The 2011 MLS schedule started way back in March, and now, only two teams remain for the right to win the 2011 MLS championship. The Houston Dynamo have their work cut out for them, as they go on the road to take on the Los Angeles Galaxy, and we are set to make our 2011 MLS Cup picks for the biggest duel in American soccer of the year.
The Galaxy are the team with all of the pomp and circumstance surrounding it at the moment. Names like Robby Keane, David Beckham, and Landon Donovan are all over the place, making this a heck of a lot like an “MLS Dream Team,” and it is great to have these men on display on soccer’s biggest stage in this country.
LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo Date/Time: Sunday, November 20th, 9:00 p.m. (ET)
LA Galaxy vs. Houston Dynamo Television Coverage: ESPN
Don’t think that they’re just names, though. Donovan netted a whopping 14 goals this year, while Beckham had 14 assists. Both are on the MLS Starting XI team, and had Keane been in Tinseltown for the whole year, he probably would have made the roster as well.
There’s no doubt that the Galaxy were the best team in the MLS all season long. They ended the regular season with 67 points and 19 wins, both of which were tops in the league, and they really stormed through the postseason without much fuss. The club took down the New York Red Bulls on aggregate 3-1, and it followed that up with a 3-1 win over Real Salt Lake in the Western Conference Final a fortnight ago.
Meanwhile, Houston had to scratch and claw for the right to play in the Eastern Conference Final. The team only barely made the playoffs, needing a win against these Galaxy on the final day of the regular season just to ensure that it would be in the postseason, and the three points turned out to be just enough to survive having to play in the first round of the playoffs as well.
In the playoffs, the Dynamo have been… well… dynamo! They already have two road wins, one coming at the Philadelphia Union, while the other was in the Eastern Conference Finals against Sporting Kansas City. The 2-0 win at Livestrong Sporting Park was a lot closer than the game suggests, and Head Coach Dominic Kinnear knows that his team had to fight through some real adversity just to reach this point in the season.
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This season, Houston took a 3-1 decision in the Lone Star State on October 23rd, but its trip to the Home Depot Center didn’t turn out as well. A Donovan penalty kick gave LA the 1-0 victory on a day in which Beckham was not in the lineup. Including the playoffs, Los Angeles is a whopping 14-5-0 at home, but it has a major score to settle after losing in the Western Conference Final last year to FC Dallas 3-0.
It should come as no surprise that the Galaxy are comfortable 1 to 3 favorites to lift the MLS Cup. Whichever team wins on Sunday will claim their third MLS championship in franchise history. Houston won the titles in 2006 and 2007, and it has never lost in the finale, while the Galaxy are 2-4 in four visits, winning in 2002 and 2005. This is the first of those matches though, that will be played in front of their hometown crowd.
