By Ivan Yeo
The Galaxy welcomed back a huge part of their attack on Sunday afternoon.
Robbie Keane, out since March with a knee injury, made his return to the LA starting 11 for Sunday’s Mothers Day tilt with the New England Revolution. Keane immediately made his presence felt, as his two first half goals propelled the Galaxy to a 4-2 win over the Revolution.
“He is our captain and he’s our leading goal scorer,” Steven Gerrard said of Keane’s presence in the lineup. “To welcome that goal threat back into the team and the squad is great to see.”
Keane got going 14 minutes into the match. Gyasi Zardes held the ball on the right corner and sent a low cross into the six-yard box. Keane snuck in at the near post and tapped the ball into the back net.
Keane wasn’t done yet. Just before halftime, already up 2-0 thanks to a another goal-of-the week worthy strike by Giovani Dos Santos, Keane found himself with another scoring chance. Dos Santos held s ball just outside the penalty area, played a pass forward to Zardes inside the 18. Zardes continued forward towards the endline, then crossed left into the six and all Keane had to do was tap the ball to the back net which gave LA a 3-0 lead right before the half.
“I think as you see today, my link up play has been very good and it was like that at the start of the season, but unfortunately, [Giovani dos Santos] got injured and I got injured, Keane said. “Come July, hopefully we get everybody back together, everybody fit and healthy, and I think you’ll see a stronger, stronger team.”
Keane was not the only one on the Galaxy making his return to game action. Steven Gerrard, who missed last week’s match against Sporting Kansas City, subbed in for Keane in the 60th minute, and his presence turned out to be sorely needed for LA. Not only had the Revolution scored two goals inside three minutes to cut into LA’s lead, but they had a potential equalizer foiled by the crossbar. Gerrard sealed the three points for LA with a goal just as stoppage time, as Gerrard took a pass from Mike Magee, deked his way into the penalty area and fired a shot that beat Bobby Shuttleworth far post.
“I was thinking, ‘Is this all my fault?’ It didn’t go well, the 30 minutes when I came on they came back into the game,” Gerrard said. “They were showing an awful amount of more energy than us at the time. It was nice at the end to finish the game off and a good three points for us in the end.”
The other highlight for the Galaxy on this Mothers Day was Dos Santos’ aforementioned wonder strike, which occurred in the 25th minute. Emmanuel Boetang crossed a ball into the penalty area, Revolution defender headed the ball out, but it went towards Dos Santos, and he wound up,and fired a left-footed volley that took a bit of a curl before it sailed past Shuttleworth into the back net.
“I just tried to shoot, and I think it was a good goal,” Dos Santos said.
There will be no rest for the weary, as the Galaxy make the long trek east to face the Philadelphia on Wednesday.
