The Los Angeles Galaxy faces Real Salt Lake in the 2009 MLS Cup Final tonight (8:30pm, ESPN/Galavision) in a match-up of teams that each seemed like MLS Cup long-shots at certain points in the season.

The Galaxy looked far from a title team through the season's first two months, but Bruce Arena's club came together during the summer and kicked into a new gear when David Beckham finally arrived during the summer.

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Match Overview

It's the classic case of David and Goliath this weekend as Seattle hosts the MLS final between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Real Salt Lake.

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The thought of writing this post after the opening day game against DC United never entered my head. That was a slightly improved version of the meltdown season of 2008 defensive breakdowns, not much stability in the middle and an attack that put two in the back of the net, but looked frustrating doing it.

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"Hand of God", by Balakov on FlickrThere's been lots of ink & pixels spilled about Thierry Henry's handball. Let me add to the clamor a little bit. I mean, why have a blog, if you can't spout off whenever you feel like it?
This Twohundredpercent piece, Trying To Dissect The Thierry Henry Handball, sums up the rational, measured response. Click to continue reading...

Liverpool v Manchester City? Tish tosh! The biggest match of the weekend is actually taking place in Seattle and involves a certain Mr. Posh – as our MLS correspondent Andy Taylor reports:

Sunday night's MLS Cup Final is set with an unheralded Real Salt Lake squad squaring off against the LA Galaxy, David Beckham and his ever-growing collection of tattoos.

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Will David Beckham and Landon Donovan be celebrating on Sunday? (Getty Images)

This is a game I've gone back and forth with all week. Two western conference squads meeting in the league final is going to be interesting. Not many had picked both the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake to make it this far back at the start of the season.

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A long and exhausting season comes down to one game. On one side, you have the upstart Real Salt Lake, the club that "shouldn't be here." On the other, the star-studded Galaxy, complete with the world's most recognized footballer in David Beckham.

While MLS may have missed out on a marketing maven's dream match-up of Beckham vs.

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There's only one game left in the 2009 MLS Schedule and it's the big one; the MLS Cup Final. This year's final, which will be played at Seattle's Qwest Field, pits Western Conference regular season champs the L.A. Galaxy against the streaking Real Salt Lake.

The matchup offers some good star power with the obvious L.

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RSL made it to MLS Cup this year, but who will they protect for another run in 2010? (Getty Images)

Our second club for the day as we get closer to finishing out our look at each 15 MLS clubs before next week's expansion draft. Earlier in the day we took a look at the lowly New York Red Bulls, now we turn our attention to one of this year's MLS Cup participants, Real Salt Lake.

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It is not just that Real Salt Lake's captain, Kyle Beckerman, has been working on his dreadlocks longer than the LA Galaxy's David Beckham has been coifed with an under-cut resembling a mullet with a racing-strip, that leads me to predict RSL as the 2009 MLS Cup winner. Rather, it is that RSL is peaking at the right time and relishes the underdog role.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

Major League Soccer will be announcing its 2009 MLS Best XI later this afternoon and while some of the picks are easy to make, some others will be very difficult.

Picking this year's forwards was especially tough, with a half dozen worth candidates for the Best XI nod.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

Major League Soccer will be announcing its 2009 MLS Best XI later this afternoon and while some of the picks are easy to make, some others will be very difficult.

Picking this year's forwards was especially tough, with a half dozen worth candidates for the Best XI nod.

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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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Kyle Beckerman and RSL are going to MLS Cup 2009. (Getty Images)

Looking back on this past weekend that was the conference finals I must say the result isn't as shocking as it initially was. The thought of a LA Galaxy-Real Salt Lake MLS Cup final was something no one would have called back in March, hell or even back at the beginning of this very month.

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• The Galaxy's win over the Dynamo was dramatic but in many ways tainted. A strange call when against Houston, and the rolling power outages that swept Southern California seemed to unfortunately coincide with upsurges in Houston play.
• Chicago vs Real Salt Lake was a better match than the Galaxy-Houston game.

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For the second season in a row the Fire had a chance to make a trip to the MLS Cup Final and once again they came up short. The home fans at Toyota Park showed up in force, but they didn't see the same commitment and coherence from their team that they got in last week's 2-0 home win over Prince and the New England Revolution. Click to continue reading...

The Major League Soccer 2009 Eastern Conference Final was on Saturday with Real Salt Lake traveling to face the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park. The winner would move onto the MLS Cup Final next Sunday against the Los Angeles Galaxy. Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

Real Salt Lake beats Chicago Fire 0-0 (5-4 on penalty kicks) Video Highlights

It was a close match on Saturday but Real Salt Lake found a way to advance and continue their improbable run to the MLS Cup Final.

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A common saying amongst those in the soccer world is that a penalty kick shootout is a cruel way to decide a match.

After Saturday night, the Chicago Fire knows that saying back to front.

120 minutes of action saw the Fire and Real Salt Lake knotted at 0-0 so it all came down to a penalty shootout.

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The Sin: For those of you who were wondering: yes, that is a miniature inflatable Skeletor. As regular readers know, I have christened Bob Bradley "Skeletor" due to the resemblance his bony visage shares with that of He-Man's nemesis. I don't mean the nickname as a slight, mind you, I just think both men share a sometimes wrathful look, which isn't necessarily a good thing.

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STARTERS
News Flash: "Chivas USA announced today that Head Coach Preki has left the club by mutual agreement."
Chicago's game against Salt Lake on Saturday is already SOLD OUT!!
dN
The funniest Twitter feed going these days @ConcacafJack. The Diamond Geezer is tearing shit up. Click to continue reading...

Photo by ISIphotos.com

The Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake are probably not the teams most observers would have pegged to be playing for the Eastern Conference title and berth in MLS Cup, but these two teams earned their places in the Final Four by virtue of strong first-round performances that should lead into a memorable East Final on Saturday night (8pm, FSC).

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

The Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake are probably not the teams most observers would have pegged to be playing for the Eastern Conference title and berth in MLS Cup, but these two teams earned their places in the Final Four by virtue of strong first-round performances that should lead into a memorable East Final on Saturday night (8pm, FSC).

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Welcome to the latest installment of Your Questions Answered, now with more national team content.

The U.S. men's national team has dominated October's batch of questions as you might expect, but this installment includes some interesting inquiries about the likes of Brad Friedel, Jeff Cunningham and yes, Freddy Adu.

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Welcome to the latest installment of Your Questions Answered, now with more national team content.

The U.S. men's national team has dominated October's batch of questions as you might expect, but this installment includes some interesting inquiries about the likes of Brad Friedel, Jeff Cunningham and yes, Freddy Adu.

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Where to begin with this one? If you approached fans of Columbus and let them know in advance of the game, that they would take a two goal lead within the first 35 minutes at home, against the worst road team in MLS, they would have taken that in a hearbeat. And that's just what did happen, as two Guillermo Barros Schelotto goals got the Crew off to the start they needed.

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The Major League Soccer Playoffs continue on Thursday, November 5, 2009 with the second leg of the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake. RSL had a 1-0 lead on aggregate heading into this match. So, who won and advance to the Conference Finals? Here's a recap of the match along with video highlights.

Real Salt Lake beats the Columbus Crew 3-2 (4-2 on aggregate) Video Highlights (will be added later)

1st Half

Real Salt Lake nearly took the lead in the 10th minute as a through ball was sent for Andy Williams.

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The U.S. men's national team's European friendlies are fast approaching and we will soon learn which new faces head coach Bob Bradley will be taking a look at.

Why should we expect to see some new faces? The long term losses of Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onyewu, coupled with the absence of Jay DeMerit, has left serious voids in the squad.

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The U.S. men's national team's European friendlies are fast approaching and we will soon learn which new faces head coach Bob Bradley will be taking a look at.

Why should we expect to see some new faces? The long term losses of Charlie Davies and Oguchi Onyewu, coupled with the absence of Jay DeMerit, has left serious voids in the squad.

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Real Salt Lake are in Ohio and attempting to maintain the upper hand on Columbus when they get it poppin' at Crew Stadium tonight (ESPN2, 8pm EST). The Nordecke will be out in force, Kyle Beckerman's dread will be sweaty and I will be watching. So will God I imagine (not just because the bumper stickers tell you so but because baseball is finally over). Click to continue reading...

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

There may not be a bigger mismatch on paper in the first round of the MLS playoffs than the Columbus Crew-Real Salt Lake series, but there is also no match brimming with more upset potential than this unique Eastern Conference clash.

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Photo by ISIphotos.com

There may not be a bigger mismatch on paper in the first round of the MLS playoffs than the Columbus Crew-Real Salt Lake series, but there is also no match brimming with more upset potential than this unique Eastern Conference clash.

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I've already taken a brief look at the Fire-Revolution first round series, but haven't spent any time on the three other Conference Semifinals going on around the country in the next couple of weeks. That's about to change though. Click after the jump for a quick rundown of the 'other' first round series.

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Fox Soccer Channel really know its soccer. I love the cable network, and I love the broadcasting duo of Max Bretos and Christopher Sullivan, who worked Saturday's 3-0 Real Salt Lake victory over the Colorado Rapids.

And although they don't work every Rapids game, the offered keen insight into the team and its playoff fortunes throughout Saturday night's telecast from Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah.

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STARTERS
The Derby du Nord between Lens & Lille this past weekend ended in a 1-1 draw.
dN
Portsmouth became the first team in Premiership history to open the season with 6 straight defeats. Oof.
USL FIRST DIVISION PLAYOFFS
The regular season ended on Sunday, with Portland claiming the Commissioner's Cup. Click to continue reading...

Now why would you think I am worried about RSL making the playoffs?

But sometimes, you have to face reality. Real looked awful out of the blocks in Houston. It was as if RSL was still working at fifty percent effort at the start of the game while the Houston Dynamo was playing at high tempo.

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