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SI.com: Soccer America: Salt Lake full of cast-offs who became champions

No team wins an MLS Cup without players cast off, dropped or ignored by other teams, and the 2009 champions are no exception. Several important contributors to Real Salt Lake's MLS Cup title arrived in Utah from other teams, and controversy accompanied a few of them -- most notably captain Kyle Beckerman, who was swapped by Colorado for Mehdi Ballouchy in July '07, not long after Jason Kreis had taken over the coaching duties at RSL from John Ellinger.

SI.com: Jonah Freedman: Real Salt Lake's MLS title a testament to the underdog

SEATTLE -- Bring up all the clichés you want: David over Goliath. Substance over style. Team over individual. They all fit Real Salt Lake, which outlasted the heavily favored Los Angeles Galaxy on penalty kicks Sunday night after a 1-1 draw and 120 minutes of last-man-standing soccer (RECAP).

Salt Lake beat L.A. Galaxy to MLS title

Real Salt Lake sealed an upset win over the Los Angeles Galaxy on Sunday night with a 5-4 penalty victory, after extra-time in the Major League Soccer Cup final that ended with the score at 1-1.

SI.com: Andrea Canales: Hard-working center backs keyed Galaxy turnaround

CARSON, Calif. -- When the Los Angeles Galaxy needed a deciding goal last Friday to send them to a sixth MLS Cup final appearance, neither of the team's biggest stars -- David Beckham nor Landon Donovan -- scored the winner in overtime against Houston.

Beckham pledges future to L.A. Galaxy

David Beckham has pledged his future to the Los Angeles Galaxy and says that victory in Sunday's MLS Cup final against Real Salt Lake would rank alongside other career achievements such as winning the Champions League with Manchester United.

SI.com: Jonah Freedman: Plenty of intrigue heading into MLS Cup final

SEATTLE -- Still dubious David Beckham is making an impact in this country? More than 40,000 tickets have been sold for Sunday's MLS Cup final between the Los Angeles Galaxy and Real Salt Lake at Qwest Field (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Galavisión), with another 2,000 made available late in the week. That would mark the biggest crowd for MLS' season-capper in seven years and the third-biggest ever for a game not featuring the local team.

SI.com: Grant Wahl: Three burning questions heading into MLS Cup 2009

SEATTLE -- As the reborn Los Angeles Galaxy prepare to take on Real Salt Lake in the MLS Cup final on Sunday (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Galavisión), I can't help but think back to a scene in Kansas City's Arrowhead Stadium on Sept. 13, 2008.

SI.com: Grant Wahl: MLS commissioner Garber talks about the league's future

SEATTLE -- The Los Angeles Galaxy meet Real Salt Lake in the 14th MLS Cup final here on Sunday (8:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Galavisión), and I started the day off by meeting MLS commissioner Don Garber for breakfast in his hotel suite. The 52-year-old Garber, a former NFL executive, has been the MLS commish since 1999 and is widely expected to sign a contract extension in the next few weeks.

SI.com: Luis Bueno: Real Salt Lake raises the bar for MLS expansion teams

In ever-evolving Major League Soccer, the league's history could be split almost evenly in half. There was the first stage, from 1996 to 2004, when MLS was a fledgling, young and small league. Then, from '05 through the present -- the Expansion Era might be an appropriate name -- the league has gotten some solid footing and grown a bit.

SI.com: Soccer America: How playoff drama may rock MLS coaching ranks

If sources monitoring the Chicago situation are right, Denis Hamlett will soon join Preki in the unemployment line. Maybe if the Fire had reached the MLS Cup final, majority owner Andrew Hauptman would have been reluctant to cut him loose.

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