CARSON, Calif. – At 2 o’clock on Friday, it didn’t look like Robbie Keane was going to be able to suit up for the LA Galaxy’s match with the San Jose Earthquakes.
Stricken with a stomach illness that had him vomiting all afternoon, Keane’s wife Claudine was in his ear telling the forward to take it easy on Friday. Ever the fierce competitor, Keane went on anyway.
And what happened next was simply remarkable.
Illness and all, the reigning MLS MVP scored three goals to help the Galaxy battle back from a two goal deficit, and defeat San Jose 5-2 in Steven Gerrard’s league debut. The hat trick was Keane’s fourth in his Galaxy career, tying him with club legend Cobi Jones for most all-time in Galaxy history.
But as impressive as Keane was, he was very close to not starting at all.
“I didn’t feel my best to be honest with you, I was getting sick all day today at home,” Keane recalled. “But, when you are striking and scoring goals, and you continue to score goals, it gives you confidence. They always say when you are scoring a lot of goals they just keep coming, so hopefully they’ll keep coming.”
Although Keane needed an IV pregame, his cure all on the field seemed to be playing alongside hs new teammate Steven Gerrard.
Picking up where the pair left off in their Liverpool years prior, Gerrard and Keane dragged the Galaxy back into the match. First, Gerrard won a penalty that Keane calmly slotted home to cut the lead to one. Then just seven minutes later, a run by Keane helped set up a Baggio Husidic cross that was deflected to Gerrard for his first career MLS goal.
Gerrard returned the favor in the 64th minute when he delivered a low free kick onto the outside of the Irishman’s right foot for the eventual game winner.
“They played well,” Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena said. “Robbie and Stevie looked like they’ve played together before. Obviously two very good players and this is why we have Stevie Gerrard here. We think he is going to make our team better.”
While it was clear that with Gerrard and Keane, the Galaxy were a class above the Quakes, LA’s Irish captain said it was the team’s character that won the day, not just their talent.
“It shows a lot of character when you are two goals down. We were not playing that well, and you concede the two sloppy goals,” Keane said. “But, it showed that the team was able to fight, and we had a lot of fight. Once we got the first goal, you could see the calmness creeping back into the players and Stevie scoring the second goal gave the players and everybody a lift of courage.”
With one more game on the docket before Omar Gonzalez, Gyasi Zardes, Alan Gordon, Jaime Penedo and Gio dos Santos return from international duty, Keane says it’s up to those who remain behind to continue to rack up results in the interim.
“Listen, it's up to us, really. It's up to us,” Keane said. “If we continue on and continue plugging away with the [return of] players that aren't here ... certainly the next, second half of the season is looking good.”
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com.
