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Cunningham's late goal lifts Toronto FC

Apr 13, 2008 - 10:42 PM CARSON, California (Ticker) -- Greg Cunningham picked a good time to score his first goal of the season.

Cunningham blasted a shot from outside of the penalty area in the 88th minute Sunday, leading Toronto FC to a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Cunningham came off the bench for Danny Dichio in the 65th minute and fired a shot past Galaxy goalkeeper Steve Cronin to give Toronto (1-2) its first win of the season.

"We're trying to build something and things don't happen overnight," Toronto coach John Carver said.

Before the winning goal, Cunningham and the Galaxy's Greg Vanney were vying for the ball just outside the box, and Vanney fell down. Left alone, Cunningham faked out Cronin, then kicked the ball past him.

"It was probably a 50-50 ball," said Cunningham of his battle with Vanney. "At that stage of the game, I thought that might be our last opportunity. Thankfully, I was able to win the battle."

The Galaxy (1-2) had knotted the score at 2-2 in the 58th minute when Landon Donovan scored his second goal of the contest by converting a penalty kick.

Toronto took the lead late in the first half when Dichio took a pass from Amado Guevara and beat Cronin in the 42nd minute to make it 1-0.

It didn't take long for the Galaxy to respond as Donovan scored his second goal of the season a minute later off an assist from Chris Klein to knot the score at the half.

Both teams had six shots on goal, but the Galaxy missed several times on good chances, including once when Donovan missed wide left with the goal wide open.

"I'm disappointed in myself because I had three chances that would have changed the game," Donovan said.

Jarrod Smith broke the tie in the 53rd minute when he slipped one past Cronin from inside the penalty area to put Toronto ahead 2-1.

The Galaxy entered the match fresh off a 2-0 victory over San Jose Earthquakes Thursday with goals from David Beckham and Donovan.

Beckham was largely ineffective on several free kicks on Sunday. His shot from 29 yards in the 83rd minute missed to the left of the goal.

"We lost our (discipline) in the second half, some of it to the heat, but the majority of it by giving the ball away," Beckham said. "That's when the problems started. Then they started passing the ball around us and they created chances."

Toronto FC entered with losses in its first two games on the season, both on the road.