The Los Angeles Galaxy have won their third consecutive Major League Soccer match. This time around, they defeated the Houston Dynamo by a final score of 1-0 with the lone goal coming from Steven Gerrard. While there are other matches to be played this weekend, this victory propels Los Angeles up to third in the Conference.

Keane misses early spot kick

Drama ensued early on in this match. Robbie Keane had space inside the penalty box to shoot and did just that. His attempt though, struck the arm of Dynamo defender David Horist. Mark Geiger, tonight’s referee, wasted no time by pointing to the spot straight away. Keane took his place 12 yards away per usual, but this time, he curled his attempt wide of the target. The Galaxy captain had been money from the spot, sinking his last six penalty shots until that miss.

Pressure kept building and the Galaxy had two more good looks at goal to close out the half minutes apart from each other. The first one came on the half hour mark. Giovani dos Santos played an exquisite cross towards the head of Gyasi Zardes. Zardes rose above the Dynamo defenders and got his head on the ball.

Chance number two came two minutes later. Again, dos Santos sent a ball to Zardes who was closer to the far post this time. On the first touch, Zardes played a pass across the six yard box to the right post where Keane was making a run. The Irishman could not quite get on the end of it, unfortunately, as the ball went out for a goal kick.

Gyasi Zardes played an instrumental role in the attack tonight. | Photo: Amanda Scharzer/Vavel USA
Gyasi Zardes played an instrumental role in the attack tonight. | Photo: Amanda Scharzer/Vavel USA

Houston’s only good opportunity of the night came one minute after the hour. Giles Barnes made a darting run into the area but he had a tight angle to shoot at. Barnes still managed to get an attempt away, but Brian Rowe made himself big to close down any possible opening.

Galaxy finally find a way through

The breakthrough did eventually come for the Galaxy and it occurred in the 66th minute. Robbie Keane had an initial shot bounce off of Joe Willis. A rebound though fell into space where Steven Gerrard was making an impressive run. Gerrard got to the ball first and managed to sneak a shot past Sheanon Williams who attempted to clear the shot off the line.

Nine minutes later, the Galaxy nearly had a second goal which would have put the match to rest. Robbie Keane received a pass and found himself in acres of space. He placed an excellent shot into the back of the net and started celebrating. The assistant referee raised his flag to call Keane offside. On replay, however, it looked as if the far sided defender had kept the captain onside.

Nevertheless, the Galaxy managed to gain all three points in the end. It was not necessarily a pretty performance but they fought until the very last whistle.

Coming up

Both sides have midweek US Open Cup matches to prepare for now. The Los Angeles Galaxy play host to the Seattle Sounders. For the Houston Dynamo, they return home to play rivals FC Dallas.

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