Galaxy's Donovan Breaks MLS Goal Record With No. 135
CARSON, Calif. (AP) — Landon Donovan broke the Major League Soccer goal record Sunday night, scoring his 135th and 136th regular-season goals in the Los Angeles Galaxy's 4-1 victory over the Philadelphia Union.
Playing for the first time since being cut from the U.S. World Cup team, Donovan broke a tie with Jeff Cunningham in the 49th minute with his first goal in four games this season, then added another in the 81st. Donovan also holds the MLS playoff record with 22 goals.
Donovan scored his first goal on a counterattack, passing to Robbie Keane, who took the ball into the Union box and fed Donovan at the left post for an easy finish. After making it 4-0 in the 81st, Donovan was replaced by a substitute a minute later.
Donovan has played 307 regular-season games in 15 seasons. The Jamaican-born Cunningham, a former U.S. national team player, played in 365 games over 14 seasons with Columbus, Colorado, Real Salt Lake, Toronto FC and FC Dallas. He last played in MLS in 2011.
Donovan is No. 2 on the league's career assists list with 120, including one on Leonardo's second-minute header Sunday. Steve Ralston, a Houston Dynamo assistant coach who retired in 2010, has the record with 135.
Donovan also set up Los Angeles' first goal, delivering a free kick that Leonardo headed home in the second minute. Keane scored a third in the 64th minute after a turnover by Union defender Sheanon Williams.
Los Angeles (4-3-3) won consecutive games for the second time this season.
Philadelphia (2-7-5), which welcomed back midfielder Maurice Edu -- also one of seven players trimmed from the 30-man World Cup preliminary roster -- lost its second game in a row and fifth in the last six outings. The Union have won just once in their last dozen games.
Edu scored for Philadelphia in the 88th minute, converting a penalty kick after Raul Mendiola fouled Zach Pfeffer.
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