Juninho’s penalty on Wednesday night against Real Salt Lake was the lone goal in the match.
By Ivan Yeo
You know what they say about payback.
Just three weeks ago, Juninho found himself in a similar position he came into in Wednesday night’s game against Real Salt Lake. Back on May 7, Juninho stepped out to the penalty spot late in a match against Real Salt Lake at Rio Tinto Stadium. The match was scoreless heading into stoppage time and Juninho had a chance to give LA the lead and a possible three points.
Juninho however was facing Nick Rimando, who has long been the thorn on the side of penalty takers in MLS and sure enough, Rimando denied Juninho to keep the match level and both teams had to settle for the point.
Fast forward three weeks later, Juninho was in the same position again. The settings were a little different, as this match was at StubHub Center and Juninho was taking the penalty early in the match. This time, Juninho was not to be denied, as he put the penalty past Rimando into the back net, and the goal stood up as the lone goal in the match and the end result was the Galaxy’s second straight win.
“I’m the taker,” Juninho said. “The guys know how important it is to me to get a goal again, especially against Salt Lake. It was very special for me to come back and score the goal.”
The whole thing started in the sixth minute, as Ignacio Maganto beat Jamison Olave to a loose ball inside the penalty area, Maganto flicked a ball over a sliding Olave and the ball actually landed on Olave’s hand, but it was more than enough for referee Baldomero Toledo to signal for the penalty spot. Three weeks ago, Juninho shot to Rimando’s right side, but Rimando guessed correctly and stopped the shot. This time, Juninho shot the the far left corner while Rimando went to his right.
“As long as he wanted that ball, I was okay. I just wanted to make sure he was good for that,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said of the penalty kick. “Juninho grabbed the ball and he wanted it. I would have bet Nick was going to go to his right this time, and he went back to his left and that surprised me there. I think Juninho did well.”
Stopping penalties is nothing new to Rimando, who despite his 5-9 frame has made a career of denying penalty shots. Rimando firmly established that reputation in the 2009 MLS playoffs, as he stopped three penalties in the shootout against Chicago in the Eastern Conference final to send RSL to the MLS Cup final. Facing the Galaxy in Seattle for the MLS Cup, the match went into a shootout and Rimando came through for Salt Lake again, as he stopped three more shots in the shootout to win RSL the MLS Cup.
The Galaxy have also seen Rimando’s ability to deny penaitles on more than one occasion. Remember it was just last year in the season opener that Rimando denied Robbie Keane in stoppage time to preserve the win for RSL and twice in the 2007 season Rimando denied Landon Donovan from the spot, and there was the aforementioned save on Rimando against Juninho three weeks back.
“I knew I had to score this time against (Nick) Rimando,” Juninho said. “This time I hit it hard and low and could help my teammates get a win tonight.”
And sure enough, Juninho’s penalty stood up for another three points for the Galaxy.
