MLS / Liga MX Report: Landon Donovan & LA Galaxy Advance to Western Conference Finals

By Edwin Molina Nov 10 2014, 22:25 PM EST

MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER (MLS)

With retirement looming once he is out of the postseason, the LA Galaxy's Landon Donovan run at a sixth MLS Cup, fourth in Los Angeles, continues after notching a hat trick against Real Salt Lake, putting his team into the Western Conference Finals of the 2014 Major League Soccer (MLS) Playoffs.

Coming into the second leg of their series with the score tied 0-0, Donovan opened up the barrage of goals that ensued in the tenth minute of the match after he headed A.J. DeLaGarza's cross past Real Salt Lake keeper Nick Rimando. Real Salt Lake had no answer for Donovan, who would go on to score two more goals, leading the Galaxy to a 5-0 victory and the Galaxy advancing to the next round.

"Last night and today I was thinking a lot of this through and the reality was this could have been my last game ever," said Donovan after the game. "There's a lot of things that were out of my control tonight. The one thing that was in my control was how I played."

The Galaxy await the results of Monday's second-leg game between the Supporters' Shield winners Seattle Sounders and FC Dallas, who are tied 1-1 going to the match at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

The Eastern Conference finals are set, with the New York Red Bulls advancing on a 3-2 aggregate despite losing 2-1 to DC United at RFK Stadium over the weekend. The Red Bulls had a 2-0 goal lead going into Saturday's game and DC United's Nick DeLeon gave his squad hope scoring in the 37th minute of the match, to make it 1-0. But New York's Péguy Luyindula sealed the deal for the Red Bulls, one-timing Thierry Henry's cross in the 37th minute to move on to the next round.

The Red Bulls will face the New England Revolution, who defeated the Columbus Crew 3-1 on Sunday, 7-3 on aggregate, to advance to the Eastern Conference finals. Goals by Lee Nguyen -- recently called up to the U.S. national team, Jose Goncalves and Teal Bunbury all helped bury the Crew's chances of advancing further in the playoffs.

New England and New York will kick off the first leg of their two-game Eastern Conference finals series after the international break, on Nov. 23rd, at Red Bull Arena.

LIGA MX

While America, Toluca, Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (U.A.N.L.) and Atlas have all locked up spots in the 2014 Liguilla Liga MX playoffs, eight teams are vying for the last four playoff spots and the season set to end on Nov. 23rd.

Chiapas (fifth place with 25 points), Monterrey (sixth place with 24 points), León (seventh place with 22 points) and Pachuca (eighth place with 22 points) are all looking to stave off Santos Laguna (22 points), Queretaro (21 points), Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (21 points) and Cruz Azul (20 points) with only one game left in the season going into the international break.

Monterrey has an advantage over the other seven clubs in that they have an extra game after their match against second-to-last place Guadalajara was postponed earlier in the season and rescheduled for this Saturday. The extra game may help Monterrey solidify a playoff spot by the end of this week, giving them breathing room against the other clubs, especially considering they end the season against an Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) team that is also desperate to make the postseason.

Queretaro, who signed Ronaldinho in September to help them get into the postseason, needs a win against Chiapas to assure their passage into the playoffs. Queretaro got a much-needed win against Morelia on Friday, beating Los Monarcas 2-0 on Friday thanks to Camilo Sanvezzo, who scored his 11th goal of the year -- tying him León's Mauro Boselli for the Liga MX scoring title.

Anything less than a victory against Chiapas puts Queretaro in a precarious position considering that Pachuca will try to hang on to the last place playoff spot playing against 16th place Veracruz, Santos plays 15th place Puebla 15th and Cruz Azul faces 14th place Universidad de Guadalajara -- all easier match-ups compared to Los Gallos Blancos test against Chiapas.