FRISCO, Texas – In his 100th regular season appearance, it was only fitting that Robbie Keane was the hero for the LA Galaxy. Again.
As he has repeatedly done during his career in MLS, Keane willed the Galaxy to victory with his brace in front of a capacity crowd at Toyota Stadium on Saturday. The Irishman has now tallied a remarkable 66 goals and 40 assists in his 100 regular season appearances. His goal total is tied for the second highest of any MLS player after 100 games.
Despite leading his team to their second straight road victory—and fourth straight win in all competitions—there was no celebration from Keane after the match. There was simply a calm satisfaction for a job well done.
“Listen, I always want to win. I always want to win and I always want to better myself every year,” said Keane after scoring in his third straight match. This year, might be a bit difficult because I was out for a little bit but if you look at goals per game and assists per game, it’s up with the best years that I’ve had. … If I can help the team do well and continue to score goals then everyone’s a winner.”
After the Galaxy went into the halftime frustrated with conceding a first-half goal from FC Dallas’ Michael Barrios, it was the captain who came to the rescue. LA equalized in the 51st minute when Robbie Rogers found Keane unmarked in the penalty area for an easy header past Dallas’ Dan Kennedy.
Keane completed LA’s comeback just five minutes later when Giovani dos Santos skirted past Dallas’ defense and saw his attempt at goal deflect off a defender and back into his path. With the goalkeeper beaten, Dos Santos chipped the ball to an unmarked Keane who easily placed it into the back of the net to seal LA’s first win in Frisco since the 2012 campaign.
“Going behind is always difficult, always chasing the game, but thankfully we had the break that came at a good time,” Keane said. “We regrouped and got ourselves together and in the second half you saw a certainly different Galaxy team in the way we played, got the ball down quickly into feet. Into Stevie's feet, Gio's feet, my feet, and we caused problems getting that first goal back. If you look at the confidence in this team, we looked like we were going to go win the game.”
Added Sebastian Lletget, “[Keane]’s positioning is great. He’s shown that through the years and he showed that again tonight. … He is a great captain in all aspects. When you’re down, he picks you back up and when you’re up, he gives you confidence. He did that tonight again.”
With the Dallas victory in the books, Keane finds himself in scintillating form as the Galaxy head down in the stretch run. In total, Keane has tallied 13 goals this season with a whopping 11 of them coming in LA’s last eight games.
Although plenty will glance at these stats and think of a potential MLS MVP repeat, Keane is quick to shrug off such talk.
“I’ve been scoring goals and assisting since I’ve been in the league. Nothing has really changed this year apart from me feeling very good and very, very fit,” Keane said. “Long may it continue.”
While talk of another run to the MVP trophy may be a bit premature according to Keane, the Irishman’s play in a Galaxy shirt throughout his three year tenure raises the question: Is Keane the best player that storied LA boss Bruce Arena has ever coached?
“Let’s do that another time,” the Galaxy boss said defiantly. “I’ve coached a lot of great players and I haven’t had a lot of time to think about that subject but he’s a very good player. No question about it.”
Well, maybe we’ll ask Arena another time.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at www.LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
