That changed in the 38th minute, when L.A. defender Omar Gonzalez lifted a pop-fly of a pass from near midfield to Buddle, who was just above the penalty area.

Not surprisingly, the lone goal got most of the attention after Los Angeles’ 1-0 playoff win in Seattle tonight.

However, this was no ordinary goal, and the talk wasn’t ordinary talk.

In the 38th minute, Edson Buddle took a pop-fly of a pass from Omar Gonzalez just above the penalty area, shielded defender Patrick Ianni, one touched the ball left to buy space, and launched a shot that looped over

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For all the vampires, werewolves and other monsters in the crowd tonight, it was the Qwest Field pitch that sent shivers down the spine of Los Angeles coach Bruce Arena.

“This field wasn’t easy to play on for either team,” he said. “… I guess they watered it down before the game so it was slick. When it’s this cool, it’s going to stay wet and fast the whole time. Once we got here we could see that the field was playing faster than it did (Saturday) when we were training in the pouring rain. This kind of played

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Seattle has never scored in the MLS playoffs – a scoreless streak of 300 minutes: 90 home to Houston last season, 90 away at Houston last season, 30 minutes of extra time in Houston last season, and 90 more scoreless minutes tonight against LA.

However, coach Sigi Schmid doesn’t think that kind of thing is something his players consider.

“Guys don’t go into the game thinking that we haven’t scored a goal in so many minutes in the playoffs,” he said. “It doesn’t enter our mind and isn’t something we talk about. It hasn’t bounced our way, but that can …

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Coach SIGI SCHMID
General comments) “We’re disappointed in the result. When you weigh the whole game, I thought we created more chances than they created. You take a goal where, hats offs to Edson [Buddle], but he just turns and hits the ball in the direction of the goal and it could go anywhere, but it went in. At the end of the day, right now, we’re down at halftime 1-0 and have a second half to play in LA and everything is still possible for us.”

On Fredy Montero in a slump) “Not really, a lot of times …

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Galaxy reaction to tonight’s 1-0 win over Seattle:

Coach BRUCE ARENA
(On the game) “Tough game, tough conditions. This field wasn’t easy to play on for either team. Pretty classic playoff game where you go on the road and defend and try to get out of here. We were playing to win. It certainly keeps the series really tight and there’s everything to play for in the next game. ”

On the goal) “That’s a turf ball. There were a lot of turf plays — balls bouncing around, off of shins, up in the air, out of bounds.

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It’s gone final: LA 1, Seattle 0.

As a practical matter, the Sounders didn’t lose a game so much as they dug a hole. They are a goal down heading into their series-ending match at Los Angeles a week from tonight.

Here are the quick reactions from each coach

SIGI SCHMID
I thought we created more chances than they created. You take a goal – hat’s off to Edson, but he just turns and hits the ball in basically the direction of the goal, it could go anywhere, and it went in. But at the end of the day, right now we’re down at halftime 1-0. We have a second half to play in LA. And everything is still possible for us.

BRUCE ARENA
Tough game, tough conditions. This field isn’t easy to play on for either team. It was tough. It was a pretty classic playoff game. You get a goal on the road and you’re defending, and you try to get out of here. That’s basically what we did.

And here are the stats:

Scoring Summary:
LA — Edson Buddle 1 (Omar Gonzalez 1) 38

Los Angeles Galaxy — Donovan Ricketts, Sean Franklin, A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Eddie Lewis (Gregg Berhalter 84), David Beckham, Juninho, Dema Kovalenko (Chris Birchall 70), Landon Donovan, Mike Magee, Edson Buddle (Jovan Kirovski 73).

Substitutes Not Used: Tristan Bowen, Alex Cazumba, Chris Klein, Josh Saunders.

TOTAL SHOTS: 10 (David Beckham 3); SHOTS ON GOAL: 5 (David Beckham 3); FOULS: 16 (Dema Kovalenko 3, Mike Magee 3); OFFSIDES: 2 (Edson Buddle 1, Mike Magee 1); CORNER KICKS: 3 (David Beckham 3); SAVES: 8 (Donovan Ricketts

Seattle Sounders FC — Kasey Keller, James Riley, Jeff Parke (Tyrone Marshall 65), Patrick Ianni, Leo Gonzalez, Sanna Nyassi (Alvaro Fernandez 74), Osvaldo Alonso, Nathan Sturgis (Nate Jaqua 81), Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero, Blaise Nkufo.

Substitutes Not Used: Michael Fucito, Roger Levesque, Zach Scott, Terry Boss.

TOTAL SHOTS: 15 (Blaise Nkufo 4); SHOTS ON GOAL: 8 (3 tied with 2); FOULS: 13 (Leo Gonzalez 3, Sanna Nyassi 3); OFFSIDES: 3 (Steve Zakuani 2); CORNER KICKS: 8 (Nathan Sturgis 7); SAVES: 4 (Kasey Keller 4)

Misconduct Summary:

LA — Juninho (caution; Reckless Foul) 48

SEA — Fredy Montero (caution; Reckless Foul) 49

LA — Dema Kovalenko (caution; Persistent Infringement) 65

LA — Jovan Kirovski (caution; Reckless Tackle) 82

SEA — Blaise Nkufo (caution; Goalkeeper Interference) 93+

Referee: Ricardo Salazar

Referee’s Assistants: -Thomas Supple; Peter Manikowski

4th Official: Alex Prus

Attendance: 35,521

Time of Game: 1:52

Weather: Partly Cloudy-and-55-degrees

All Statistics contained in this boxscore are unofficial

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The Sounders open their playoff series with the Galaxy at 5 p.m. at QWest Field. The game will be shown on ESPN2, but the radio broadcast will be KTTH 770 AM.

Here’s pregame coverage from The News Tribune, and the Los Angeles Daily Breeze. Ths latter includes this from Galaxy coach Bruce Arena: “We needed this game,” Arena said. “We haven’t been in a game where we’ve been forced to win, forced to show up and play hard and fight and scrap for everything. That’s the kind of game that should give our team a lot of confidence …

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NO. 1 LOS ANGELES GALAXY (18-7-9)
AT NO. 6 SEATTLE SOUNDERS FC (14-10-6)
5 p.m. Sunday, Qwest Field.
TV: ESPN2. RADIO: KTTH 770 AM (1210 AM in Spanish).
HEAD TO HEAD: Los Angeles leads the regular-season series, 2-1-1. The Galaxy swept the 2010 regular-season meetings: 4-0 in Seattle and 3-1 at Home Dept Center. However, the Sounders beat the Galaxy, 2-0, in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals in Tukwila.
TEAM LEADERS: For L.A. – G 17, Edson Buddle; A 16, Landon Donovan; S 96, Buddle; SOG 43, Buddle; GAA 0.90, Donovan Ricketts. For Seattle – …

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