CARSON, CA — Robbie Keane scored three minutes into the game, but the Houston Dynamo (1-1-1) got the equalizer minutes later and the Galaxy (1-0-2) settled for a 1-1 tie on Saturday in front of 19,087 fans at StubHub Center.
Before fans could find their seats, Keane scored the game’s first goal on the Galaxy’s first shot. Jose Villarreal intercepted a Houston pass and found Keane at the midfield mark where he sliced his way into Dynamo territory. Keane juked midfielder Nathan Sturgis out of his shoes and hammered home a shot off of a charging Tyler Deric and the ball bounced into the net.
“I’ve had so much success over the years there [the middle of the field] so I just took the space and managed to keep going kept dribbling,” said Keane about his goal. “I noticed I beat the defender and I’m getting my shot so it was a good start. But we certainly didn’t capitalize.”
Sturgis would get his revenge less than eight minutes later off of a brilliant set piece.
Boniek Garcia took the corner in the 11th minute for the Dynamo and David Horst sent a heroic header to Sturgis inside the six-yard box that he easily tapped past Jamie Penedo for the goal.
“I got caught watching Omar go up for a header and I lost track of Nate Sturgis,” said Galaxy defender Robbie Rogers. “He made a great guess where the ball was going to go. It’s a bummer, because we started the game off so well.”
The two teams are familiar with each other, as they have met in the MLS Cup final two times. Houston, used to be in the Eastern Conference, but to make way for new MLS franchises, NYCFC and Orlando City, they were relocated to the Western Conference.
They Dynamo have not lost to the LA Galaxy in their last five regular season matches and the last time LA defeated Houston was in May of 2011.
Houston head coach, Owen Coyle, got his first taste of the defending MLS Cup Champions since taking over as manager after the 2014 season. It is Coyle’s first year in the MLS after previous stints in the United Kingdom.
“I am loving every experience so far,” said Coyle. “I have been very fortunate in my career to go and play at some huge clubs, Manchester United, Chelsea, what have you and obviously the LA Galaxy is one of the elite clubs in MLS, so to come here was a fabulous experience, we would have love to have won of course, because that is what we come to do, home or away we go to win games.”
Houston salvaged a valuable point against one of the best home teams in the league, but it came at a price as the Dynamo lost both Ricardo Clark and DeMarcus Beasley to injuries. Beasley came off in the 55th minute with a hamstring injury.
After a lackluster first half, the Galaxy dominated the second half and had multiple scoring opportunities, but couldn’t break through to find the game winner. Newcomer, Mika Vayrynen, came into the game in the 68th minute and helped jumpstart the LA offense.
“He gets the ball moving quickly and knows how to get his teammates involved in the game,” said Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena of Vayrynen. “For the most part, he was pretty solid.”
Edson Buddle made his LA Galaxy debut in his third stint with the team in the 86th minute.
“I fell in love with this club when I arrived here in 2007,” said Buddle of his return. “It’s very comforting to be back, but now it’s about working hard, getting back to form and scoring goals for the club.
With the draw, the Galaxy extended their home undefeated streak to 22 games in all competitions. They have not lost at the StubHub Center in over a year.
Game Notes:
Jamie Penedo started in net for the first time this season. Penedo missed the first game of the season with nagging injures, and the second game with a migraine.
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