MLS Cup 2009 was the 14th edition of the
MLS Cup
The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...
, the championship match of
Major League Soccer (MLS). The
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
match took place on November 22, 2009, at
Qwest Field
Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, t ...
in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, Washington, and was contested between the
Los Angeles Galaxy
LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...
and
Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 2 ...
.
Real Salt Lake won the match 5–4 in a
penalty shoot-out
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
following a 1–1 draw. Salt Lake goalkeeper
Nick Rimando
Nicholas Paul Rimando (born June 17, 1979) is an American retired soccer player who last played as a goalkeeper for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer and the United States national team. He holds the Major League Soccer records for career ...
was named
man of the match
In team sport, a player of the match or man of the match or woman of the match award is often given to the most outstanding player in a particular match. This can be a player from either team, although the player is generally chosen from the winn ...
for making several saves in the shootout, allowing defender
Robbie Russell to score the winning goal. It was the club's first championship, coming in their fifth season in the league, and the second MLS Cup to be decided by a shootout.
An attendance of 46,011 people made the 2009 final the sixth-largest in MLS Cup history. It was also the first MLS Cup to be played on
artificial turf. The match was broadcast in the United States on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
and
Galavisión
Galavisión is an American Spanish-language pay television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network is unrelated to the earlier Mexican channel of the same name, though both broadcast Televisa-produced programming.
As of February 2015 ...
.
Venue and pre-match
Qwest Field
Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, t ...
was announced as the venue for the MLS Cup on March 11, 2009, a week before
Seattle Sounders FC played their inaugural match at the stadium.
Qwest Field became the eighth stadium to host the MLS Cup and the first new stadium chosen for the final since
2005.
The selection of a venue with an
artificial turf playing surface, a first for the MLS Cup, was criticized by several players prior to the final.
Qwest Field was built for the
Seattle Seahawks of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
in 2003, but was designed with soccer in mind. It hosted several international friendly matches, as well as part of the
2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup, prior to becoming the home stadium of the Seattle Sounders.
Due to the use of Qwest Field as the MLS Cup venue, the Seattle Seahawks schedule was modified to include three away games in November. In their inaugural season, the Sounders set the league record for average attendance, with 30,897, prompting additional interest in the cup.
The initial offering of 30,000 tickets were sold out in early November, prompting the release of 6,000 additional tickets. Ticket sales passed 40,000 on the day before the match. To celebrate the MLS Cup final, the logos of the league and the two finalists were painted onto the roof of the city's iconic
Space Needle
The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city, it has been designated a Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, it was built in the Seattle Center ...
. The
Philip F. Anschutz Trophy
The Philip F. Anschutz Trophy is a silver trophy that is awarded to winners of MLS Cup. Since the inaugural MLS Cup in 1996, three trophies have been used: the Alan I. Rothenberg Trophy from 1996 to 1998, a second version of the Rothenberg Tro ...
was brought to the city aboard a
state ferry by Sounders coach
Sigi Schmid
Siegfried "Sigi" Schmid (; March 20, 1953 – December 25, 2018) was a German-American soccer coach who had the most wins in the history of Major League Soccer (MLS). Born in Tübingen, West Germany, he moved to the United States with his fam ...
and technical director
Chris Henderson
Christopher Henderson (born December 11, 1970) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He earned 79 caps with the U.S. national team and part of the U.S. team at the 1992 Summer Olympics. At the time of his ...
.
Other pre-cup festivities included a free concert by rock band
Third Eye Blind
Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label reco ...
, a summit of supporters representing several MLS clubs, a
March to the Match from
Pioneer Square, and a "Soccer Celebration" festival outside the stadium plaza.
Road to the final
The
MLS Cup
The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conferen ...
is the post-season championship of
Major League Soccer (MLS), a professional club soccer league in the United States and Canada. The
2009 season was the 14th in MLS history, and was contested by 15 teams in two conferences.
Each club played 30 matches during the regular season from March to October, facing each team twice and two in-conference teams a third time.
The playoffs, running from October 29 to November 22, were contested by the top two clubs in each conference and four
wild card teams in the next positions regardless of conference. It was organized into three rounds: a
home-and-away series in the Conference Semifinals, a single-match Conference Final, and the MLS Cup final.
The 2009 edition of the MLS Cup was contested by the
Los Angeles Galaxy
LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pla ...
and
Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 2 ...
. The two teams were from the
Western Conference, marking the second consecutive edition to be played between two teams from the same conference. The Galaxy and Real Salt Lake played each other twice in the regular season: a 2–2 draw hosted by Real Salt Lake in May and a 2–0 loss for hosts Los Angeles in June.
Los Angeles Galaxy
![LA Galaxy vs Houston Dynamo- Western Conference Finals panorama](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/LA_Galaxy_vs_Houston_Dynamo-_Western_Conference_Finals_panorama.jpg)
The Los Angeles Galaxy were one of the original teams in MLS and appeared in five previous MLS Cup finals, winning in
2002 and
2005.
The team finished joint-last in the league in 2008, replacing manager
Ruud Gullit
Ruud Gullit (; born Rudi Dil; 1 September 1962) is a Dutch footballer and subsequent manager who played professionally in the 1980s and 1990s as a defender, midfielder or forward. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all ...
with former
United States national team coach
Bruce Arena
Bruce Arena (born September 21, 1951) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach and sporting director of the New England Revolution.
He is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame and the NJCAA Lacrosse Hall of Fame. Arena has had ...
midway through the season.
In the
2009 SuperDraft, the Galaxy selected
Omar Gonzalez
Omar Alejandro Gonzalez (born October 11, 1988) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a center-back for the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer.
A college soccer player for the Maryland Terrapins, he joined the LA ...
and
A. J. DeLaGarza
Adolph Joseph DeLaGarza (born November 4, 1987) is a former professional soccer player. He was a constant fixture in the LA Galaxy teams of the early 2010s that won three MLS Cups and two Supporters' Shields.
A United States international in ...
, both of whom would lead a revamped defense alongside newly-acquired goalkeeper
Donovan Ricketts
Donovan Ricketts (born 7 June 1977) is a Jamaican former professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and is currently an assistant coach for FC Tulsa in the USL Championship. Ricke ...
. Though without star midfielder
David Beckham due to an extended loan to
A.C. Milan
Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional Association football, football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 ...
, the Galaxy began the season with one loss and two wins in their first twelve matches. After Beckham's return in July, the team went on a six-match unbeaten streak and secured a playoff berth in late August. The Galaxy finished the season with 12 wins, 6 losses, and 12 draws, placing first in the Western Conference with 48 points.
The Galaxy played the Western Conference Semifinals against
Chivas USA
Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. G ...
, the co-tenant of the
Home Depot Center
Dignity Health Sports Park is a multi-use sports complex located on the campus of California State University, Dominguez Hills in Carson, California. The complex consists of the 27,000-seat Dignity Health Sports Park soccer stadium, the Dignit ...
appearing in their fourth consecutive playoffs.
The first leg ended in a 2–2 draw, marked by four goals that were the result of defensive mistakes by both teams. The Galaxy advanced to the Conference Final after winning 1–0 in the second leg, with
Landon Donovan scoring the lone goal from a
penalty kick
A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...
. The Western Conference Final was played against the
Houston Dynamo and hosted by the Galaxy at the Home Depot Center. The match was interrupted by two
power outage
A power outage (also called a powercut, a power out, a power failure, a power blackout, a power loss, or a blackout) is the loss of the electrical power network supply to an end user.
There are many causes of power failures in an electricity ...
s in both halves of regulation time, which ended scoreless after a Dynamo goal in the 80th minute was disallowed.
Defender
Gregg Berhalter
Gregg Matthew Berhalter (, ; born August 1, 1973) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is also the current head coach of the United States men's national soccer team. Berhalter previously coached Columbus Crew SC in Major League Soc ...
scored in the 103rd minute and was followed six minutes later by a Landon Donovan penalty to give the Galaxy a 2–0 win and a place in the MLS Cup final.
Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake entered MLS as an
expansion team in 2005, but failed to qualify for the playoffs in its first three seasons.
Veteran midfielder
Jason Kreis, who had scored the franchise's first goal, was appointed head coach after six straight losses to begin the 2007 season and worked with new general manager
Garth Lagerwey
Garth Lagerwey (born December 12, 1972) is a retired American soccer player who played five seasons in Major League Soccer as a goalkeeper. He became the general manager of Real Salt Lake in 2007 and stayed with the club before departing in 201 ...
to rebuild the team. After acquiring several key players in 2008, including captain
Kyle Beckerman
Kyle Robert Beckerman (born April 23, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He spent 21 seasons in Major League Soccer (MLS) with the Miami Fusion (2000–2001), Colorado Rapids (2002–2007) ...
, and defenders
Nat Borchers
Nat Borchers (born April 13, 1981) is an American former soccer player who played as a defender. He won the MLS Cup in 2009 with Real Salt Lake and in 2015 with the Portland Timbers.
Youth and college career
Born in Tucson, Arizona, Borchers ...
and
Jámison Olave
Jámison Olave Mosquera (born April 21, 1981) is a Colombian former footballer who is currently the head coach of USL Championship side Real Monarchs.
Career
Olave began his career with Deportivo Cali in 2001. He played on loan for a multitud ...
, the team qualified for the playoffs and advanced to the Western Conference Final, where they were defeated by the
New York Red Bulls
The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...
.
Salt Lake began the 2009 season, their first to be fully played at
Rio Tinto Stadium
America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium and referred to as The RioT) is an American soccer-specific stadium in Sandy, Utah, that serves as home stadium for Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. The stadium opened on October 9, 2008, ...
and fifth overall, with nine home wins, five draws, and one loss. The team failed to produce similar results in away matches and finished with a losing record of 11 wins, 12 losses, and 7 draws.
Real Salt Lake qualified for the playoffs on the last day of the season with 40 points, thanks to favorable results from three matches that eliminated five other teams competing for the final two wild card spots.
As a wild card, the team was seeded into the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the
Columbus Crew
The Columbus Crew, formerly known as Columbus Crew SC, is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one ...
, the defending MLS Cup champions.
Real Salt Lake won the home leg 1–0 on a goal by
Robbie Findley
Robert Findley (born August 4, 1985) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He was capped 11 times by the United States national team, having made his international debut in 2007.
Findley played college soc ...
, but conceded two early goals in the opening 35 minutes of the away leg in Columbus. The team responded with three goals scored by
Javier Morales
Javier Morales (born 10 January 1980) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a midfielder. He currently serves as an academy coach at Inter Miami CF.
Career Argentina
From 1998 to 2006, Morales played for four different clubs in the A ...
, Findley, and
Andy Williams to win 3–2 and advanced 4–2 on aggregate. Real Salt Lake faced the
Chicago Fire in the Eastern Conference Final at
Toyota Park
SeatGeek Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in Bridgeview, Illinois, about twelve miles southwest of downtown Chicago. It is the home stadium of the Chicago Red Stars of the National Women's Soccer League, Chicago Fire FC II of the MLS Next Pr ...
in
Bridgeview, Illinois
Bridgeview is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located approximately southwest of the Chicago Loop. As of the 2020 census, the village population was 17,027.
History
The earliest settlement in Bridgeview occurred in the ...
, which ended in a scoreless draw after extra time. Salt Lake won the ensuing
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
5–4 after seven rounds, relying on three saves by goalkeeper
Nick Rimando
Nicholas Paul Rimando (born June 17, 1979) is an American retired soccer player who last played as a goalkeeper for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer and the United States national team. He holds the Major League Soccer records for career ...
.
Real Salt Lake became the third MLS Cup finalist to have qualified for the playoffs as the lowest seed, mirroring the New York Red Bulls the previous year, and was the second expansion team to contest an MLS Cup.
Summary of results
:''Note: In all results below, the score of the finalist is given first (H: home; A: away).''
Broadcasting
The MLS Cup final was televised in the United States on
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
and
ESPN360.com in English and
Galavisión
Galavisión is an American Spanish-language pay television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network is unrelated to the earlier Mexican channel of the same name, though both broadcast Televisa-produced programming.
As of February 2015 ...
in Spanish.
GolTV Canada
GolTV was a Canadian English language Category B specialty channel. GolTV was exclusively dedicated to association football (soccer), with live and recorded sporting events from around the world, and news programs. GolTV was owned by Maple Leaf S ...
broadcast the match in Canada, and
ESPN International
ESPN International is a family of sportscasting and production networks around the world. It was begun in 1989, is operated by ESPN Inc. and owned by The Walt Disney Company.
Operating regions
Latin America
Spanish-speaking countries
* ES ...
carried the match in 122 countries, primarily in Latin America, the Middle East, and Oceania.
This was the first edition of the MLS Cup to be carried on a cable network, as the previous thirteen were on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, and was scheduled later at night to compete with ''
NBC Sunday Night Football
''NBC Sunday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''SNF'') is an American weekly television broadcast of National Football League (NFL) games on NBC and Peacock in the United States. It began airing on August 6, 2006, with the Pro Football Hall of Fa ...
''. ESPN covered the match using 19 cameras and several digital features, including player tracking statistics and an offside line displayed on
instant replay
Instant replay or action replay is a video reproduction of something that recently occurred which was both shot and broadcast live.
The video, having already been shown live, is replayed in order for viewers to see again and analyze what had j ...
s.
JP Dellacamera
John Paul "JP" Dellacamera (born January 11, 1952) is an American play-by-play sportscaster primarily for Major League Soccer with the Philadelphia Union, as well as major soccer tournaments and ice hockey.
Commentary career
Soccer
In the 1 ...
was the lead play-by-play commentator and
John Harkes
John Andrew Harkes (born March 8, 1967) is an American soccer coach and former professional player who is the head coach of Greenville Triumph SC.
A member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame, Harkes was the first American ever to play in the ...
provided color commentary. The network's coverage of the final was later criticized by Salt Lake City-area media outlets for its favoritism of the Galaxy.
Match
Summary
![MLS Cup Final 2009 Qwest Field](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/MLS_Cup_Final_2009_Qwest_Field.jpg)
The Galaxy were described as the favorites in the MLS Cup match-up, with a better set of players and manager Bruce Arena's previous cup victories with
D.C. United
D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...
. Both teams fielded their regular lineups, with no major injuries; David Beckham was forced to skip several practice sessions prior to being injected with a painkiller to alleviate a bruised right ankle.
Kevin Stott
Kevin Stott (born 1967) is a soccer referee for PRO from the United States. He was a FIFA referee from 1995 to 2008. Stott was selected as a referee for the 2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, wa ...
was named the head referee for his third MLS Cup final, following the 2001 and 2005 finals.
Despite a forecast of rain,
the weather at kickoff was cloudy and the air temperature was . During the first half, the Galaxy had the majority of possession and chances on goal, taking six shots.
Real Salt Lake midfielder
Javier Morales
Javier Morales (born 10 January 1980) is an Argentine former footballer who played as a midfielder. He currently serves as an academy coach at Inter Miami CF.
Career Argentina
From 1998 to 2006, Morales played for four different clubs in the A ...
was substituted in the 22nd minute after suffering from a torn
meniscus
Meniscus may refer to:
*Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity
*Meniscus (liquid)
The meniscus (plural: ''menisci'', from the Greek for "crescent") is the curve in the upper surface ...
in his left knee after a collision with David Beckham; Morales left the field in tears and was replaced by
Clint Mathis
Clint Mathis (born November 25, 1976) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward or midfielder. He appeared at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, scoring one goal. He also played in Major League Soccer for the MetroStars, wh ...
. After two missed opportunities, Los Angeles forward
Mike Magee scored the final's opening goal in the 41st minute, finishing a cross from Landon Donovan.
At halftime, the Galaxy led 1–0 and Real Salt Lake were forced to substitute midfielder
Will Johnson, who was suffering from
food poisoning contracted days earlier.
Real Salt Lake regrouped in the second half and set up a chance in the 47th minute for
Robbie Findley
Robert Findley (born August 4, 1985) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He was capped 11 times by the United States national team, having made his international debut in 2007.
Findley played college soc ...
, who collided with
Omar Gonzalez
Omar Alejandro Gonzalez (born October 11, 1988) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a center-back for the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer.
A college soccer player for the Maryland Terrapins, he joined the LA ...
and Galaxy goalkeeper
Donovan Ricketts
Donovan Ricketts (born 7 June 1977) is a Jamaican former professional association football, footballer who played as a Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper and is currently an assistant coach for FC Tulsa in the USL Championship. Ricke ...
.
After being clipped by Gonzalez's right foot, Ricketts broke his right hand but elected to continue playing after being evaluated by on-field trainers.
Salt Lake continued attacking and Findley scored the equalizing goal in the 64th minute by finishing a deflected shot from
Yura Movsisyan
Yura Movsisyan ( hy, Յուրա Մովսիսյան; born 2 August 1987) is an Armenian former professional footballer who played as a forward. Most notably, Movsisyan played for Spartak Moscow in the Russian Premier League. He played for the ...
. Ricketts walked off the field and was substituted in the 66th minute for his backup
Josh Saunders
Josh Saunders (born March 2, 1981) is an American former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He last played for Orlando City in Major League Soccer.
Career
College
Saunders, the younger brother of Shawn Saunders, spent the f ...
in what was the first goalkeeper substitution in MLS Cup history.
Both teams exchanged several chances late in the second half, including misses from Movsisyan and Donovan, but neither could score a second goal. The half ended with seven minutes of
stoppage time due to Ricketts' treatment.
In extra time, Real Salt Lake continued to have the majority of possession and chances, eventually tallying nineteen shots to the Galaxy's thirteen.
Shots by Findley and Mathis were blocked and sent wide of the goal, grazing the outside of the side net.
The match remained tied after extra time, leaving the MLS Cup to be decided through a
penalty shootout
The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...
for the second time in its history.
The shootout began with David Beckham, who scored on his attempt, and was followed by successful penalties taken by Clint Mathis for Salt Lake,
Gregg Berhalter
Gregg Matthew Berhalter (, ; born August 1, 1973) is an American soccer coach and former player. He is also the current head coach of the United States men's national soccer team. Berhalter previously coached Columbus Crew SC in Major League Soc ...
for the Galaxy, and Findley for Salt Lake.
With the score tied 2–2, Salt Lake goalkeeper
Nick Rimando
Nicholas Paul Rimando (born June 17, 1979) is an American retired soccer player who last played as a goalkeeper for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer and the United States national team. He holds the Major League Soccer records for career ...
saved an attempt by
Jovan Kirovski
Jovan Kirovski ( mk, Јован Кировски; born March 18, 1976) is an American former soccer player who is the Technical Director for the Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer. Kirovski is the first American to win the UEFA Champions Le ...
, and Saunders saved a kick by Salt Lake captain
Kyle Beckerman
Kyle Robert Beckerman (born April 23, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He spent 21 seasons in Major League Soccer (MLS) with the Miami Fusion (2000–2001), Colorado Rapids (2002–2007) ...
.
Despite his proficiency in penalties, Landon Donovan missed by putting it over the goalpost, and
Ned Grabavoy
Ned Grabavoy (born July 1, 1983) is a retired American professional soccer player who played as a midfielder. He is the technical director and lead soccer operations director for the Portland Timbers.
Career
Youth and College
Grabavoy playe ...
scored to give Salt Lake a 3–2 lead going into the final rounds.
Magee scored to keep the Galaxy in the shootout and an attempt by Salt Lake midfielder
Andy Williams was saved by Saunders to trigger
sudden death rounds. Williams was chosen as the final kick taker for Salt Lake by manager
Jason Kreis because of the emotional connection to the team and Seattle that he had due to his wife's then-ongoing battle with a rare form of
leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ...
, which was being treated in Seattle.
Chris Klein and
Chris Wingert
Chris Wingert (born June 16, 1982) is an American professional soccer player for New York Cosmos B in the National Premier Soccer League. He spent fourteen seasons of his professional career in Major League Soccer (MLS) with the Columbus Crew ...
both scored their respective penalties, bringing the score to 4–4 before Rimando saved an attempt by Galaxy forward
Edson Buddle
Edson Michael Buddle (born May 21, 1981) is an American retired Footballer who is currently the head coach of USL League Two side Westchester Flames. He is one of only 11 players to have scored 100 goals in Major League Soccer history.
Buddle ...
.
Salt Lake defender
Robbie Russell scored the winning penalty in the seventh round, bringing the score to 5–4. After scoring the penalty, he turned around and fell to his knees as he was swarmed by his teammates.
Details
Post-match
![Real Salt Lake at the White 2010-06-04 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Real_Salt_Lake_at_the_White_2010-06-04_2.jpg)
Real Salt Lake's
upset victory
An upset occurs in a competition, frequently in electoral politics or sports, when the party popularly expected to win (the "favorite"), either loses to or draws/ties a game with an underdog whom the majority expects to lose, defying the convent ...
gave Utah its first major professional sports championship since the
Utah Stars
The Utah Stars were an American Basketball Association (ABA) team based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Under head coach Bill Sharman the Stars were the first major professional basketball team to use a pre-game shootaround.
History prior to moving t ...
won the
American Basketball Association championship in 1971.
The 2009 final was the second in MLS Cup history to be won by an expansion team and the second to finish with a penalty shootout.
Nick Rimando was named the MLS Cup
most valuable player, only the second goalkeeper to earn the honor, and
Jason Kreis became the youngest coach to win the MLS Cup, along with the fourth former player to coach a championship team.
The 2009 final was attended by 46,011 spectators, then the fourth-largest crowd for an MLS Cup final and the largest since the
2002 final at
Gillette Stadium
Gillette Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts, which is southwest of downtown Boston. It serves as the home stadium and administrative offices for both the New England Patriots of the National Foot ...
in
Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Approximately 2,000 fans attended from Salt Lake City and were joined by
Seattle Sounders FC supporters, who chose to root for the "underdog" team.
The crowd and atmosphere at the stadium were praised by league officials (including executive
Don Garber
Donald P. Garber (born October 9, 1957) is an American sports executive who has served as the Commissioner of Major League Soccer since 1999. Garber is also the CEO of Soccer United Marketing and a member of the United States Soccer Federation ...
),
the teams, and the media.
The stadium, later renamed
CenturyLink Field
Lumen Field is a multi-purpose stadium in Seattle, Washington, United States. Located in the city's SoDo neighborhood, it is the home field for the Seattle Seahawks of the National Football League (NFL), the Seattle Sea Dragons of the XFL, t ...
, hosted its second MLS Cup final in
2019, which saw the Sounders defeat
Toronto FC
Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BM ...
in front of 69,274 spectators—a stadium record for a sporting event.
The Real Salt Lake team returned the following afternoon and was greeted by hundreds of fans at
Salt Lake City International Airport
Salt Lake City International Airport is a civil-military airport located about west of Downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, in the United States. The airport is the closest commercial airport for more than 2.5 million people and is within a 30-min ...
. The team was honored by a reception at the
Utah Governor's Mansion and the
Utah State Capitol, culminating in a parade from the state capitol to a rally at
Rio Tinto Stadium
America First Field (formerly Rio Tinto Stadium and referred to as The RioT) is an American soccer-specific stadium in Sandy, Utah, that serves as home stadium for Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. The stadium opened on October 9, 2008, ...
attended by 5,000 fans. Governor
Gary R. Herbert declared November 24, 2009, as Real Salt Lake Day. The team was later honored with a traditional champion's ceremony at the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
by President
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...
on June 4, 2010.
Real Salt Lake qualified for the
2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League, where they became the first MLS team to reach the modern tournament's
finals
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
, losing 3–2 on aggregate to
C.F. Monterrey
Club de Fútbol Monterrey, often known simply as Monterrey or their nickname Rayados, is a Mexican professional football club based in Monterrey, Nuevo León which currently plays in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football. Founded on 28 ...
. Real Salt Lake would later return to the MLS Cup final in
2013, finishing as runners-up to
Sporting Kansas City after losing a penalty shootout. The Galaxy and Real Salt Lake met in the 2011 Western Conference Final, where Los Angeles won 3–1 and advanced to the
MLS Cup final and win their first championship since 2005. Los Angeles would also win the cup in
2012 and
2014, bringing their total number of MLS Cup championships to five and surpassing the record set by
D.C. United
D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Supp ...
.
References
{{Los Angeles Galaxy matches
2009
*
LA Galaxy matches
Real Salt Lake matches
Association football penalty shoot-outs
Sports competitions in Seattle
Soccer in Washington (state)
November 2009 sports events in the United States
2009 in sports in Washington (state)
2009 in Seattle