SANDY, Utah –LA Galaxy Insider Adam Serrano’s Three Points from the Galaxy’s 1-1 draw to Real Salt Lake.
KEANE GOAL HELPS THE GALAXY EARN A POINT
When things seem their bleakest for the LA Galaxy, Robbie Keane is there to lift the team through.
With the LA Galaxy down 1-0 and just moments after defender James Riley was forced to exit the game with a left knee injury, the Galaxy forward scored the equalizer in the 1-1 draw against Real Salt Lake. The goal was a vintage Keane strike as the Galaxy’s Irish captain capitalized on an RSL turnover forced by a Juninho tackle before turning Chris Schuler and easily beating Nick Rimando with a near post blast. Keane has now scored 35 goals in 58 MLS appearances since joining the LA Galaxy in 2011.
The Irishman helped give LA their best opportunity of the second half as well as he sent in a dangerous through ball to midfielder Baggio Husidic that was ultimately sprayed just wide of Nick Rimando’s net.
MIDFIELD DIAMOND EXPERIMENT
Fresh off their CONCACAF Champions League defeat to Club Tijuana, Bruce Arena shuffled his cards opting for a diamond formation in midfield that drew mixed results in Sandy.
With Marcelo Sarvas and Gyasi Zardes on the bench, Arena opted to send Baggio Husidic and Stefan Ishizaki wide while Landon Donovan and Juninho made up the two points of the diamond. Throughout the match, the formation was touch and go as LA was frequently tested by Salt Lake’s own diamond formation while constantly felled by poor passing. In the 70th minute, Arena pulled a relatively ineffective Ishizaki for Sarvas in order to pack more pressure on Salt Lake as LA searched for a go-ahead goal that never came.
While the midfield diamond was not a total success for the Galaxy, it did allow Husidic to make his Galaxy debut in a relatively effective performance. As the Galaxy go forward this season, the 26-year-old will likely be used as one of Arena’s primary options out wide and in central midfield.
TWO DEFENSIVE INJURIES FOR LA
The always physical matchup between the LA Galaxy and Real Salt Lake claimed two victims in the Galaxy defense in Saturday afternoon’s 1-1 draw against RSL.
The first injury came in the 27th minute when James Riley was taken down from behind by RSL midfielder Ned Grabavoy in the left leg that forced him to exit two minutes later in favor of Dan Gargan. RSL’s rough and tumble play led to another LA knock in the second half when goal scorer Alvaro Saborio was given a yellow card for clipping A.J. DeLaGarza in the back of his right leg. DeLaGarza was able to soldier on for nine minutes—noticeably limping—even making a timely block that prevented a Salt Lake scoring chance before giving way to Leonardo in the 72nd minute.
If the injuries to Riley and DeLaGarza are deemed severe, look for the Galaxy to opt for a back four that closely resembles the one that ended the match against RSL.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at LAGalaxyInsider@Gmail.com
