FRISCO, Texas. – With Landon Donovan and David Beckham unavailable, the LA Galaxy needed some one to step in and deliver on offense against FC Dallas—enter Mike Magee and Robbie Keane.
RECAP: Magee comes through for Galaxy in win at FCD
Highlights: DAL 0, LA 1
For 69 minutes, the two forwards created a dangerous combination that frequently troubled the FC Dallas back line. The pair was particularly effective with their passing as both Keane—22 completed passes out of 28 attempts— and Magee—15 completed passes out of 18— finished more than 75% of their passes.
Their silky passing culminated in a goal in the 62nd minute when Keane laid off a pass to Magee that the forward easily curled past a diving Kevin Hartman for the lone goal of the game. After the victory, Magee admitted that while he was pleased with the goal, his pairing with Keane could have resulted in so much more.
“It was good, we created a bunch of chances,” Magee said of his combination with Keane. “Obviously, there were a couple plays that we’d like to have back and we created enough chances to get two or three goals, but fortunately all we needed was one.”
Following the match, Keane was quick to offer praise to his strike partner
“Mikey is a clever player,” Keane told reporters of Magee. “He picks up good positions and he’s easy to play with because he’s got good feet. It was a great finish on his goal.”
Mike Magee Postgame Interview
Perhaps what made the Keane/Magee pairing more impressive was Magee’s ability to mesh into the offense after missing the last four matches with a hematoma on his right shin. Although the forward shined against Dallas, Magee told reporters that he is still on the mend.
“[I feel] better with the goal and the win,” said Magee. “But my legs were heavy and it was definitely hot so I’ll be looking forward to getting [back] in LA.”
As if scoring a goal in his first game back from injury wasn’t enough, there was a little extra meaning attached to the strike for Magee.
“My Under-17 National Team head coach, John Ellinger, is the assistant coach here,” Magee said. “Sometimes, when I play here I get up for the game a little bit more than I’m used to. Being that he kind of kick-started my career, but I like scoring big goals, always.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider
