BY SCOTT FRENCH
Senior Editor
in Carson, Calif.

Landon Donovan finished clinically, Pat Onstad saved a penalty kick, and the San Jose Earthquakes used an early goal to take charge Sunday en route to their second Major League Soccer championship in three years.

Donovan netted a pair of goals as the Earthquakes completed an improbable playoff run with a 4-2 victory over the Chicago Fire at the Home Depot Center in the eighth MLS Cup title game.

Ronnie Ekelund, drilling a fifth-minute free kick, and Richard Mulrooney also tallied for San Jose, and Onstad — honored Saturday as the league's top netminder — stopped an Ante Razov PK that would have tied the score early in the second half.

''After these last three weeks, I have no emotions left,'' said Donovan, who was voted game MVP after providing San Jose a 2-0 lead in the 38th minute and the 4-2 final margin in the 71st. ''I am drained, so drained. … It's hard to even celebrate right now.''

The Earthquakes were winless in five games — three of them against Los Angeles — and all but finished in their first-round series with the Galaxy, down, 4-0, on aggregate with 70 minutes remaining in the second leg. They scored four goals, the finale in stoppage time, added the winner in overtime, then rallied from two deficits to beat Kansas City in overtime in the semifinals.

This one was simpler but difficult. Chicago, which won the '98 title, created more chances, doubling San Jose shot totals in both halves, but struggled trying to beat Onstad despite electric play from DaMarcus Beasley and Rookie of the Year Damani Ralph.

''We got slaughtered in the first half, plain and simple, but that's how it goes …,'' said Donovan, who had a quiet afternoon aside from the two superb goals. ''I'd be lying if I said we completely deserved it, because they had so many chances.''

Razov, who had reported flu-like symptoms earlier in the week, was off his game, and it was costly.

Razov, a Southern Californian who starred at UCLA, offered weak shots at Onstad in the first half, then missed the penalty in the 56th minute — ''He made a good save,'' Razov said — and was unable to finish when left alone at the right post from Ralph's cross in the 82nd. One sharp blast, in the 58th from Beasley's feed, just cleared the crossbar.

San Jose went ahead right away. Jesse Marsch was whistled five minutes in after spilling Jamil Walker just outside the Fire box. Ekelund, outstanding all game, delivered a blistering free kick, a rising shot that found a gap in the Fire wall on its way to the upper-right corner. Goalkeeper Zach Thornton had no chance.

From that point, Chicago was chasing the game, building attacks primarily from the left, where Beasley was dominant. Onstad went down to save a Razov free kick in the ninth minute; Beasley, bearing down on the Canadian keeper two minutes later, inexplicably tried to feed Ralph on the right rather than have a go himself.

It was 2-0 in the 38th, with Donovan beating Thornton from Walker's little throughball. Walker had raced the left flank, cutting inside, against the grain of retreating defenders, then split two of them with the ball for Donovan.

Beasley scored with a nifty finish after a nice run along the left byline, beating Onstad at the near post from a tight angle in the 49th minute. Richard Mulrooney restored the two-goal advantage within a minute; Brian Mullan fed his breakaway.

''We were just chasing the game all day,'' Fire captain Chris Armas said. ''They scored goals at some important times: right before halftime, right after we scored our first goal. … On a day we kept coming, they kept coming.''

San Jose coach Frank Yallop brought on Chris Roner for Craig Waibel right after the goal, and Roner nearly gave away the lead on his own. His own goal — a nearly perfect header from Evan Whitfield's cross — pulled Chicago within 3-2 in the 54th minute, and then he fouled Ralph just inside the Earthquakes box, bursting in from the left, in the 56th.

Onstad dove to his right to save Razov's penalty kick, and the Fire's pressure soon subsided. Donovan first-timed Dwayne DeRosario's cross to make it 4-2 with about 20 minutes to go.

''Giving up an early goal is always difficult,'' Fire coach Dave Sarachan said. ''The game today [was one in which] I always felt we'd get chances. The first goal didn't knock us off our heels, and even after the second goal I felt with the chances we had in the first half, we'd have more chances in the [second half].

''We got the goal early, then gave up the third [San Jose goal] right after, which stung us. At 3-2, I felt we were back in it. Then Ante gets the penalty, and [he doesn't] make it. It was one of those days.''

It was a ragged game with plenty of chances, much of it the product of lax defending, especially in the back. The Earthquakes tried to neutralize Beasley and Ralph, with so-so success, and Donovan and Walker — often through Mullan, Ekelund and Manny Lagos — exploited matchups with the Fire's backline. The difference was Donovan's precision on both his chances.

''This was an emotional game for this club, because of all the stuff we went through,'' said Yallop, who wouldn't address talk that he will leave San Jose to take charge of his native Canada's national team. ''Every team has a story, and we were the ones that kind of didn't play well at the end of the year, and nobody really believed we could do it. … The guys in [Earthquakes jerseys], they didn't stop believing, and I didn't, because they're good players, and they proved it today.''

MLS CUP 2003
Nov. 23 in Carson, Calif.

Chicago 2 San Jose 4. Goals: Beasley (Williams, Gray) 49, own goal Roner 54; Ekelund 5, Donovan (Walker) 38, Mulrooney (Mullan) 50, Donovan (De Rosario, Mullan) 71.

Chicago — Thornton; Whitfield, Curtin (Jaqua, 81), Bocanegra, Perez (Gray, 46); Williams (Mapp, 70), Armas, Marsch, Beasley; Razov, Ralph.

San Jose — Onstad; Waibel (Roner, 50), Dayak, Robinson, Agoos; Mulrooney; Mullan, Ekelund, Lagos (Russell, 70); Walker (De Rosario, 60), Donovan.

Yellow Cards: San Jose — Waibel 15, Robinson 54.

Referee: Brian Hall.

Att.: 27,000.