CARSON, Calif. –LA Galaxy Insider Adam Serrano’s Three Points to LA’s comprehensive 3-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes. Robbie Keane scored twice and Landon Donovan scored the game-winner as the Galaxy won their fourth straight in all competitions and beat San Jose in a regular season game for the first time since 2011.
EARLY BARRAGE PUTS LA AHEAD FOR GOOD
In a rivalry match, momentum is crucial and in front of an electric sell-out crowd at StubHub Center on Saturday night, it was the LA Galaxy who took command early against the San Jose Earthquakes and never relinquished it.
A far cry from the offensive juggernaut of a year ago, the Earthquakes came out in a defensive formation, which allowed the Galaxy to control the run of play from the outset. It took 26 minutes for LA to get on the board when Marcelo Sarvas launched a pass to Keane, who was able to find space and clip a pass over the top of the San Jose defense for Donovan who raced in behind and rounded San Jose goalkeeper Jon Busch before slotting the ball into the side netting for the goal. After the strike, LA did not take the foot off the gas as they continued to press San Jose for a second. That came just before halftime in the 43rd minute when Robbie Keane converted from the spot after Gyasi Zardes was pulled down inside the box by Steven Beitashour a minute earlier.
Behind two goals, San Jose attempted to come out and pressure the Galaxy in the second half, but failed to register a real chance on ‘keeper Jaime Penedo, who would make just two saves on the night. LA would bag a third in the second half when Keane scored his seventh goal in the last four games in all competitions to quell any possibly San Jose rally.
FLANK PLAY EXCELS IN VICTORY
Vital to LA’s success against the Earthquakes was the play of wingers Sean Franklin and Gyasi Zardes who excelled against their counterparts from Northern California.
After a pair of successful stints as a substitute, Franklin returned to the starting lineup for the first time in a regular season match since Aug. 11. Throughout the game, Franklin was a threat going forward as he routinely tested San Jose’s Jordan Stewart, who struggled to deal with the winger’s speed. Meanwhile, LA’s other winger; Gyasi Zardes had similar success as he put considerable pressure on Steven Beitashour, who was repeatedly caught out of position by the hard-charging Zardes.
In the 67th minute, their dangerous play paid off as Zardes crossed for Franklin, whose cushioned a header into the path of Keane, who fired in LA’s third and final of the night.
DONOVAN CLOSES IN ON MLS GOAL SCORING RECORD
Another LA Galaxy win and another goal for Landon Donovan, who moved ever closer to breaking Jeff Cunningham’s all-time MLS regular season goal scoring record.
Donovan found the back of the net in the 26th minute when a counterattack sparked by an Omar Gonzalez header in the box set LA in motion as Marcelo Sarvas found Robbie Keane, who launched a clever flick to put Donovan in space. From there, it was too easy for the U.S. international as he dribbled around a desperate Jon Busch for the goal. The goal is his 132nd of his MLS Regular Season career which puts him just three away from breaking Cunningham’s mark.
That wasn’t the only record that fell as Donovan’s goal was his 100th goal in a Galaxy uniform. He became the third player to score 100 goals with a single team, joining Taylor Twellman (New England Revolution) and Jaime Moreno (D.C. United).
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
