Steven Gerrard’s goal in the 66th minute was the difference for the Galaxy against Houston on Friday night.
By Ivan Yeo
It wasn’t the prettiest of games for the Los Angeles Galaxy, but as the saying goes; three points is three points.
Friday night’s match against the Houston Dynamo produced the sort of effort that most teams would prefer not to give, but will be glad to give out whenever they have to; less style, but more substance. That was what the Galaxy resorted to on Friday night, but it paid off in the end, as Steven Gerrard’s 66th minute enabled LA to overcome a missed penalty and other missed chances in its 1-0 win over Houston st StubHub Center.
“We played well enough to get three points,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said. “Not our best game; I think we made things a little difficult on ourselves not converting the penalty early in the game and then a few other chances we could have been better with. I thought defensively we played well.”
It wasn’t for a lack of effort though on LA’s part to get on the score sheet. The Galaxy thought for sure it would get one from the penalty spot in the eighth minute when David Horst handled Robbie Keane’s shot on goal inside the penalty area, awarding LA the penalty kick. Keane stepped up to the spot, but he instead sent the penalty wide right. Keane had several opportunities to make amends for the missed penalty, but could not get onto several passes throughout the match.
Finally, the moment arrived in the 66th minute. Baggio Husidic sprung Keane for the penalty area, Keane shot right away for goal, keeper Joe Willis left his line and parried the shot away, but left a juicy rebound chance for Gerrard and he immediately cashed in, slotting the shot past Houston defender Sheanon Williams and into the back net for what proved to be the only goal in the match.
“It was a guessing game, really,” Gerrard said of his goal. “He chose to go right and I slotted it to my right, in the opposite direction. Sometimes they are difficult, because if he guesses the right way and I pass it the wrong way, he can stop the goal.”
It wasn’t just Gerrard’s goal that was noteworthy. Galaxy keeper Brian Rowe and the backline kept its opponent out of the scoresheet for a third straight MLS match and fourth overall counting the U.S. Open Cup match a few weeks back.The Galaxy will also start off the weekend in third place in the Western Conference.
“Lately we’ve been defending well,” Galaxy defender AJ DeLaGarza said. “Thankfully, three shutouts in a row, one in Open Cup, so yea we are getting the shutouts and we are getting goals so now we just have to play better.”
The Galaxy will get a heavy dose of the Pacific Northwest over the next two weeks. First, they face the Seattle Sounders on Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup at the StubHub Center’s track and field complex, then it’s two straight road matches, first St Portland next Sunday, then Seattle again the following Sunday.
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