Both these teams came from win-less streaks heading into this game - The Red Bulls had not won for three games, The Galaxy for four. In high temperatures and on synthetic turf, The Galaxy wore the darker blue strip for the first time this season.
The game started nervously with a lot of stray passes and scrappy play, not really helped by a referee who was not really in touch with the game at all, finding a yellow card for Klein after less than two minutes for an accidental trip. The ref continued to make bad decisions including NOT booking a Galaxy team mate for kicking a New York player in the mouth....
The game looked like it could start to turn Galaxy's way when Beckham finally started to receive some service, but neither team really established a foothold in the first fifteen minutes. On 18 mins Angel drew a fine save from Cronin, and you could be forgiven for thinking that The Red Bulls looked most likely to score. Donovan immediately responded with a great run and a pass to Ruiz who failed to win the one-on-one with the keeper. On 24 mins, Donovan broke loose again and was brought down outside the area. Beckham failed to convert and could not find a Galaxy player from the resulting corner.
Out of desperation, Beckham dropped deep to turn provider and distributor which he did very effectively finding Buddle on the left who lifted the ball into the danger area for an easy headed goal from Ruiz on 29 minutes. LA failed to take control and just five minutes later Vandenburg punished them with a long range effort taking the game to one-all.
Donovan deserves a mention for a left-foot volley that went astray, but half time saw the teams tied at one-all.
More bizarre decisions were made by the ref in the second half, I can honestly say that this ref probably made more decisions that I could not explain than ones that I could.
The second half was a series of missed chances mostly by Red Bulls as Galaxy looked like a tiring team. Ruiz missed a good chance on 50 mins as his shot was blocked. On 57, Rojas wasted a golden chance in front of goal. Beckham started popping up on the left hand side and was still appearing in defensive positions at times as he looked for the big pass.
Conway in the Red Bulls goal got himself a yellow for some unknown reason as Galaxy had a couple of corners. NY had another great chance on 68 mins which Cronin managed to get a hand to, and only 2 minutes later on the break, Angel drifted into the box, waltzed passed a defender and coolly lobbed Cronin to take the score to 2-1 to New York.
On 73 minutes Red Bulls squandered another chance in front of goal, and on 77 Ruiz was denied again by Conway. On 78 Gordon came on for Vanney, but The Galaxy struggled to have any impact on the game. In extra time however, Donovan lifted a cross into the box aimed at Buddle's head - Buddle missed it, but the ball nestled in the far corner of the net bringing a leap of joy from LA Galaxy coach Ruud Gullit and leveling the score at 2-2. All was not over though as there was one more throw of the dice in the closing seconds. Beckham lifted the ball over the box, and it fell at Donovans left foot. Donovan caught it beautifully and sent the ball screaming towards the goal only to see it hit the post, rebound and get hit over the bar more or less as the ref blew his whistle.
Frankly it would have been unfair for Galaxy to have won, it was not a pretty game, and the Red Bulls had the better of it. Thankfully the odd refereeing did not spoil the game in any significant way. Another win-less night for both teams, another captain's performance from David Beckham.
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