(Carson, CA) – With both teams having already qualified for the 2012 MLS playoffs there was little to play for safe bragging rights in a hotly contested regular season closer that saw the Galaxy edging Seattle 1-0 thanks to a goal from Mike Magee.

The match was deadlocked at 0-0 for more than 70 minutes. Despite having all three of their designated players: Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan and David Beckham, returned to the starting lineup, the Galaxy were unable to find a breakthrough until after Magee was introduced as a 75th minute substitute for the badly misfiring Edson Buddle.

With just under eight minutes of regular time left on the clock, Magee collected a pass from Robbie Keane on the edge of the 18 and slotted it home for his fifth goal of the season to make it 1-0 Galaxy in the 83rd.

Seattle looked to have grabbed the equalizer in the dying seconds of injury time. With two out of three minutes of added time already played Seattle midfielder Brad Evans blasted home the rebound. Unfortunately for Seattle, striker Freddy Montero was called for a handball seconds earlier and the goal was disallowed.

LA are already locked into a playoff place and will welcome the Vancouver Whitecaps this Wednesday. Seattle on the other hand, missed a chance to claim the second playoff slot, which instead now goes to Real Salt Lake.

 

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Alex Baker is a Los Angeles-based freelance journalist and blogger. He has been covering the LA Galaxy for 90:00Soccer.com for the last two seasons. He also contributes to such publications as Resource Magazine and Kush.