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CARSON -- Landon Donovan finished a feed from Robbie Keane in the 71st minute, and the Galaxy completed arguably its best campaign, claiming its third MLS Cup championship with a 1-0 victory Sunday night over the Houston Dynamo.

Donovan, who had last scored in early September, slipped Keane's pass inside the far post as the Galaxy, dominant from the opening whistle, thrilled a crowd of 30,281, the largest to see a soccer game at Home Depot Center.

The Galaxy added the trophy, named after its owner, Philip Anschutz, to those won in 2002 and 2005 -- and to the Supporters' Shield they captured as Major League Soccer's regular-season champion.

Todd Dunivant's throw-in from the left wing led to the goal. David Beckham got his head to it, nodding it onto Keane's path heading toward Houston's goal. Keane stepped past Dynamo center back Bobby Boswell, then split Boswell and Geoff Cameron with a little ball for the streaking Donovan.

Donovan, who moved up front when Chris Birchall came on for Adam Cristman in the 57th minute, redirected the ball past goalkeeper Tally Hall and inside the the right post.

The goal was Donovan's record 20th in MLS postseason play and his fourth in an MLS Cup final -- to go with three scored in San Jose's 2001 and 2003 title-game wins.

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CARSON -- Expect a tight, physical, tactical battle in Sunday evening's MLS Cup final at Home Depot Center, with both teams looking to implement a direct attack -- and the Galaxy, in their home stadium, likely the aggressors, at least to start.

Whether it'll be an attack-filled classic or a defensive struggle is impossible to know. This is an intriguing matchup of size (advantage: Houston) and skill (L.A.), reliance on long balls or possession and the limits of defensive organization, which ultimately will determine who's parading the trophy at the end.

Here are two keys to victory in the final:

1. UP IN THE AIR

Geoff Cameron is 6-foot-3, fellow center back Bobby Boswell is 6-2, and forward Brian Ching is a very aggressive 6-1, and the way they go after Brad Davis' set pieces is something to behold. The Dynamo are even more dominant at the other end, with Cameron, Boswell and 6-footer Andre Hainault repelling crosses into their area.

This team thrives on the aerial game, and in Davis possessed the perfect conduit, the closest thing to a Bobby Boswell among American players. Davis' injury complicates things.

Adam Moffat, who has a rocket foot, will take the set pieces, but speedy Corey Ashe, who will take Davis' place on the left side of midfield, has a far different game. Figure Moffat to wander wide to provide service or go over the top for Ching or to take advantage of Calen Carr's pace.

Dynamo coach Dominic Kinnear can call on rookie Will Bruin and Honduran star Carlo Costly, both 6-2, if he needs more targets late.

“Adam places a good ball,” Davis said. “And I've said all year we've got guys that have the desire and will to want to score goals and want to attack the ball.”

The Galaxy have occasionally struggled with their marking on set pieces, so that's been a point of emphasis in preparations.

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CARSON -- The paths the Galaxy and Houston Dynamo have taken toward Major League Soccer's 16th championship game are eerily similar. It's just the strides haven't followed in step.

The Galaxy are three seasons into a mammoth rebuild, a work of startling brilliance by Bruce Arena, America's best soccer coach doing the best work of his career.

The Dynamo are where the Galaxy sat two years ago, Arena's first full season in charge. Head coach Dominic Kinnear has made radical changes to his roster and didn't get the lineup right until September, and now -- well ahead of schedule -- his team is playing for a trophy that looked wholly out of grasp just a couple of months ago.

It's the makings of a classic MLS Cup final: two of the league's most storied franchises, led by two of the league's most respected coaches (one a former U.S. national team boss, the other a potential U.S. manager down the line), both fighting back from franchise lows and emerging just 90 minutes or perhaps 120 (and maybe penalty kicks, too) from the most coveted silverware in the American game.

Now throw in all of the side chatter -- Will David Beckham return to MLS? Oh, no, Brad Davis can't play! -- and remember the clubs share ownership. (AEG owns half of the Dynamo.)

The Dynamo have American soccer's most enduring dynasty -- four titles and three coulda-beens since 2001, starting when the team played in San Jose. And it's been pointed out a few times that this Galaxy team could be, should be -- surely is -- the finest side in league history, and that it comes in, playing at home and all, as massive favorite.

“I think this is going to be a lot better game than people expect it to be,” said Davis, the Dynamo's star winger, an MVP finalist who will sit out after tearing a quadriceps muscle in the Eastern Conference title-game triumph two weeks ago in Kansas City. “I think people expect L.A. to come out and just beat us and walk all over us. I don't think that's the way it's going to be at all.

“I think they have a very good team, but anybody knows you come down to these games, it's how you show up that day. They could be the best team all year, but I believe the mentality and the attitude and the way we've been playing of late has been some of the best that I've been on with the club.”

Davis has been with the Dynamo since their last season, 2005, in San Jose, and was a contributor to thebteams that won MLS Cups the first two seasons in Houston. Two more players -- forward Brian Ching and reserve defender Eddie Robinson -- also were Earthquakes, as were Kinnear and some of his staff.

It was the legacy started in San Jose, with MLS Cup titles in 2001 and 2003 and a Supporters' Shield in 2005, that the Dynamo sought to connect with after missing the postseason last year.

Houston followed its twin titles by winning the Western Conference in 2008 but was upset in the opening round of the playoffs. A year later, the Dynamo played for an MLS Cup berth, losing controversially to the Galaxy in the Western Conference final at the Home Depot Center. With better luck, they might have won four successive championships.

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Brad Davis returned to Houston Dynamo training Tuesday, but he was just watching. Major League Soccer's MVP favorite is out of Sunday's MLS Cup final against the Galaxy at Home Depot Center -- it's official now -- but says he's anxious for the battle to begin.

“It's going to be a tough match, but the way we're playing of late, I have full confidence that it's going to be a good game, and I know we can beat this team ...,” Davis told Major League Soccer's website. “As hard as it is to know I'm not going to be able to play, I still have the anxiousness from when we've been there a couple of times.

“I'm excited, and I know these guys are looking forward to it. These are the last few days, and they seem to take forever.”

Davis, a playmaking winger who won MLS Best XI acclaim and is expected to collect the league's MVP honor Friday, suffered a torn quadriceps muscle in the Dynamo's victory at Sporting Kansas City in the Nov. 6 Eastern Conference final.

“I don't need surgery,” he said, “but it's going to take a little while longer than expected. It's a little bit of misfortune, but this is our last game, so I'll have plenty of time to recover.”

POWER SURGE: The last time the Galaxy and Houston met in a winner-take-all match, power outages in the area around Home Depot Center forced delays of nearly 20 minutes in each half and a would-be winner by Dynamo defender Andre Hainault was waved off.

L.A. pulled out a 2-0 overtime victory in the 2009 Western Conference final, and the Dynamo felt like they'd been robbed.

Some feelings linger.

“We had a good team,” captain Brian Ching told The Houston Chronicle. “We definitely felt like we could have won it all that year. We had the confidence. We kind of got a bad call there, and it kind of changed the game in a bad way for us. It is tough. To get so close, and then you've got a whole year to think about it.”

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A few hours before the Galaxy and Real Salt Lake kick off at Home Depot Center, the Houston Dynamo and Sporting Kansas City battle for the Eastern Conference title and the other berth in the Nov. 20 MLS Cup in Carson.

You've got questions? We've got answers.

Who are these guys? How did they get here?

Eastern regular-season champ Sporting (15-9-12 including playoffs) won just one of its first 10 games, all on the road, while waiting for the final touches on its glorious new stadium. Since then, the ex-Wizards have been lights-out, going 14-3-9 behind a vibrant attack featuring Mexican star Omar Bravo, South Bay product Kei Kamara and breakout star Graham Zusi. They've won four in a row, with two 2-0 decisions over Colorado in the first round of the playoffs, and are unbeaten in their last seven.

Houston (14-9-13), which won MLS Cup titles in 2006 and 2007 -- the first two seasons after relocating from San Jose -- battled injuries most of the year, then got hot as it got healthy. With MLS assist leader (and MVP hopeful) Brad Davis creating from the left and Geoff Cameron bolstering a solid defense, the Dynamo are 6-0-1 in their last seven games, a run that led to the No. 2 seed in the East.

What's going to decide this one?

How well Houston handles Sporting's blistering speed and league's-best athleticism will be telling. K.C. attacks in waves, making good use of the flanks to get the ball up top to rising star Teal Bunbury and Rookie of the Year slam-dunk C.J. Sapong, who have ample pace. Cameron and Bobby Boswell are a solid central tandem in the back for the Dynamo, which has in Davis and veteran striker Brian Ching potential difference-makers.

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Chivas USA struck early, then faded, and suddenly last week's stride forward seems inconsequential.

The Goats failed to hold onto a lead for the fifth time in four games Saturday, their inability to defend set pieces costing them plenty in a 2-1 defeat at Houston.

Marcos Mondaini's seventh-minute strike -- a gift goal, from Hunter Freeman's severely underplayed pass back for goalkeeper Tally Hall -- wasn't nearly enough against the Dynamo's aerial game, with two crosses from Brad Davis providing goals either side of halftime.

Chivas (4-5-5) struggled to find the requisite energy in the South Texas heat and to create legitimate chances, with only a Paulo Nagamura blast in the 78th minute and another from Simon Elliott in the 87th, both off-target, offering a flicker of hope.

“Unfortunately, we couldn't hold the score, and we leave very sad because we let the game go,” said Mondaini, who rounded Hall and fired into an open net after latching onto Freeman's poor feed just outside the Dynamo box. “Our job is to play football on the field, especially our style of football. Sometimes players just don’t have a good day or the rival is stronger on the field, and they were able to gain the advantage through set pieces.”

Geoff Cameron scored in the 29th for Houston (4-5-6), a fine glancing header from a Davis free kick, and the winner arrived from a Davis corner kick in the 54th that bounced off Michael Lahoud, hit Heath Pearce and ricocheted into the net as an own goal.

A quick look at Chivas' loss:

BEST PLAYER: Davis is an MVP candidate regardless of the Dynamo's record -- without him, where would they be? -- and he sure was too much for Chivas to handle. He picked up his league-best eighth assist on Cameron's goal and also provided the cross, of course, on the own goal. And his corner in the third minute was headed home by Bobby Boswell … a goal promptly waved off because goalkeeper Dan Kennedy was fouled before the shot.

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Chivas USA is feeling pretty good about itself after bouncing back from a poor midweek showing last week against Vancouver with a superb effort to beat Portland last weekend -- and now that it has a full complement of players available to head coach Robin Fraser for the first time all season.

Will those warm, fuzzy feelings wilt in the Houston heat?

It's a concern of sorts -- South Texas has been baking the past week or so in triple-digit temperatures and that legendary humidity -- even if that's unspoken; nobody's about to admit it, and nobody wants to use it as an excuse if the Goats fail to win Saturday at Robertson Stadium, where they've never won.

The Dynamo come in hungry after failing to win in their last seven, and they're sure to be better attuned to the conditions.

Not that Fraser will admit that.

"It's a soccer field, and there's 11 of them and 11 of us, and whatever the conditions are, you have to be prepared to play ...," Fraser said. "Once you get out there, it's hot and it's humid and it's certainly oppressive, but there's still a game to be won. There's still a job to be done. There's attacking runs to be made, defensive runs to be made, tackles to be made, goals to be scored. At the end of the day, you still have to play."

Central defender Heath Pearce became acquainted with the Texas heat during two seasons with FC Dallas.

"In Dallas, you get used to it, but it's all a mentality thing," said Pearce, who grew up in the summer heat of Modesto, in the Central Valley, but played college soccer at Portland and toiled in Denmark and on Germany's Baltic coast before coming to MLS. "If you put yourself in the right mindset, you really don't notice it. If you start to get fatigued, you learn to play through it -- you learn to play differently, to be mentally stronger as you become more physically tired.

"So I don't think it should play much of a factor. I think it's more of a crutch that people like to lean on when they don't get results there, and so we're going to go there with the same mindset as if we're playing at home or anywhere else."

It will be good practice for the next few months, when blistering heat and humidity will greet Chivas pretty much everywhere except to the north, in San Jose (where it can be quite warm) and the Pacific Northwest.

The Goats (4-4-5, just four points out of third place in the Western Conference) are looking to build on their better-than-it-sounds 1-0 victory over the Timbers, and the returns of forward Alejandro Moreno and defender Andy Boyens from international duty and exits from the injury list by five of six players camped there most or all of the past three months have them moving forward with a real sense of optimism.

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There are pluses and minuses to so congested a schedule, the Galaxy says, and how well they manage their roster now -- before things turn ugly -- could determine what riches await in the fall.

The Galaxy faces the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday night at Home Depot Center, the middle game of their third “three-in-a-week” stretch of the season since the second week of April, and head coach Bruce Arena has decisions to make on whom to “rotate” from his roster.

The idea is to keep everyone fresh for a brutal finish to the season, with 28 games over the final four months (one or two less with a quick U.S. Open Cup exit) -- or one every 4.32 days from June 25 to Oct. 23. Followed by playoffs.

“We knew from the beginning that this was going to be a very demanding year for us,” said forward Juan Pablo Angel, 35, who could get a rest against the Dynamo. “There's a number of competitions [in which] we're going to be involved, and we got to be prepared. The guys that aren't playing that much are going to be recalled, and they're going to be needed for the team. It's important to have that.”

One starting job certainly opens, with David Beckham “resting” -- he instead played 90 minutes, double the supposed max, in Tuesday's Gary Neville testimonial in England and will join up with the team before Saturday's game at New England.

Arena also could choose to give a break to a backline player (Frankie Hejduk has seen little playing time, new signing Kyle Davies is available, and Gregg Berhalter needs to be introduced to the mix at some point) or give reserve players some valuable time (and not just Michael Stephens and Chris Birchall, but Bryan Jordan and Hector Jimenez).

“More than anything, it's a great opportunity for guys to play, who haven't played, and we'll see [against Houston] a few guys that haven't played as much,” said Galaxy captain Landon Donovan, who could miss nearly a month while away for the CONCACAF Gold Cup -- providing an opportunity for somebody to play.

“That's the beauty of this team … as Bruce puts together a team where he's confident putting anybody into the lineup at any time and knowing he'll do well.”

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There are numerous procedures to acquire talent in rule-crazy (lawyer-rich) Major League Soccer, and we saw one of them enrich the league's best club and mete out a little justice this past week.

Weighted lotteries dispersed three top young players into the league. Two of them have the potential to be big stars. The third is a highly regarded outside back pegged for a long, productive career.

Real Salt Lake, arguably the finest side in the league, came up the big winner, claiming former Wake Forest forward Cody Arnoux against all odds.

Former University of Virginia forward Chris Agorsor, who also has star potential, went to Philadelphia, and teen right back Korey Veeder was picked up by Columbus.

Neither the Galaxy nor Chivas USA entered the lotteries, for which a team's chances are based on its record in its past 30 games in relation to the other teams involved.

Arnoux, who scored 32 goals in his sophomore and junior seasons at Wake Forest, returned last summer from a year with English club Everton's reserves and seemed to settle in nicely with the Vancouver Whitecaps in their final season as a D2 club.

That's what the Whitecaps figured: They tried to sign Arnoux for their MLS side, but the league wouldn't have it. MLS uses lotteries for players coming out of college who sign after the draft or for players who previously turned down a league offer. Arnoux had been aggressively pursued before he left Wake Forest following his junior season, so to Friday's lottery he went.

RSL won despite just a 5.4 percent chance of success.

“Miracles never cease,” quipped GM Garth Lagerwey to MLS's website.

Arnoux is renowned for his work rate and his nose for the net, and he said he hoped he could step in for Robbie Findley, the World Cup forward who moved to England's Nottingham Forest.

“I never stop working -- that’s what I build my game around,” Arnoux told the league's website. “I’m not the guy who’s going to make the right pass every time or make the right decision. But I’m good in front of goal and have confidence in front of goal and that has to be built back up because I’ve been off for a while.

“I’m a hard worker, and that’s something English fans like. Even though I wasn’t playing with [Everton's] first team, they appreciated that a lot, and I know American fans appreciate that a lot. That’s the kind of player I am. I’ve not always been the best, but I’ve always had to try to work harder to beat everyone else.”

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