CARSON, Calif. -- The goals just keep on coming for Robbie Keane in the postseason, and suits the Irish forward just fine.
Keane tallied two more goals in Saturday's 3-0 victory over Seattle Sounders FC in the Western Conference Championship First Leg at The Home Depot Center. To put Keane's success in perspective, he has now scored as many goals in the last 180 minutes -- four -- than Sounders FC have scored in their last 840 --- their entire postseason history -- minutes. Keane also etched his name in the Galaxy's history books as his goal in the first half was the 100th postseason goal in LA franchise history.
Below Keane discusses his play on Sunday night...
(On whether two goal games were becoming routine for him…)
KEANE: “Hopefully they can continue as long as the team keeps winning, but whether I score or anybody else, it doesn’t really matter as long as the lads are performing and that’s what we’re doing at the moment.”
(On first goal being a heartbreaker for Seattle…)
KEANE: “I think it was, it was important that we kept our patience and that certainly was the case. We knew that it was going to be difficult and they were going to defend well and they did that. I think the goal just before halftime was a big boost for us and obviously killed them a little bit.”
(On a potential rematch of 2011 MLS Cup Final at HDC…)
KEANE: “Yeah, we can’t get too carried away with that ourselves. It’s important that we got good win tonight, but the job is only half done. If the lads think for one second that this is over, they may think again because as we know in football, it’s a funny ol’ game and anything can happen. We’ll enjoy tonight and enjoy the win, but as soon as we’re back in the training pitch, our focus is on next Sunday.”
(On how LA keeps their focus…)
KEANE: “Easy, if people do get carried away that’s silly because anything can happen as I said. It’s up to the lads and the senior players who have a lot more experience than the other guys to make sure that they know that this is by no means over.”
(On the combination play between LA’s forwards…)
KEANE: “We had a few good 1-2s. We had a few good opportunities that could have been great goals, but it wasn’t to be. Good defending from them, but listen, we’ll take three goals any day. It was important that we kept the momentum going after Wednesday’s game. Was it Wednesday’s game? Thursday? It feels like we’ve been playing every day. It was important that we kept that momentum going and we did that.”
(On Seattle dropping their heads after the first goal…)
KEANE: “I think when you score the first goal especially just before halftime; it’s always a little bit of a killer. Maybe in the second half, we sensed that maybe a small bit. So it was up to us to jump on top of that. We certainly did that.”
(On the reason for LA’s success over the last two games…)
KEANE: “I don’t know really, it’s really hard to put my finger on it. The last few months really, just the way that we’ve been playing and the manner that we’ve been playing against teams, the quick movement and quick counterattack and transition has been very good. We know that we have clever players that can cause any team problems so that’s been the case. And patience, if we keep the ball moving quickly, we’re a very hard team to play against.”
(On Seattle taking risks after going down a goal…)
KEANE: “They usually have to don’t they? It’s one of those situations where they just try and stay and try and keep it 1-0 or have a little go. They obviously had a little go, they brought Johnson on up front so he’s a tough one isn’t he? We scored when they had their shape, their 4-5-1 if you like and so for 44 minutes it worked for him, but lucky enough, we got the first goal and as soon as we got the first goal, we kind of naturally, the game opens up a little bit because they try and get a goal.”
