Robbie Keane was a one-man wrecking crew against Toronto FC on Saturday.
By Ivan Yeo
It’s official, Robbie Keane is back in MVP form.
Toronto FC was the latest to find that out on Saturday night. Fittingly on the night the Galaxy held its annual Fourth of July postgame fireworks show, which was also the night the Galaxy officially unveiled Steven Gerrard, Keane displayed the fireworks on the pitch. Keane’s three goals paced LA to a 4-0 win over TFC at the StubHub Center.
The win keeps LA well in the chase for first place in the Western Conference. The Galaxy (8-6-7, 31 points) are just one point back of Seattle and Vancouver for the top spot in the conference. Toronto (7-7-2, 23 points) is now tied with the New York Red Bulls for fifth place in the Eastern Conference, though they are just one point back of three teams for second in the conference.
The Galaxy got things started beginning in the ninth minute. Robbie Rogers played Sebastian Lletget into the penalty area, Lletget got pushed down from behind by Warren Creaville and LA was awarded the penalty. Keane stepped to the spot and converted to the upper right corner as Toronto keeper Chris Konopka dove to Keane’s left, guessing wrong.
That was only the start for Keane and LA. Keane got goal number two in the 41st minute, as Stefan Ishizaki sprung Baggio Husidic into the penalty area, Husidic played a short cross to Keane just outside the six-yard box and Keane buried the point-blank shot.
Keane finished off the hat trick with a little help from Toronto FC themselves in the 59th minute. TFC’s Justin Morrow played a ball back towards Konopka, but apparently didn’t notice Keane was lurking in the area. Sure enough, Keane took the ball into the box, rounded Konopka and took his own sweet time before firing the ball into the empty net. The Galaxy put the icing on the cake in stoppage time, as Lletget played a ball to Maganto, who dribbled into the penalty area and laid a ball to a trailing Maganto, who promptly fire the ball into the back net.
