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FRISCO, Texas -- With David Beckham out of action again, Landon Donovan scored a goal and assisted on three more to lead the Galaxy over FC Dallas 6-5 Tuesday night and earn Los Angeles a berth in the SuperLiga semifinals.
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Los Angeles finished the first round 2-0-1, despite playing without their new star midfielder in any of the three games. While the Galaxy will play in the semifinals on Aug. 14, FC Dallas was eliminated from the tournament, which features four MLS teams and four from Mexico.
Alan Gordon scored twice for Los Angeles.
Beckham, who has played only 16 minutes since joining the club on July 21, did not make the trip to Texas because of an ankle injury. Beckham's availability for the club's next game on Aug. 5 at Toronto FC, which would be his Major League Soccer debut, will not be determined until after practice on Thursday.
The game started and ended with a flurry of goals as the teams combined for six after the 78th minute, including four by FC Dallas as it almost erased a four-goal deficit.
The Galaxy scored four goals in the first 18 minutes of the game with goals from Gordon in the third and 15th minutes and from Chris Klein in the 12th minute and Kevin Harmse in the 18th minute.
Carlos Pavon's goal in the 95th minute which gave Los Angeles 6-4 lead proved to be the deciding score. Pavon fired a shot into the left corner of the net from about 12 yards away with an assist from Donovan.
Seconds later, Abe Thompson closed out the scoring with a header in the 96th minute.
Donovan gave the Galaxy a 5-3 lead after he raced past two FCD defenders and placed a shot into the right corner of the net from 15 yards away for an unassisted score in the 84th minute. But Carlos Ruiz responded for FC Dallas with a goal in the 91st minute. FC Dallas had narrowed the lead to 4-3 after Arturo Alvarez scored his second goal of the game in the 82nd minute. Alvarez also scored on a header in the 43rd minute.
