Final: Galaxy at Sounders

Seattle Sounders 0 Galaxy 4

The Galaxy (7-0-1, 22 points) exploded with a quartet of goals behind a career-high three assists for Landon Donovan today, handing the Sounders (2-3-3, 9 points) their heaviest ever defeat in front of a franchise record crowd of 36,273.

“Not the kind of game you want to ever repeat again,” said Seattle Coach Sigi Schmid. “It’s not time to panic but it’s time for some people to wake up and for character to step forward. When you’re down two, three or four to nothing, you have to step up. Some guys we’ve asked to step up and it hasn’t happened so changes are forthcoming. You have to play with energy. We let them control the game. We had to speed it up and no one on our side made that happen. We got hammered on the field and they should feel hammered in the locker room. They need to go inside and find their reaction and their inner core.”

Jovan Kirovski, making his first start of the season, scored the opener in the 22nd minute after Seattle goalkeeper Kasey Keller fluffed the save and the rout was on.

Center back Omar Gonzalez added the second after 52 minutes when he headed in a Donovan corner kick, Todd Dunivant made it 3-0 five minutes later when he headed home a Donovan free kick and Donovan himself completed the scoring in the 67th minute. Edson Buddle provided the assist on the final goal.

“Edson Buddle had a great game, I thought,” said Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena. “He doesn’t need to score goals all the time as a forward. He helps create goals and scoring opportunities. He held onto the ball well tonight. Landon [Donovan] and Edson played really well tonight by any way you evaluate performances.”

Highlights:

Notable:

*The Galaxy are now 12 points ahead of second place Chivas USA, Colorado and Houston in the Western Conference; LA are seven points ahead of the best team in the Eastern Conference.

*Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts made a season-high seven saves in the game for his sixth shutout in eight games this year.

Quotable:

“We know we were the better team and we wanted to be aggressive and not let them dictate the game,” Donovan said. “They had the ball in the first half and our back line did a great job. When we had chances to score, we were ruthless.”

In addition to Kirovski, Bryan Jordan and Chris Klein made their first starts of the season, defender A.J. DeLaGarza missed the game because of back spasms, while Juninho and Alan Gordon were relegated to the bench.

Donovan again said Buddle deserves a shot at attending the U.S. camp before the World Cup roster is finalized.

Galaxy lineup: Donovan Ricketts; Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Bryan Jordan; Chris Birchall, Jovan Kirovski, Michael Stephens, Chris Klein (Tristan Bowen 63′); Landon Donovan (Clint Mathis 71′), Edson Buddle (Alex Cazumba 75′).

Next: Toronto FC at Home Depot Center Saturday.

Updated Monday:

From the Sounders press release issued Sunday night: The Seattle Sounders FC announced today that a refund for Saturday’s game against the Los Angeles Galaxy will be issued to season ticket holders in the form of credit towards 2011 season tickets.

Sounders FC allowed four goals for the first time at home in club history as the Galaxy won 4-0 in front of a franchise record crowd of 36,273 on the Xbox Pitch at Qwest Field. It was only the second time the club has allowed more than one goal at home in a league match.

“That wasn’t Sounders soccer and it was quite frankly embarrassing, humiliating and the fans don’t deserve that,” said Sounders FC owner and general manager Adrian Hanauer. “The refund will come in the form of a credit against next year’s season tickets. We want our fans committed for the long haul and we think this is the right thing to do for our fans.”

“As the owners of the club we reserve the right to do whatever we think we need to do to treat our fans the way they’ve treated us.”

In its inaugural season, Sounders FC capped season tickets at 22,000 and averaged 30,943 fans per match, establishing a new MLS record for highest fan average per match. This season 32,000 Sounders FC season tickets were sold at a 96 percent renewal rate with a league-high average attendance of 36,144 over five games.

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