[MLS] One of the wilder editions of the Los Angeles-San Jose rivalry ended with a 2-2 tie Thursday night at Home Depot Center in the teams’ first meetingof 2010.
In the final minute of regulation Landon Donovan stuffed in a loose ball during a goalmouth scramble to bring the Galaxy back from a one-goal deficit for thesecond time.
Bobby Convey got the game off to a fast start by drilling home the rebound of a saved shot in the second minute, and the Quakes controlled play for most of thefirst half.
Los Angeles flew forward after halftime and pinned San Jose in its defensive third yet could never gain the lead.
Edson Buddle scored hisleague-leading 12th goal of the season to tie the game in the 59th minute when he banged home Todd Dunivant’s low cross that had been nicked by Donovan. The Galaxy, backed by araucous crowd speckled with a few Quakes fans, pressed for a second goal but instead conceded one when Brandon McDonald, formerly of LA, got to the rebound of a saved Ike Opara headerand scored from close range in the 72nd minute.
Saves by Quakes keeper Jon Busch and desperate clearances by his defenders stymied several furious Galaxy attacks, but inthe final minute Busch bobbled a bouncing cross from substitute Tristan Bowen in the goal area. When the Quakes failed to clear the ball, Donovan – who played his first four MLSseasons in San Jose — pounced to score the 99th regular-season goal of his MLS career.
“I’m still trying to figure out how we didn’t win that game considering all thechances we had, but that’s how it goes sometimes,” said Donovan in a postgame TV interview. The Galaxy outshot San Jose, 22-7.
With the tie the Galaxy’s league-bestrecord is 12-3-3 (39 points) and it is still unbeaten (6-0-2) at home. At 6-4-5 (23 points), the Quakes move into a fourth-place tie with Colorado.
July 22 in Carson, Calif.
Los Angeles 2, San Jose 2. Goals: Convey (Wondolowski) 2, McDonald 72; Buddle (Donovan, Dunivant) 59; Donovan 90.
Los Angeles – Ricketts; Franklin, Leonardo,Gonzalez, Dunivant (Lewis, 77), Kovalenko (Bowen, 60), Stephens, Juninho, Donovan, Gordon (Kirovski, 81), Buddle.
San Jose – Busch; Hernandez, Opara, Burling, Corrales,Gjertsen (Alvarez, 53), Cronin, McDonald, Convey, Glen (Johnson, 91+), Wondolowski (Sealy, 67).
Referee: Jair Marrufo.
Att.: 17,712.