MLS: From chaos to Cup

Los Angeles Galaxy's David Beckham, left, celebrates teammate Landon Donovan's penalty goal kick during the second half of their MLS Western Conference Championship soccer match against the Houston Dynamo. (Gus Ruelas/The Associated Press)

It was the team that was supposed to implode.

Yet the Los Angeles Galaxy somehow cleansed a potentially toxic clubhouse atmosphere and engineered a second-half surge that has landed them in the MLS Cup championship game against Real Salt Lake on Sunday -- something even coach Bruce Arena could not have imagined a few months ago.

"I'd have said you were [expletive] crazy," he told Yahoo! Sports.

Arguably the premier -- and certainly glitziest -- franchise in Major League Soccer, the Galaxy already were slow out of the gate by the time star forward Landon Donovan harshly criticized teammate David Beckham as an apathetic boor in a book about the soccer icon's controversial move to the United States.

"I don't see dedication or commitment to this team," Donovan said in The Beckham Experiment , "and that's troubling."

What was even more troubling for the Galaxy was the prospect of Donovan and Beckham having to play together after Beckham returned at midseason from his loan to AC Milan in Italy. But Arena managed to coax the rivals into a productive co-existence, and Beckham now believes the friction was good for the team.

"I don't have to say anything about myself, I'll leave that to other people to decide," he said. "But I love playing soccer, I work hard for my team and my teammates and myself and my manager and the fans, and I hope that's enough for people. But there's nothing wrong with a bit of controversy in a

Both Donovan and Beckham were instrumental in the Galaxy's 7-3-3 record to close the regular season after Beckham returned.

The team had been 5-3-9 to that point, with Donovan also gone much of that time playing for the U.S. national team at the Confederations Cup in South Africa. Donovan was named to the MLS Best XI all-star team for the third time Monday, after helping the Galaxy dispatch hometown rival Chivas USA and the Houston Dynamo in the playoffs.

"I don't want to end it here," Arena said. "We have to win another game."

The Galaxy beat the Dynamo 2-0 in the MLS Western Conference final marred by two power outages last Friday, with Beckham serving the corner kick that led to the game-winning goal in the 103rd minute, and Donovan adding a trademark penalty six minutes later to seal it.

But Arena believes defense is the bigger reason the Galaxy are in the final.

The team allowed 31 goals in its 30 regular-season games -- among the fewest in the league -- and just four in its last 11 games (not counting a freakish 6-3 loss to FC Dallas).

"What's improved is our back line, which has gotten a lot more consistent," Arena told reporters. "They're working quite well together. They move much better, they communicate better."

That group includes veteran Gregg Berhalter and rookie of the year Omar Gonzalez, as well as Sean Franklin and A.J. DeLaGarza in front of goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts. Former RSL midfielders Chris Klein -- still a good friend of RSL coach Jason Kreis -- and Dema Kovalenko help Beckham man the midfield.

The unlikely transformation is one that began when the Galaxy fired coach Ruud Gullit and general manager Alexi Lalas last year, and hired Arena.

The Galaxy still finished with the worst record in the league last season, but the turnaround this year has impressed even Lalas, who's now an outspoken analyst on ESPN.

"You talk about The Beckham Experiment , well, when you do an experiment it's trial and error," he said, "and the Galaxy have got it right in terms of what they've done on and off the field this year.

"They made wholesale changes at the end of last year, got rid of Ruud Gullit, made some other changes, got rid of yours truly and a lot of different things," he added, "but ultimately, the organization is right back where it needs to be, and that's important for the Galaxy fans and they're the most important in all of this."

mcl@sltrib.com