Morales went down with a left knee sprain and had to be substituted out in the 22nd minute.

But the Galaxy eventually had to make a more costly substitution when starting goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, who had two saves in the match, left the game with a hand injury.

Ricketts was replaced by seldom-used goalkeeper Josh Saunders in the 66th minute.

Saunders came up with a couple big saves late in the match on RSL forward Robbie Findley, as well as making two saves in penalty kicks.

“He (Saunders) played great and one of the difficulties both teams had there was the substitution pattern,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said. “Certainly in our case having to use one substitution for goalkeeper is never good, but those are the cards that were dealt to us.”

Findley, a speedster at forward for RSL that consistently pushed the Galaxy defensive back line (Findley collected six offsides calls), found the ball at his feet for a 64th minute equalizer.

“The ball was just bouncing around in the 18 (yard box), it fell by my foot and I was able to get my left foot on it and put it in the goal,” Findley, a former Galaxy player, said.

The Galaxy was able to slow down RSL’s pace and wait for counterattacks, but fatigue became a factor as the game wore on.

“L.A., I thought, sat back a lot, looked to counterattack a lot,” said RSL head coach Jason Kreis, who became the fourth MLS player to also win an MLS Cup as coach. “… We didn’t possess the ball as nicely as I would have liked us to, but in the second half I thought we did a much better job. My honest opinion was that we deserved to win that game, so I’m glad that we did.”

Arena said the game became a “battle of attrition” and felt handcuffed by having to use his first sub on a goalkeeper.

The game certainly took a toll on players — RSL midfielder Andy Williams was served the game-winning goal on a silver platter deep into the overtime period, but he mishit the ball and lost it to a defender. Williams laid, arms outstretched on the field, as the game continued.

RSL defender Robbie Russell stepped up to the spot following Rimando’s second save in penalty kicks for the game-winning shot.

“I just focused on the ball,” Russell said. “I was just trying to get rid of all the 40,000 screaming fans and kind of put them out of my mind. … I’ve been on a couple losing ends on those too, so I know what its like to lose and its much better to win.”

Beckham, the face of the Galaxy and the MLS, buried his penalty — L.A.’s first shot — but watched helplessly as the result unfolded.

“It’s Russian roulette,” said Beckham, who again will head to Italy and play for A.C. Milan in January. “It’s not a nice way to go out, but it’s the way it is in soccer.”