BY ADAM SERRANO
The Los Angeles Galaxy made quite the fuss throughout the week welcoming Robbie Keane to the club and on Saturday, he repaid them with a star performance.
The Irish forward scored in the 21st minute of his debut for the Galaxy as Los Angeles defeated the San Jose Earthquakes 2-0 in front of 27,000 at the Home Depot Center.
The Ireland international got the start going 72 minutes with a number of quality chances at the net. The Galaxy added to their lead late in the match when Keane's substitute Mike Magee scored. Following the match, Keane admitted that it was a dream start to his career in MLS.
"When you come to a new team it’s always nice to score your first goal. If you go a few games without scoring it can play on your mind. Hopefully there’s a lot more to come," said Keane. "It couldn’t have gone obviously better for me. It’s always nice to score a goal but the most important thing is the win and the three points."
Keane received an enthusiastic reception from the capacity crowd at the HDC and appeared incredibly lively from the start. After being called offside on two early chances, Keane brokethrough in the 21st minute of play.
The play began when David Beckham sent in a looping ball forward that Earthquakes defender Jason Hernandez failed to clear, allowing Keane to catch the ball off the bounce. The Irishman then bypassed goalkeeper Jon Busch and calmed finished his first MLS goal.
“We’re elated with Robbie,” said Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. “I think he had a great 70 minutes for us tonight and we think there are a lot of great games for Robbie in our team.”
In the second half, San Jose dominated the run of play as the Galaxy appeared to lose their attacking shape. Although the Earthquakes controlled possession, they struggled to create real scoring opportunities before eventually going down to 10 men in the 81st minute.
After being bypassed by Landon Donovan, Quakes defender Steve Beitashour brought down the Galaxy captain and proceeded to cleat him in the knee. Following the red card, the Galaxy doubled their lead on Magee's goal just moments before the end of the match.
"I thought our performance was not the worst," said Earthquakes head coach Frank Yallop. "At least we moved the ball around, created some great chances, we had five shots on net. Which is a positive. It’s hard taking a positive from a 2-nil loss."
The former Galaxy head coach was extremely complimentary about the role that Los Angeles' new troika of designated players performed against the Earthquakes.
"They have three quality players, when you have three quality players of that caliber on the field at the game time, you’re going to be a pretty dynamic team," Yallop added.
The Galaxy and their new Irishman will now look ahead to Thursday when Los Angeles takes on Alajuelense in the CONCACAF Champions League. San Jose hopes to right their own sinking playoff hopes on Saturday on the road against Toronto FC.
While the Galaxy must now shift their focus to Thursday and an arguably must-win match in the Champions League, it was no question that this night belonged to Keane. With the weight of the Galaxy's lofty aspirations on his shoulders, Keane promised the club that more goals were on the way.
“If you’ve seen me play over the years, I like to play with energy,” Keane said. “I’ve always done that. I had a good night’s sleep last night, so I wasn’t really too worried about [jet leg]. There is certainly a lot more to come from me.”
