Galaxy Drops Another Five on New York City

Robbie Keane scores twice in the Galaxy win over New York FC (Photo by Duane Barker)

Robbie Keane scores twice in the Galaxy win over New York FC (Photo by Duane Barker)

By Tim Peterson

(Carson) – The LA Galaxy broke open a close game in the second half with four goals and cruised to a 5-1 rout of New York City FC Sunday before a sold out crowd of 27,000 at StubHub Center.

Ho Hum – another five goal game for the Galaxy. It’s been the MO for the last few weeks. But for Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena it was about the win.

“Another game that we won, that’s the most important thing. That we got three points,” Arena said.

Giovani Dos Santos added to the goal fest on Sunday (Photo by Duane Barker)

Giovani Dos Santos added to the goal fest on Sunday (Photo by Duane Barker)

Nobody scored for the first 36 minutes before Gyasi Zardes broke the ice with a header off a well placed cross from Robbie Keane to give LA a 1-0 lead.

“I thought we played well after the first 15 minutes. Our quality seems to get better as we get into games,” said Arena.

Sebastian Lletget was all over the field for the Galaxy and added a goal (Photo by Duane Barker)

Sebastian Lletget was all over the field for the Galaxy and added a goal (Photo by Duane Barker)

Giovani dos Santos had a shot in front but it was deflected high over the net in the 42nd minute. The first half came to a close with LA up 1-0.

The Galaxy outshot NYCFC 15-6 overall in the first half and 7-1 in shots on target although New York City did control the ball longer than LA.

The Galaxy then turned it on after the break. Keane beat NYC goalkeeper Josh Saunders in the 54th minute for a 2-0 lead. Then a in a two minute span they tacked on two more. Dos Santos found himself on a break away and easily out maneuvered Saunders popping it over his head and into the net in the 68th minute.

In the 70th minute Sebastian Lletget joined the party the party with a blast into the net by a diving Saunders and the rout was on as LA went up 4-0.

David Villa offered a murmur of protest for NYCFC when he slipped one by Galaxy keeper Orlando Ricketts in the 80th minute to cut it to 4-1.

Keane capped off a big day with his second of the afternoon in the 81st minute after Robbie Rogers got by the NYCFC defense and found Keane.

From there the partisan LA crowd spent the last ten minutes celebrating.

The Galaxy improved to 13-7-7 with the victory while New York City fell to 7-12-7.

“Today shows a lot about the growth of the league. We are light years ahead from when I coached my first game in this league in 1996,” Arena added.

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