In the final match of what has been a roller coaster season for Los Angeles, the Galaxy will head to Qwest Field in Seattle to face Real Salt Lake in what will be David Beckham's first MLS final since joining the league in 2007.

Beckham began the season by going on loan to AC Milan, but ultimately returned to MLS after his requests to remain in Europe were denied by Galaxy management.

Shorty after his return to Los Angeles, Sports Illustrated's Grant Wahl released The Beckham Experiment , a book that detailed, among other things, Landon Donovan's perception of Beckham as a bad teammate.

During his first game back in the States—a friendly against AC Milan—fans at the Home Depot Center continuously heckled Beckham, leading to an altercation between Beckham and a fan that included Beckham telling the fan to come down onto the field.  Fortunately, police escorted the fan away before things escalated further.

Since the publication of the controversial book back in July, Donovan and Beckham have been able to repair their relationship, and the Galaxy have become the best team in the Western Conference.  The finished their season in first place in the Western Conference, defeated Chivas USA and Houston in the playoffs, and now head to their first MLS Cup final since 2005.

As for Real Salt Lake, their season got off to a bad start after posting a great year in 2008 when they reached the Western Conference Finals.  Even though Salt Lake wasn't able to win that match—losing 1-0 to the New York Red Bulls at Rio Tinto Stadium—they had high hopes for this season.

After a rocky start, Salt Lake was able to get key wins down the stretch and eventually qualify for the fourth—and final—seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs.  Even though Salt Lake is in the Western Conference, the MLS playoff system requires that the four best teams outside of the top two seeds in each division earn a playoff spot regardless of where they play.  This explains why Real Salt Lake are playing their Western Conference rivals in the MLS Cup final.

To start the playoffs, Salt Lake got paired up with the defending MLS Cup Champion Columbus Crew.  Salt Lake was able to win both the home and away games by an combined score of 4-2, and advance to the Eastern Conference Final.

In that final—a matchup against the Chicago Fire at Toyota Park—the two teams went scoreless for the entire 120 minutes and were forced to decide the match on penalty kicks.  Salt Lake prevailed 5-4 to advance to their first-ever MLS Cup final.

During the regular season, the teams met twice, with the first matchup—at Rio Tinto Stadium—ending in a 2-2 draw after both sides combined for three goals during stoppage time.  The second contest, which was played in Los Angeles, ended with a Real Salt Lake victory that halted the Galaxy's ten-game unbeaten streak.  The 2-0 victory was the result of goals by Yura Movsisyan and Nat Brochers.

The expected weather in Seattle for the MLS Cup final will be 42ºF with a 30 percent chance of rain.  The game kicks off at 5 PM PST (8 PM EST).

This will mark the first MLS final played at Qwest Field—a notoriously loud stadium for the Seattle Sounders—and the eighth different venue to host the event.

Much attention will be focused on Beckham's health, with reports that he is suffering from a bone bruise in his right ankle.  However, there is little doubt that he—or any of the other major players—will be miss the biggest MLS game of the season.

This match will come down to one question:  Can the Galaxy, behind stars David Beckham and Landon Donovan, win their first MLS Cup since 2005 over a Real Salt Lake squad led by a group of relative unknowns looking for their first-ever MLS championship?

No matter what, the answer will be exciting.

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