TWO IRISH STRIKERS faced off last night as the second round of the new Major League Soccer season took centre stage.
Both Robbie Keane and Kevin Doyle were named in Martin O’Neill’s 40-man squad for the upcoming international friendlies against Switzerland and Slovakia but had contrasting fortunes with their MLS clubs last weekend.
Keane scored in the LA Galaxy’s rout of DC United but Doyle was part of the Rapids’ team that lost to San Jose.
However, it was the former Reading and Wolves attacker who came out on top on Saturday evening.
The Galaxy were unable to muster much up front and despite their star-studded team – which featured Steven Gerrard and Nigel de Jong in central midfield – struggled for fluency.
Keane, who is the team captain, did miss a decent chance inside the opening ten minutes while centre-back Jelle van Damme saw a thunderous effort come back off the underside of the crossbar.
The hosts were much-improved after the break and went close on a number of occasions. And eventually, their purpose led to a late, late game-winner.
And it was a pretty spectacular one too.
Doyle had a hand in it – lofting a ball into the penalty area that was poorly dealt with by the Galaxy defence.
Substitute Marco Pappa pounced on the loose ball and lashed the volley to the net, via the underside of the bar.
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