Donovan drives Galaxy
Welcome back, Landon Donovan.
On his return from Gold Cup play, Donovan converted two penalty kicks and the Galaxy beat Chicago, 2-0, in front of 24,333 at the Home Depot Center on Wednesday night.
The scores came in a familiar fashion for Donovan, who made four such kicks during his Gold Cup stint with the U.S. national team, keeping him out of the L.A. lineup since the Galaxy’s 0-0 draw with D.C. United on June 2.
Kyle Martino’s nifty maneuver past Chris Armas led to the first penalty, and Donovan blasted the kick past goalkeeper Jon Busch to give the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in the 16th minute.
Martino drew the second penalty when he beat Ivan Guerrero on the left side, and Donovan sent the ensuing kick past Busch in the 87th minute.
“I was very pleased with the dedication and spirit of the team. It was good, solid teamwork that got us the result tonight,” Coach Frank Yallop said.
The Galaxy (3-5-3) controlled the pace but, other than the two penalty kicks, could not convert on its other opportunities. The credit for the futility belongs in large part to Busch, who had not played this season.
Busch made diving saves on two shots by Cobi Jones in the first half, temporarily keeping Chicago (4-7-3) down by one goal.
“I’m a player. When they tell me to play, I play. And that’s the bottom line,” Busch said. “It was a lot of fun, to be honest, other than the result.”
Busch finished with six saves, including two on shots by Honduran striker Carlos Pavon, who made his Galaxy debut in the 56th minute.
By the 63rd minute, the Galaxy led in shots, 11-0, but clung to the one-goal lead. The Galaxy finished with a 14-2 advantage in shots, and the Fire’s lone shot on goal was blocked by Pavon.
“I think the chances we had were very good, quality chances.... Obviously, we’d like to score more goals with the chances we created,” Yallop said.
The Galaxy, playing with Ante Jazic on the back line for the first time since his stint with the Canadian team at the Gold Cup, minimized mistakes on defense and kept Chicago, which hasn’t won since June 3, at bay.
“I definitely commend the defense tonight,” Martino said. “Our backfield was great.”
Martino picked up a yellow card in the 22nd minute for shoving Busch, but stayed away from further trouble long enough to draw the second penalty kick. Martino was replaced by Quavas Kirk in the 90th minute.
The victory gives the Galaxy 12 points and moves it out of a tie with Real Salt Lake at the bottom of the Western Conference. FC Dallas leads the West with 29 points, but it has played six more games than the Galaxy, which has played the fewest games in Major League Soccer this season.
The Galaxy takes on Kansas City on Saturday.
“Three points was immense for us,” Yallop said. “We’ll try to get another three Saturday. And then we can try to catch up with games that we have in hand.”
