The first ever SuperLiga final lived up to the hype on Wednesday night, with Pachuca needing penalties to dispose of the Los Angeles Galaxy at the Home Depot Center.

Overshadowing the thrilling match, however, was a serious injury to Galaxy captain David Beckham that could shelve the superstar for the rest of the 2007 season.

Extraordinary long shots to make the MLS playoffs, the Galaxy came out swinging against Los Tuzos and had a prime chance to jump ahead only a few minutes into the match. Finding space on the right side in the seventh minute, Beckham lobbed in a cross to the back post where Landon Donovan had been making his run behind the Pachuca defense. The service was spot-on, but Donovan's header never looked on target, instead sailing high and wide into the night.

Los Angeles would ultimately find the back of the net just before the half hour mark - unfortunately, it was Joe Cannon left picking the ball out of his own net. Juan Carlos Cacho and Christian Gimenez worked a crisp give-and-go in the 28th minute to spring the Argentinean behind the back line.

As the Galaxy defense retreated into the box, Gimenez' left-footed cross cleared Cannon's outstretched fingers and landed in the path of Pete Vagenas. Running at full speed to get back, the one-time Galaxy captain tried to clear the ball wide of the net with his left foot, but his effort ended up on the wrong side of the post, giving Pachuca a hand-wrapped 1-0 lead.

Two minutes later, Beckham picked up an injury while charging at a loose ball in the attacking third of the field. Converging on the ball at the same time as Pachuca's Fernando Salazar, Beckham was sent tumbling to the turf by the challenge, laying face down on the field for several seconds. Returning to his feet, it was clear that the injury was serious as Beckham signaled to the Galaxy bench immediately for a substitution. Salazar was also unable to continue and was replaced minutes later.

Both teams would have several scoring opportunities in the second half, with neither side able to connect until the third minute of second half stoppage time when standout defender Mike Randolph's header clanged off the crossbar and back into play. After several failed clearance attempts by Pachuca, the ball fell to Chris Klein, who with his back to goal, unleashed a bicycle kick worthy of any highlight reel to knot the game at 1-1.

Following two 15-minute sessions of extra time, the game went to penalties.

Vagenas, hoping to atone for his earlier mistake, was denied by Miguel Calero in the first round of penalties, only to see opposing keeper Cannon make a huge save two rounds later on Gabriel Caballero. With both teams converting three of their first four kicks, the tide turned in the Galaxy's favor when Marvin Cabrera's shot was rejected by the crossbar.

Selected to kick last for the Galaxy was Donovan, known as much for his success rate with PK's as he is for his pre-kick rituals. As the referee's whistle blew, Donovan rose from his crouch and picked his spot, but Calero was equal to the task, diving to his right to make the save and deny the Galaxy a substantial payday.

Carlos Rodriguez, the player subbed in for the Salazar, was next to successfully convert, leaving it all on the shoulders of Abel Xavier, a player whose main threat to goal comes from his head on set pieces. With the entire Galaxy team huddled together on the sidelines, anticipation turned to dismay when the Portuguese defender's shot sailed wide right, giving Pachuca the championship.

After a fitting end to a thrilling game, Pachuca players stormed the field in celebration while the Galaxy were again left empty-handed in a season to forget.

Scoring
PAC - Own Goal (Peter Vagenas) 28'
LA - Chris Klein (Troy Roberts) 90+3'

Shootout
PAC - Rafael Marquez Lugo (goal)
LA - Peter Vagenas (saved)
PAC - Luis Gabriel Rey (goal)
LA - Cobi Jones (goal)
PAC - Gabriel Caballero (saved)
LA - Chris Klein (goal)
PAC - Julio Mansur (goal)
LA - Edson Buddle (goal)
PAC - Marvin Cabrera (crossbar)
LA - Landon Donovan (saved)
PAC - Carlos Rodriguez (goal)
LA - Abel Xavier (wide right)

Line-ups
PAC - Miguel Calero; Leobardo Lopez, Julio Mansur, Jaime Correa, Damian Alvarez (Luis Gabriel Rey 92'), Gabriel Caballero, Juan Cacho (Rafael Marquez Lugo 73'), Fernando Salazar (Carlos Rodriguez 35'), Marvin Cabrera, Christian Gimenez (Edy Brambila 87'), Fausto Pinto

LA - Joe Cannon; Mike Randolph, Kevin Harmse (Gavin Glinton 115'), Chris Klein, Peter Vagenas, Landon Donovan, Troy Roberts, Abel Xavier, Kyle Martino (Edson Buddle 79'), Carlos Pavon (Cobi Jones 54'), David Beckham (Alan Gordon 33')