Nine months, 456 matches, and controversy aplenty. And it all comes down to to one game, one high-octane head-to-head for the title.

The fourteenth season of Major League Soccer is nearing its end and, while Seattle Sounders have skewed an otherwise worrying attendance picture, the action on the field has impressed.

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The mix of young and old make the Galaxy a tough team to figure out for the expansion draft. (Getty Images)

We are quickly working our way through the 15 MLS clubs as we gear up for next week's expansion draft. The new kids on the block, the Philadelphia Union will get to select 10 players from the list of unprotected players that each club will have to submit by next Monday.

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MLS marketing mavens, your dream final is secure. Star power vs. star power as David Beckham and Kyle Beckerman will face each other next Sunday in Seattle. Ok, that concept is a bit of a stretch, as the best draw when comparing those two players is their unique hairstyle -- one consistent in his recent career, the other just bizarre.

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Western Conference Final
LA 2-0 Houston

After two halves, two overtime periods, and two 18+ minute power outages the Western Conference final, which was appropriately played on Friday the 13th, came to an end with the number one seed in the west advancing to the final.

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And those words are: Western Conference Champions!

In another step in the worst-to-first journey that MLS Coach of the Year Bruce Arena has taken the team on, the Los Angeles Galaxy turned away a stiff challenge from the Houston Dynamo in 30 minutes of extra time with a 2-0 scoreline.

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Major League Soccer is now just one game away from the end of the season, and this weekend the two conference Finals were played to determine the two MLS Cup finalists. The two matches were devoid of goals over 90 minutes, and while the Western winners managed to conjure up a couple in extra time, a team from the West took it all the way to penalties in the Eastern final. Click to continue reading...

David Beckham and the Los Angeles Galaxy are through to the Final of MLS Cup 2009 following last night's extra time 2-0 win over the Houston Dynamo at the Home Depot Center. In a match interrupted by two power outages, veteran defender Gregg Berhalter and USA captain Landon Donovan scored for the Galaxy in extra time [. Click to continue reading...

The Galaxy weathered two power outages, a disallowed goal by Andrew Hainault, and a dominant Dynamo display in the second half to score two extra time goals.

Landon Donovan becomes the MLS all time leader in goals scored as he converted the penalty after Alan Gordon was brought down by Ricardo Clark in the box.

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(AP Photo)

Galaxy 2 Houston 0

Game story.

It was a weird ending to a weird season that started with a franchise in shambles, a new coach, 16 new players, seemingly interminable and in some cases lucky draws and a very public spat between the team's two superstars.

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The Galaxy has one hand on the MLS Cup

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Unless you staid up well past the bewitching hour, you didn't see the Galaxy's 2-0 win over Houston in the Western Conference final.

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Galaxy 2 Houston Dynamo 0

Who would have thunk it at the outset of this season?

Two extra time goals by Gregg Berhalter (!) and Landon Donovan - his 17th postseason goal, the most in MLS (he was tied with Carlos Ruiz previously) - has given the Galaxy the win before an energized 25,373 even though it's past 11:30 p.

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The goal came from a David Beckham free kick. Omar Gonzalez got a head to it at the far post, it rebounded off Eddie Robinson and came to Gregg Berhalter for his first Galaxy goal - ever - in the 103rd minute.

Update: The half is over with the Galaxy up by one. Fifteen minutes until MLS Cup beckons.

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Galaxy 0 Dynamo 0

This is a helluva game - or at least it has been since the lights came back on, with the Galaxy having the better of the attacking chances and restricting Houston to some long-range efforts.

First, in the 25th minute Stuart Holden cleared a Landon Donovan header off the line.

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The floodlights have just failed here at the HDC. (No kidding). It's the 18th minute of the game.

Updated: Since we have a few minutes here it's worth pointing out the Dynamo are keying on the soft spot just inside the left back position of the inexperienced A.J. DeLaGarza and to the left of sluggish central defender Gregg Berhalter.

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The Major League Soccer season heads down the final turn this weekend, and with just three games remaining, the stakes are high. Friday night at the Home Depot Center, the Los Angeles Galaxy host the Houston Dynamo with a trip to Seattle and a spot in the MLS Cup final on the line.

It's a tale of two clubs over the past four-five seasons: one has been a proven winner, and is in search of their third cup in the past four years.

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This match promises to be a dogfight. The season series between the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Houston Dynamo featured exactly one goal and a lot of physical defending. If that sounds a lot like what Chivas and the Galaxy went through for the bulk of their five games this season, its not coincidence.

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Galaxy central defender Omar Gonzalez, the club's top draft pick out of Maryland didn't miss a game for the Galaxy this year and was literally head and shoulders above other candidates.

From the Galaxy press release:

The 21-year old defender from Dallas, Texas, becomes the second consecutive Galaxy defender to win the award.

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The University of Denver women's soccer team will face Portland on Friday in the opening round of the NCAA tournament at the Clive Charles Soccer Complex in Oregon.

Pioneers (17-5-1) earned their unprecedented fourth-straight Sun Belt Conference championship by beating Arkansas-Little Rock 1-0 on Saturday in Boca Raton, Florida.

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The Galaxy are one victory from reaching MLS Cup 2009 thanks to 2009 Coach of the Year Bruce Arena

The Los Angeles Galaxy began the 2009 season at best as a team in transition, at worst as a team in turmoil. Despite initial problems, the Galaxy now stands only one game from winning the Western Conference.

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And those words are: Meeting the challenge.

Right. So before the first playoff leg I predicted a series score of 2-1. Then before the second playoff leg, seeing the kind of chaos the two teams were creating and the resulting goals, I predicted 2-1 for the game on Sunday.

So, looking at a 3-2 aggregate and a 1-0 second leg scoreline, you can see that I bloody well can't predict anything when it comes to these two teams.

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Sunny and 80 degrees here at the under populated Home Depot Center.

Kick off has apparently been pushed back to 2:25 p.m. to accommodate TV if you're wondering.

It's the same starting lineup this afternoon that both teams fielded for the respective MLS season finales.

Here's Arena's team: Donovan Rickettts, Sean Franklin, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Todd Dunivant, Chris Birchall, David Beckham, Dema Kovalenko, Mike Magee, Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan.

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Welcome back to the playoffs!

It has been three long and, to be blunt, disastrous years since the last time the Galaxy played post-season futbol. That year they peaked at the right time after basically backing in to the playoffs and ended up taking the MLS Cup from New England on Pando Ramirez's only goal of the season.

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And those words are: Western Conference champions!

In a fitting display on their home turf, the Los Angeles Galaxy put the finishing touches on a worst-to-first regular season for 2009. After a horrific 2008, the culmination of years of front-office incompetence and on-field underachievement accomplished under the glare of international media, the Galaxy put together a season that culminated in a first-in the West finish and a return to the playoffs for the first time since 2005.

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Gregg Berhalter is all business!

While Landon Donovan and David Beckham bask in the aftermath of the Galaxy making the playoffs, the real story in their turnaround is their defense.

31 goals given up in 2009. That is half of the 2008 total!

That is right. In 2008, the Galaxy gave up 62 goals even as they set the scoring ablaze with 55 goals.

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The Galaxy come into the season's final game knowing a win will give them the top spot in the Western Conference and home field advantage in the playoffs because L.A. holds most of the tiebreakers over Houston and Chivas USA, which play each other at noon Sunday here at Home Depot Center, should either of those two teams finish tied with them on points.

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And that word is: Punchless.

Or it could be seven words: This team is nothing without Landon Donovan.

So let's start with the positive: shutting out Houston at home in front of a sell-out crowd and forcing Pat Onstad to actually make some saves. Once again Donovan Ricketts proves his worth making a busload of saves and the backline bends but doesn't break.

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And those word are: Gutting it out.

The Los Angeles Galaxy took three points at home from a determined Fire team populated with a large number of replacement for injured players. As has been the case all season, the defense provided the base from which the Galaxy was able to generate just enough offense to put the game away.

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Photo by Getty Images
And those words are: Not the time to tinker.

Let me be clear at the beginning. I'm not a coach, I've never been a coach, and I don't have access to the kinds and amounts of information an MLS coach has at his disposal, nor the skills to interpret it. But, having said that, I just plain didn't understand Bruce Arena's starting lineup yesterday.

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An absent David Beckham. An invisible Landon Donovan. A Galaxy loss.

The Galaxy went meekly down 2-0 to the Columbus Crew Saturday even though the co-MLS leaders rested the likes of reigning MLS MVP Guillermo Barros Schelotto, former Galaxy striker Alejandro Moreno and Rolling Hills Estates' Robbie Rogers ahead of Tuesday's CONCACAF Champions League game against Costa Rica's Saprissa.

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AP Photo

And those words are: Getting it done.

One week after giving up the most goals in team history, the Los Angeles Galaxy put together perhaps their most complete game of the season (though the Fire game at Toyota Park is in the running), shutting out a talented Toronto FC side to become only the fourth team in MLS history to record a shut-out immediately after giving up six goals.

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Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena hasn't exactly rung the changes despite last weekend's record-setting 6-3 home loss to Dallas.

Sean Franklin has recovered from injury and replaces A.J. DeLaGarza (knee bruise) at right back in his first start since May, Chris Birchall makes his second MLS start in midfield, while Landon Donovan moves up front to partner Edson Buddle, perhaps the lone bright spot for the Galaxy last week when he came on as a sub.

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A few of you have been wondering where the MLS Allocation Order stands now that FC Dallas has (finally) used their top spot to sign Heath Pearce.

Now the Rapids have the top spot. With very little bit left in the season I doubt Rapids or anyone remotely below them will be able to use their spots in the order.

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Photo by Getty Images

And those words are: EPIC FAIL! Or maybe I've got five words: What the @#$%&! was that? 6-3? That's a team record for goals allowed in a game. 4 FCD goals game after the 70th minute. Three came after the 81st minute. It was an unbelievable set of breakdowns across the board and a new-look, increasingly confident, and very fast Dallas team took full advantage.

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Galaxy 3 Dallas 6

Jeff Cunningham and FC Dallas were flying Saturday at Home Depot Center. (AP Photos).

An aberration? Or something we should have seen coming given the Galaxy's 11 ties and eight one goal victories? The Galaxy have spent the season operating on a knife edge and on Saturday that facade collapsed spectacularly.

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Galaxy 3 Dallas 6

The Galaxy have never given up six goals in their history. They have now.

We've had another two Dallas goals in two minutes in what is shaping up to be the Galaxy's worst loss of the season, although the Galaxy have just pulled one back.

Atiba Harris scored in the 82nd minute, connecting with a Dax Mccarty cross and beating three galaxy defenders in the process.

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