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It took penalties but Real Salt Lake prevailed over the LA Galaxy Sunday night at Qwest Field in Seattle, winning their first MLS Cup title in their first appearance in the title match. RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando (lower left) was the hero once more, saving two penalties and deservedly winning the 2009 MLS Cup MVP. View the photo gallery.

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Nick Rimando saved three Chicago Fire penalty kicks to help Real Salt Lake win the Eastern Conference on a shootout after 120 minutes of soccer yielded no goals for either team. The victory puts RSL in its first-ever MLS Cup game where they will face the LA Galaxy, victors of a dramatic conference final of their own Friday. ASN’s Jeff Tobin has more on the disappointing end to the Fire season. RSL fans should check out the photo gallery.

Just as it had in the semifinal return leg against Chivas, the winning goal of the Western Conference finals originated with David Beckham. This time, the play occurred in extra time after English midfielder lofted a freekick into the Houston Dynamo penalty box. Along with the high drama and competitive play, the game will likely be remembered for power outages that interrupted play on two separate occasions.

While newly-minted MLS coach of the year Bruce Arena has assembled an LA Galaxy team largely from scratch (outside of its two superstars of course) the squad they host in the Western Conference final tomorrow night counts on a core of players that has played together for years. “You kind of know when you need to step it up and raise your game,” said Brian Ching. “That’s one of the benefits of having a team with so much experience on it,”

ASN’s Craig Bennett was at Home Depot Center Sunday evening gathering photographic evidence from the return leg of the LA Galaxy v Chivas USA playoff matchup. (Read the match report). Proceed to the photo gallery. All photos ©ASN/Craig Bennett, 112575 Media Inc. To see more of Craig’s work check out his Web site.

“The Galaxy made one play.”–The extent of Chivas USA head coach Preki‘s reaction to his team’s 1-0 loss to crosstown rivals LA Galaxy Sunday night.

Sunday’s MLS playoff results set up a showdown between the Galaxy and Houston, old acquaintances from when the Dynamo were the San Jose Earthquakes. The match takes place Friday at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif.

A nifty second half goal by Cuauhtemoc Blanco gave the Chicago Fire the goal it needed to advance past the New England Revolution in a hard fought Eastern Conference semifinal at Toyota Park Saturday. With the victory Chicago advances to the Eastern Conference final for the second straight year where they will host Real Salt Lake next week. Skip right to the Fire player ratings.