CARSON, Calif. -- When Robbie Keane wants to play, there's no one in the world who can stop him. Not even LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena.
Just days after scoring two goals in the Galaxy's 2-1 victory over FC Dallas, Keane demanded to play a role in Tuesday's CONCACAF Champions League clash with Comunicaciones FC of Guatemala. Against the Guatemalans, Keane was his typically dangerous self as he scored two second half goals to help LA earn a 5-0 victory over their Group D foes.
Keane was certainly fantastic in short rest against Los Cremas, but he might not have played in the match had he not strongly insisted to the Galaxy boss that he suit up.
"My thinking was that I'd either get punched in the face by Robbie or I'd play him. He wanted to play. At my age, I have to bend a little bit," Arena told reporters after the game. "Robbie felt good and wanted to play."
Arena's comment drew plenty of laughs from the Galaxy press corps and was not denied by a jubilant Keane postgame.
"Maybe not once, probably twice," Keane said with a laugh. "I always want to play. When you're on the bench, you always want to play. The most important thing though was that we got some of the other guys minutes."
Although Keane played the role of second half hero in Tuesday's victory, the Galaxy's Irish captain admitted that it was his teammates' service that helped him bag his two goals aganst Comunicaciones.
“My first goal was a tap from Giovani [dos Santos]. That’s what he does; he’s not a selfish player. He’s a team player; he could have easily gone himself and tapped it around the goalkeeper. I think the most important part thing is that the easy option is always the best option,". I could’ve scored on another one as well but I saw [Alan] Gordon, and he hasn’t scored a hat trick in a while and I was desperate for him to have a hat trick. It was good play; it was a great ball from Kenny [Walker]. It was just a nice bounce and I think scoring as many goals as we could and getting a lot of players to play minutes was the most important."
