John Riordan, New York
ROBBIE KEANE was back on the scoresheet for the LA Galaxy last night, his impressive second-half strike sealing a Western Conference final victory for his team and a spot in the MLS Cup final later this month.
The Irish captain’s third goal for his new club ended a barren spell — partly due to a niggling injury — but his energetic display in this 3-1 victory over Real Salt Lake at the Home Depot Center will be good news for Giovanni Trapattoni who will have been sweating on his forwards this weekend.
Less reassuring though, Keane should have had at least a hat-trick, fluffing a late one-on-one opportunity while also coming very close to scoring twice in the first half. Leading 2-1 just after the hour mark, LA had been in control of the contest when Keane beat Jamison Olave down the left channel and turned beautifully on to his right foot to send a low drive to the far corner.
But that two-goal cushion proved vital as the visitors threw everything at their hosts during the closing stages. But LA survived gaining revenge for Salt Lake’s 2009 MLS Cup final win over Bruce Arena’s team when Landon Donovan’s missed penalty handed a shootout victory to the Utah outfit.
But he made no mistake this time when placing the ball on the spot in the 23rd minute, confidently slotting past keeper Nick Rimando after Omar Gonzalez was pushed over in the area.
However, Salt Lake levelled the score two minutes later when Olave’s rose to meet a corner, sending the ball back across the box to where team-mate Alvaro Saborio was on hand to head home.
Keane almost regained the lead for his side when he hit the left hand post in the 32nd minute with a low strike from just inside the box. 12 minutes later, the Irish captain came close again, pushing another low shot just past the right hand post.
LA deservedly took back the lead in the 58th minute when Beckham’s inch-perfect cross found the head of Mike Magee who made no mistake from eight yards out.
LA will now go for their third MLS Cup after victories in 2002 and 2005.
But standing in their way on November 20 are Houston Dynamo who took a 2-0 win away from Sporting Kansas City earlier in the day to secure the Eastern Conference honours.
Second half goals from Andre Hainault and Carlo Costly dampened the spirit of a raucous home crowd as the visitors proved more than able to battle on despite the loss of star midfielder Brad Davis before the break when the game was still scoreless.
Source: http://feeds.examiner.ie/~r/iesportsblog/~3/jp_gWSHSfHQ/post.aspx
Aberdeen Discrimination at work Caribbean Lee Carsley Radio industry Bank of England
No comments:
Post a Comment