By COLE KELLOGG
Robbie Keane netted his third MLS hat trick and Sebastian Lletget added a fourth at the Stubhub Center as the Los Angeles Galaxy trounced a toothless Toronto FC side, 4-0, on Saturday night.
The Canadian side, which was missing U.S. Men’s National Team starters Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley, had a nightmare of a performance in Los Angeles, with Keane tearing TFC’s defense to shreds on his way to the first hat-trick scored in MLS this season.
The Galaxy entered the match short-handed as well, with goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, centerback Omar Gonzalez and forward Gyasi Zardes all absent on international duty, but they didn’t skip a beat as Keane helped lead the Galaxy
The first goal came from a penalty, after Lletget was pulled down in the box in the ninth minute of play. Robbie Rogers played Lletget through into the box, but Warren Creavalle clipped the young American’s ankle to bring him down. Keane smashed home the resulting penalty into the upper right corner.
Sebastian Giovinco found himself a chance when Marco Delgado played a ball over the top to the Italian in the 21st minute. Giovinco won the ball from A.J. DeLaGarza near the box but chipped the ball too high over the goal.
Keane found his second just four minutes before halftime, tapping in a Baggio Husidic cross from close range. Stefan Ishizaki chipped a ball into the right side of the box for Husidic, who turned and played it into the center of the penalty area for Keane to slot home.
In the 59th minute, Keane struck again for the Galaxy after taking full advantage of a sloppy Toronto FC error. With little to no pressure, Justin Morrow played the ball from half field to the top of Toronto’s box. A hungry Keane saw the play developing and began an early sprint toward the area to intercept the ball. He snagged he errant pass and raced past TFC’s goalkeeper for the easiest of his three goals.
Brian Rowe did well 15 minutes later to deny Sebastian Giovinco with a solid reaction save. The Italian striker bombed into the box past two Galaxy defenders, but his shot met Rowe’s outstretched hand.
The Galaxy victory was sealed in the third minute of stoppage time, as Lletget finally found the goal he deserved in this match. The former West Ham United midfielder played in Ignacio Maganto and made an overlapping run on the outside to put himself in prime position to fire a goal past Chris Konopka. Lletget roofed a shot to the Toronto goalkeeper’s near post.
The resounding victory came on a night when newly-signed midfielder Steven Gerrard was introduced to Galaxy fans at halftime of the match.
Toronto FC will travel to Yankee Stadium to take on New York City FC on July 12. NYCFC managed a 2-0 victory in Toronto the last time the two sides met. The Galaxy will take the weekend off from MLS as it faces Club America in the 2015 International Champions Cup.
Great game.
Lletget is legit. Good to see him doing so well.
To me, his earning the penalty and scoring another is more significant than Keane’s hat trick. We know what we are getting with Robbie Keane, but I don’t think anyone knew quite what to expect with Lletget. He hasn’t just been a pleasant surprise, but a revelation. Considering how cheaply he came, he could turn out to be the steal of all the summer signings in MLS.
+1 Gary Page, another great move by the Gals, Lletget has had such an impact on the team, fabulous signing. Who gets the credit for the signing? Arena got all the blame for the Mike Magee trade, does he get the credit for picking up Lletget.
I’m out of the loop regarding his NT availability… could he play for the NT? doesn’t he play on the left where we could use a left mid? just curious.
He’s American, played a little at the youth levels
Aside from being happy a LAG fan right now, let me just say that this was a well-written article. One of my pet peeves as a reader is to read a match story that jumps back in forth in the action, rather than going chronologically. I’m not sure if that’s something that is taught in journalism classes these days but, man, does that drive me nuts. So thank you for the quality writing. Keep it up, Cole
Hear, hear. That is one of my pet peeves, also. Another thing I don’t like which I have seen occur only in the last 5 years or so, are sports writers who assume you have seen the game and give you a lot of background when you just want to read about the game. This is especially true in baseball it seems to me.
man, LA blows everyone out of the water. Imagine how they’ll be with Gerrard. Everyone should fear, except Quakes, of course, but everyone else is in for serious serious bruising. An LA vs SJ final would be real sweet. LA with Gio would be too much to handle, again as long as they don’t meet SJ in the playoffs, but other then that I see them repeating
LA is incredible at home and not at all similar on the road. I have no idea why.
Yes, it IS taught in journalism that you should NOT report chronologically. That you should find the heart of the story, start there, and work your way outward from that. Chronological sports reporting is considered lazy and most writers are under strict orders by their editors to avoid doing so. Editors instruct their writers to assume that the reader did see the game, and now seeks insight that only that writer can provide thanks to his or her unique access to the locker room, players, and coaches.
Like it or not, you can bet that Ives instructs his writers in the manner. That’s why he’s one of the best, and why his site is so widely read.
If that’s not what the readers want, then why do it? Oh, I forgot, writers arent great at anything else so they write and tell us how they are smarter than the rest of us.
Writers are generally doing what their editor asks. That’s all. Not trying to outsmart anyone. If you don’t like the writing style of the majority of the writers on the site, you can either read another site, or take it up directly with Ives. Highly confident he’ll tell you the same thing.
Collateral: Thanks for your input. I figured it was a learned behavior because I’ve noticed it on other sites and newspapers. I get that the article should capture the “heart of the story”, and I’m fine with an introductory paragraph that does that. But when the article jumps back and forth and confuses more than informs, then it fails me as a reader. There are many times that I have to parse an article to figure out what actually happened, like a detective, and that’s ridiculous.
Is this the same Cole that’s getting all the crtisism on the Rapids article?