Beckham, Galaxy win MLS championship

CARSON, California — Los Angeles’ star trio David Beckham, Robbie Keane and Landon Donovan combined for the winning goal as the Galaxy claimed the Major League Soccer title last night with a 1-0 win over the Houston Dynamo.

Beckham won his first MLS championship in the final game of his ground-breaking five-year contract with the Galaxy, who rolled through the playoffs to the franchise’s third league title after finishing with MLS’ best regular-season record.

“I’ve wanted to be successful for the Galaxy for five years, and tonight, I have that,” Beckham said.

The winning goal came in the 72nd minute. Beckham delivered an alert header to Keane, who made a run and eventually fed the ball to Donovan, who struck home his record 20th MLS playoff goal.

“To be honest, the actual goal doesn’t mean a lot to me,” said Donovan, selected the MLS Cup MVP. “For the last two months, we’ve just been so determined. . . .Winning feels so good.”

Beckham lifted Donovan off his feet with a hug after the final whistle in the Galaxy’s record seventh appearance in the league title game.

Beckham’s assist was his fourth of a stellar postseason, while Donovan scored in each of the Galaxy’s final three playoff games, and Keane was a serious offensive force despite criss-crossing the Atlantic on Irish national team duty.

A sellout crowd of 30,281 at Home Depot Center — where the Galaxy didn’t lose a game all season long — cheered for Los Angeles, who hadn’t lost in nine games since Sept. 10. Houston struggled for attacking options after losing leading scorer and league MVP runner-up Brad Davis to a torn quadriceps in the Eastern Conference title game.—