Robbie Keane scored a brace as the Los Angeles Galaxy hammered the New York Red Bulls 4-0 in their MLS clash on Sunday.
Keane opened the scoring in the eighth minute when Landon Donovan found him inside the box and the Irishman did brilliantly to find the net with a chipped effort over Luis Robles.
The visitors should have levelled the scores when Thierry Henry released the run of Bradley Wright-Phillips, but he fired his shot straight at Jaime Penedo when one-on-one with the keeper.
Wright-Phillips went through again in the 30th minute but he failed to sort out his feet in the box and his tame left-footed shot was easily saved by Penedo.
The Red Bulls continued to press and Henry used his strength to hold off a challenge before laying a perfect through-ball for Eric Alexander, but Penedo was on hand to beat his powerful shot away from goal.
In the second half, the Galaxy made the visitors pay for their missed chances as Donovan doubled their lead when he capitalised on an error from Chris Duvall and slotted the ball into the net.
The home side made it 3-0 with a lovely move as Gyasi Zardes played a sublime one-two with Donovan inside the box and then rifled an effort through the legs of a defender and into the bottom corner.
Keane sealed the win as he found the net in the 82nd minute, rounding Robles and poking the ball home after latching onto Donovan's lofted pass over the New York defence.
Simon Sinclair
