FanHouse Mls

SEATTLE -- If the scene occurred in Buenos Aires, London or Istanbul, it would prompt the sort of story you told your friends back home when you wanted to make a point about the difference in passion between foreign and American sports fans, or about soccer's unique ability to unite and galvanize people.

Except it occurred here, in the United States, in a city that has embraced the world's game with a colorful fervor that left an impact on everyone who attended Sunday's MLS Cup final. Fans in Seattle have set a standard that even the visiting supporters worked hard to match (see Real Salt Lake's effort above) and definitely have earned the right to hold their "No Equal" scarves aloft.

SEATTLE -- David Beckham could be an MLS owner in 2012 and the league is considering letting the higher-seeded finalist host MLS Cup as early as next year, Commissioner Don Garber said at halftime of Sunday evening's championship game at Qwest Field. Meeting with journalists, including FanHouse, during what he called "a very memorable night for soccer in America," Garber touched on those issues, the designated player rule, expansion and more. Take a look at his comments after the jump.

SEATTLE - Major League Soccer's new champion lost more games than it won during an up-and-down regular season that featured a winless May, a winless September and just two victories on the road. In 240 minutes of play in the MLS Cup semifinal and final, it managed to score just one goal.

Yet Sunday night at Qwest Field, Real Salt Lake confidently proclaimed it was a deserving winner. And nobody really was arguing with them. Despite the unflattering statistics and the absence of the kind of star power that filled the Los Angeles Galaxy's somber locker room down the hall, RSL managed to convert the nonbelievers with an uncanny ability to dictate the flow of their playoff games regardless of the obstacles. Sunday night was the biggest test, and best example, of them all.

SEATTLE (AP) -- Robbie Russell scored in the seventh round of penalty kicks and underdog, overlooked Real Salt Lake beat the star-studded Los Angeles Galaxy 5-4 on penalties for its first Major League Soccer championship.

Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando made two saves during penalties, and league MVP Landon Donovan missed badly over the crossbar giving RSL a chance in the extra rounds. After Rimando smothered Edson Buddle's shot, Russell beat backup Los Angeles keeper Josh Saunders into the lower left corner to set off a wild celebration.

SEATTLE -- Real Salt Lake's playmaker, Javier Morales, was lost in the 22nd minute, the victim of a hard tackle from David Beckham. Nineteen minutes later, Beckham and Landon Donovan combined to create a goal by midfielder Mike Magee that put the favored Los Angeles Galaxy ahead. It was hard to imagine then that there was any way the upstarts from Salt Lake City could find their way back into Sunday night's MLS Cup final.

But Morales' replacement, American soccer's prodigal son, Clint Mathis, and striker Robbie Findley led the way. Real Salt Lake has been beating the odds for more than a month now, qualifying for the postseason on the final weekend despite an 11-12-7 record and defeating two heavily-favored playoff opponents on the road. On Sunday they again made the impossible possible, tying the game at 1-1 on a second-half goal by Findley and riding goalie Nick Rimando and Donovan's stunning miss to a 5-4 win in the penalty kick shootout.

SEATTLE -- If David Beckham, Landon Donovan and the Los Angeles Galaxy are the focus of this Sunday's MLS Cup final (ESPN, 8:30 p.m. ET), then Real Salt Lake is the afterthought. The relatively anonymous, five-year-old club from the nation's 49th-most populous metro area could not be more different than the star-studded team whose presence forced organizers to release several thousand more tickets to fill the increased demand.

SEATTLE -- It's common knowledge that soccer fans are a bit of a different breed. They care less about comfort and more about spectacle. The sight of a whole section of supporters singing, waiving enormous flags and lighting flares would be shocking at Yankee Stadium or Heinz Field, yet it's expected at soccer venues around the world and is becoming relatively common in MLS. That passion also affects change -- executives know it's not a good idea to upset these people.

More so than any other American sports league, MLS has embraced that relationship. While fans elsewhere struggle with nonsense like the BCS, personal seat licenses and Daniel Snyder, MLS supporters have driven the league's evolution (speaking out against gimmicks like the shootout), have worked directly with clubs on ticketing and marketing and enjoy an annual audience with the commissioner that is unimaginable in any other league.

SEATTLE -- Landon Donovan's MLS goal of the year was remarkable on two levels. First, the curling volley was an incredible strike, with a beyond-the-post bend reminiscent of Roberto Carlos' famous free kick against France 12 years ago. Second, it was David Beckham who was the first to jump into Donovan's arms.

The feud and reconciliation between the league's two most recognizable players has been the story of the 2009 season, and there can be little question that the Los Angeles Galaxy would not be here for Sunday's MLS Cup final had the pair failed to resolve the differences that became public over the summer. Beckham's genuine excitement over Donovan's goal, and the club's run to the final, are clear indications that the two are on the same page. On Friday, FanHouse had the opportunity to ask them how they did it.

SEATTLE -- David Beckham continues to claim he's committed to both the Los Angeles Galaxy and Major League Soccer, and on Friday afternoon seemed to back that up with a promise to play in Sunday's MLS Cup final despite pain in his foot that will require pre-game injections, to return to the team following next summer's World Cup and even to involve himself in the upcoming collective bargaining agreement negotiations between the players and MLS owners.

SEATTLE - Remember Clint Mathis? He was on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2002 behind the headline "America's Best." He played in the World Cup that year sporting an awesome mohawk, and scored that critical (and technically impressive) goal against South Korea that kept the U.S. national team alive for a second round berth. He also scored five goals in one game for New York, conjured this Maradona-esque effort against Dallas and for a couple of years, thanks to his skill and ability to produce the spectacular, was considered a huge part of American soccer's future.

Then it all just unraveled. A knee injury, a row with his coach at Hannover 96 in the Bundesliga and a less-than-disciplined lifestyle reduced Mathis to an afterthought. He returned to MLS in 2005, played for four clubs in four anonymous years then went to Greece. Real Salt Lake brought him aboard 15 months ago and now, 10 years after playing in an MLS Cup final as a rising star for Los Angeles, his odyssey has returned him to American soccer's biggest stage.