Posted by Casey Keirnan

A crowd of 24,897 were left with excitement following an nine round shootout at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. The game gave us goals, crowd gamesmanship, and a Mario Balotelli meltown - but what else do we expect from the Ghanaian-born Italian striker.

The Galaxy started the game without the favors of both Juan Pablo Angel and Landon Donovan (who has now said he will not play in the MLS All-Star game vs. Manchester United on Wednesday). Meanwhile, City put on a starting XI that was quite strong and the starting XI you could see from Mancini's side come August 6th in the Community Shield vs. Manchester United.

The game started off with a scare as newly bought left back Gael Clichy, formerly of Arsenal, took a serious knock to the head. The Frenchman tried to get up but stumbled over and the trainers were immediately for assistance by the players. Good news though, Clichy came back on three minutes later and was able to finish the half.

David Silva looked lively all first half, more so when he received the ball in the box from Balotelli and shrugged himself away from his defender (well done as well for the small midfielder) and hit a shot across the goal and just wide.

City then were able to get their goal. Micah Richards received the ball on the right and made a darting run past Bryan Jordan and into the penalty area where he was brought down by the Galaxy midfielder for a penalty. Mario Balotelli stepped up for the kick and sent Galaxy Goalkeeper Josh Saunders the wrong way for a 1-0 lead.



We were privileged enough to sit behind some Citeh supporters who were ranting and raving at the Angel City Brigade. After the Balotelli goal, the Angel City Brigade greeted the City supporters with a chant of, "You'll never beat United!" Great stuff from a near sold out crowd.

Balotelli made things interesting a half hour in. He received a beautiful pass from Silva and was left 1-on-1 with Saunders and a chance for a 2-0 lead, but, for some reason, turned and tried to back heel the ball into the net. The shot went wide.

Mancini was not best pleased on the sidelines and immediately took Mario off and put on James Milner. Balotelli yelled expletives in Italian towards his coach as he was obviously not pleased with the substitution. Mancini did say afterward that no further punishment would be put on the young striker. And Balotelli was not available for comment after the game.

The second half started brightly for the Galaxy. Dan Keat sent a cross field pass to Chris Birchall who head the ball down into the path of Mike Magee who was able to control the ball and send it over the head of Joe Hart and into the back of the net on the half volley. 1-1. Great goal from Magee.

Not a whole lot more action in the second frame except at the end. Manchester City sub John Guidetti found himself in the box and was able to get a foot to it for a shot that was saved, then his rebound shot was put over the net and into the crowd. That goal would have secured victory for City.

Full Time ended and the game, per tournament rules, went straight to penalties. Keat, Birchall, Milner, and Weiss each scored for their respective teams. Juninho missed with a shot off the bar and Suarez made for a 3-2 City lead after 3 penalties each.

Dunivant and Kolarov each scored in round 4; and Stephens scored for the Galaxy at the start of round 5 to even the score. Guidetti had another chance to win it for City but his shot was saved and the shootout went into sudden death.

Round 6 saw both McBean and Lescott miss their chances; round 7 Gonzales and de Jong each scored; round 8 McCarty and Shaun Wright-Phillips scored. Round 9 de la Garza missed his penalty which was saved by Hart, who then, picked the ball up, put it on the spot, and blasted it in the top corner to give City the win 7-6 on penalties. Great shootout to witness.

After the game, Casey caught both Adam Johnson and Joe Hart as we were walking out and took a nice photo with the City duo. Very nice, Casey.