After neither team threatened in the first ten minutes, the Galaxy were only kept off the board in the 11th minute on a spectacular full-extension save by Timbers goalkeeper Josh Saunders on Paulo Nagamura's blast from 20 yards out. Five minutes later, the Galaxy had another good chance on a free kick from 25 yards out, but Landon Donovan's shot was just wide to the left.

The Galaxy were threatening again in the 27th minute when Michael Umana's shot from 20 yards out was tipped just over the bar by Saunders. On the ensuing corner kick, the ball was kicked around several times in front of the Timbers goal, eventually falling to the foot of Ned Grabavoy, but his shot from only a few yards out was blocked wide by defender Shawn Saunders. A few minutes later, the Galaxy once again had a chance from very close-in, but Donovan's attempt to knock in a rebound that had him firing from just a few yards out was blocked wide by defender Scot Thompson.

The Timbers settled into more of a possession offense, and for much of the middle section of the first half, the Timbers were moving the ball around at will, but were unable to make any connections to their forwards, and their only wide midfielder, Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar on the right side, was being double-teamed for much of the night. But by this time, a light drizzle had turned into a driving rainstorm, but the PGE Park NexTurf was up to it.

In the 39th minute, the Galaxy got the bounce they needed, when Donovan played a nice diagonal pass into the run of Hercules Gomez, whose shot from near the top of the box hit off the left leg of the Timbers goalkeeper, but instead of bouncing back out, the ball deflected between the keeper's legs and slipped just inside the right post to put the Galaxy up 1-0, which was the score at the half.

The Timbers had a good chance to level the score early in the first half, when a pass from Alcaraz-Cuellar found second half substitute Luc Harrington open at the top of the box, but his attempt to turn and shoot was blocked right off his foot. Guillermo Ramirez had the first good chance of the second half for the Galaxy, when his blast from 25 yards out was just high and wide.

In the 55th and then again in the 56th minutes, Harrington managed to slip in behind the Galaxy defense and kept himself onside for a through ball, but in both cases he was unable control the ball cleanly and the Galaxy were able to recover and keep him from putting a shot on net.

In the 58th minute, LA's Ednaldo da Conceicao made a deep run into the Timbers box, but a retreating Lee Morrison slid in at the last minute to knock the ball off da Conceicao's foot just before he could shoot. A few minutes later, the Galaxy nearly had another shot deflect into the net, when Grabavoy's free kick from 25 yards out deflected off a Timbers defender, but this time going just to the outside of the post.

The Timbers had their last good chance of the evening in the 64th minute when Harrington once again had slipped behind the defense, this time going in alone on Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin. But Harrington's attempt to chip Cronin from 18 yards out was way too high and Cronin was able to retreat and collect the loose ball.

The Galaxy threatened again in the 70th minute when Grabavoy just missed to the left from 18 yards out. The Timbers last chance to level the score came in the 88th minute when a high cross into the box from Aaron Heinzen was grabbed by Cronin just before it could get to the head of Timbers midfielder Shawn Higgins. But in the end, though the Timbers defense had looked sharp, the offense was never able to threaten the Galaxy net, and the Timbers end up on the short end of the 1-0 final.

Josh Saunders recorded three saves while Steve Cronin had no recorded saves for the Galaxy.