CARSON, CALIFORNIA (BDCi) — The LA Galaxy in their new black uniforms that Robbie Keane must really like, defeated Real Salt Lake 4-2.
Keane was on fire as he had a hat trick for the Galaxy. It was a slow start for LA as Joao Plato of Real Salt Lake got the scoring started first when he poked the ball through Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo’s legs in the 53rd minute.
However minutes later, the Galaxy responded when Robbie Keane made a nice move to fake out a Real Salt Lake defender in the 56th minute to tie the game and was assisted by Juninho. It was Keane’s eighth goal of the season.
Keane was just gettting started as he scored again in the 66th minute on an assist by Sean Franklin who had just entered the game two minutes earlier.
Sean Franklin defends Kenny Mansallye on an assist by Sean Franklin who had just entered the game two minutes earlier.
Omar Gonzalez poured it on for the Galaxy with a header off a Landon Donovan corner kick in the 75th minute that sealed the win for LA. It was Gonzalez’s first goal of the season.
Gonzalez said he enjoyed scoring his first goal of the season. “I’ve been waiting for a set piece and I think I said a week ago hopefully some more would be coming and I got one which I am really happy about. I think that I could have gotten two more but I’m happy with the one and hopefully I can build on that.”
Keane again ended the night with his third goal in the 85th minute to send the message to first place Real Salt Lake that the Galaxy are a team to be reckoned with.
Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo who made his MLS debut discussed his performance. “It’s always good to get three important points that we did tonight. Now we just have to go back to the training field and sharpen up a couple mistakes.”
Landon Donovan was happy with the team’s performance and feels teams are going to have trouble when they face the Galaxy. “I think it’s going to be difficult for teams to play us going forward. They clearly put some emphasis on trying to shut me down tonight and if you do that you are going to get punished by Robbie.”
With the win, the Galaxy move within four points of first place in the Western Conference standings. Their next MLS match will be Saturday August. 24th in Vancouver.