KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Robbie Keane pulled the LA Galaxy to within a single goal late in their 2-1 defeat to Sporting Kansas City, but the Irishman could help but think about one shot that got away from the goal scorer.
The event occurred in the 54th minute with the Sporting up by a single goal when Keane barreled down on the Sporting KC goal and collided hard with SKC goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum before unleashing a shot that flew just over the bar. Despite the hard challenge, referee Allen Chapman refused to award a foul on the play and seven minutes later, the home side found their eventual game winner on Lawerence Olum’s goal.
“If you’d have seen my leg, you’d have thought it was a foul. Seeing the replay, it doesn’t matter if I had an opportunity to score,” said Keane who now has 10 regular season goals for a third consecutive season. “The fact is if [the keeper] isn’t there, it’s a goal probably. I didn’t think I was going to be doing that kind of cartwheel today, I’ll tell you that.”
Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena also had pointed words for Chapman.
“I think it should have been a foul [on Gruenebaum],” said Arena.” I don’t think it’s a red card but if a field player passes a ball and a player goes through, it’s a foul. So it’s a foul on the play; it’s a free kick. It doesn’t need to be a red card. But it’s a foul and it has to be a free kick. Like the foul they had that they scored a goal on—those are fouls. And the referee needs to call them.”
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