Monday, November 8, 2010

Beckham keys Galaxy to victory




David Beckham set up goals by Edson Buddle with a corner kick and Omar Gonzalez with a free kick in an 8-minute span of the first half to lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 2-1 victory over Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer's Western Conference semifinal Sunday night. Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts made three saves for the Galaxy, who will play host to FC Dallas after winning the two-game series against Seattle 3-1. Galaxy coach Bruce Arena called Beckham's set pieces "terrific," he said, especially after the midfielder played the first game on a wet artificial surface in Seattle. "That was the difference in the game," Arena said of Beckham's set pieces. "He had a tough week recovering from the field in Seattle but he started coming around Friday." Steve Zakuani scored for Seattle Sounders FC to break a playoff goalless streak of 386 minutes over two years. "We still have to grow up a little bit," Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid said. "For a couple of guys on our team, the game was too big for them. It was too big an occasion for them. They just turned over the ball in bad positions, bad spots. "We can't give up goals on set pieces like that and we can't start to play 20 minutes into the game." Buddle scored his second goal of the playoffs in the 19th minute. He escaped defender Tyrone Marshall's grasp to head Beckham's corner kick inside the left post from eight yards. Gonzalez made it 2-0 in the 27th minute. After Beckham took a 32-yard free kick, Gonzalez dived to head the ball inside the left post from seven yards.

No comments:

Post a Comment