Nice writeup, Mr. Friedman.

I shared Spike's pessimism heading into the match. If the Galaxy were any other team, I would have felt a lot more confident about the Sounders' prospects, what with the way the Galaxy were falling apart down the stretch. But it's the goddam LA Galaxy (like the LA Lakers used to be), and dragons like that are not so easily slain.

And to think the Sounders did it without their glue guy, Ozzie Alonso. Just on the basis of Alonso being out and the Sounders having an apparent LAG complex, one could have reasonably picked LA.

Of course, maybe the Sounders never had a complex about the Galaxy. Maybe the Galaxy were always the better squad, just like their now-returned goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts used to be the most intimidating presence in goal in the league, and now he's a discombobulated, slow-on-the-uptake shell of his former self. Kasey Keller aged far more gracefully in goal, and Seattle's current GK Stefan Frei delivered where Ricketts couldn't. I'm thinking of that perfectly timed leap to deny Zardes his second goal.

Now if only Alonso and gang can do some healing by Sunday.