MLS: Robbie Keane Makes Splashing Intro as LA Galaxy Shutout San Jose, 2-0

Welcome to the wild and wacky world of Major League Soccer, Mr. Robert David Keane of Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland. Enjoy your time, and be sure to rack up the goals.

After delivering a 21st minute finish typical of the Republic of Ireland captain, Robbie Keane cartwheeled his way into the imaginations of the 27,000 that were in attendance at the Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. on Saturday night.

Combined with a 90th minute nail in the coffin from fellow fan favorite Mike Magee, Bruce Arena's Los Angeles Galaxy ended four matches of futility against Frank Yallop's San Jose Earthquakes to the tune of 2-0 to win the California Clasico.

Now from my perspective, this was actually a mess in terms of defending for the Galaxy. Giving up a bevy of looks to one of the league's cupcakes is criminal and is a recipe for disaster against Alajualense.

Arena thinks so.

“This was a hard game for us tonight," Arena told reporters. "I thought San Jose played well and did a good job turning us over in the last 10 minutes of the first half. They were dangerous and possessed the ball pretty well. They played a good game. Our guys, for the most part, did a good job defensively tonight."

The Galaxy manager was no less unimpressed with the play in the second half.

"Second half was a grind," Arena noted. "We looked tired, didn’t do a good job with our passing, but hung on there. Obviously in the last 10 minutes, we got the second goal and the three points—which was important."

To the credit of the visitors, they had some good shots, and Josh Saunders had to do some work at goalkeeper. But their aim was horrible, and one shot from Chris Wondlowski late in the first half proves why Jurgen Klinsmann made the right move to nix Wondo from the USA's match with Mexico.

I mean, it doesn't matter if you dominate the stat sheet (San Jose recorded 14 attempts on goal, had five shots on target, five corner kicks and won the possession battle 51.8 percent to 48.2 percent). If you can't bury the looks you get on goal, it's a wasted effort.

I'll go on the record to say that Santa Clara's men's team (who share the same facility with the Quakes as of this article date), can finish better when they have the lion's share of opportunities.

Adam Cristman did not have a good game, aside from being able to hold on to the ball. The same issues with passing the ball around were back to hinder his performance.

Here's a suggestion, Adam: you're the second forward. You've got Keane with you up top. Try to get a pass to him when he is streaking and let him do the work. If he misses, follow through as the second forward. Textbook.

At the same time, I have to note that Keane only had one day of practice before the match, so now the objective is building better communication between him, Cristman, Landon Donovan and David Beckham. This is now the nucleus of LA's attack. With the practice time they will get leading up to Thursday, the need to communicate on the field and create chances is of the utmost priority.

Defensively, Omar Gonzalez and Josh Saunders did the work. I probably expect Saunders to be in goal for the rest of the calendar year. Saunders neutralized the looks from Wondolowski and Khari Stephenson, making five saves on the night. And it will not be surprising if Omar Gonzalez plays against Costa Rica. The writing is on the wall for Klinsmann: call No. 4 of LA to the Nats.

There probably will come a day when Gonzalez will be plying his trade across the pond. Till then, his solid work with the G's on the back line must not go unnoticed.

This was also one of the few matches in which Arena gave a roll of the dice and went with Frankie Hejduk on defense. Hejduk only bought the team some time heading into the Champions League match. He was not sharp with his touch, and was susceptible to giving balls away.

Then again, the gamble paid off and the result, of course, is a shutout.

“I thought he did well. I wasn’t quite sure if it made sense to do what we did here tonight. And, he’s struggled with an injury and wasn’t quite sure," Arena said of LA's No. 6. "We know Frankie’s a good player, an experienced player, and the only way we are going to get him in a position to help our team down the stretch is to get him on the field.

"I wasn’t sure whether we’d get 90 minutes out of him tonight and did. I think that it was great, and hopefully, he can be part of a rotation of our backline that we are going to need for the next ten days or so.”

Obviously, the experience Hejduk has playing with the national team in places in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and San Jose, Costa Rica (although Alajuelense are based out of the town of Alajuela) are invaluable to the hopes of progressing to the knockout rounds of the Champions League for the Galaxy.

But this was a night for the real man of the hour: Mr. Keane.

“I think anytime you are with a new team it’s always nice to get your first goal," Keane told the press "It was nice to get the first goal, and hopefully there is a lot more to come. When you play with good players, it’s always easy.

"I think you’ve seen that with my goal with David’s quick thinking and I was ready for it. We tried that one on a few occasions and we were lucky enough that it worked for the goal. When you play with players like David and Landon [Donovan], they are easy to play with.”

“All things considered, I thought he was excellent," Donovan said of Keane. "I think when he gets settled a little more, when he’s not less than 48 hours from getting off a flight, you’ll probably see a little more energy. But I thought he was in great spots, did well with the ball, obviously, his goal was fantastic and I think all-around we’re really happy.”

"It was a good game for him and to get off the mark with a goal straight away, it’s always important for a goal scorer to do that, but overall it was important to get the three points," Beckham added. "Robbie played a good 65-70 minutes, he (head coach Bruce Arena) couldn’t play him too much because of his travel, not training and stuff like that, but it didn’t show. First half he looked sharp. He could have had one or two more goals. Happy he could that he got off to a good start."

"It’s incredible to one day say I played with some of these guys," Magee concluded. "Robbie is another guy who’s just in a different class, he showed that tonight. He just got off a plane about 24 hours ago and he comes in and won us the game.”

Hejduk, like everyone on the team and the supporters, understood the circumstances surrounding Keane's arrival.

“For him to come in right away, it’s not easy to do what he did," Hejduk said. "You know, to travel all that way, and not really know he’s teammates and play like he did, it was like he’s played with us the last five years, gifted players know how to adapt to situation and he’s definitely an incredible player, his resume speaks for itself and I don’t have to say anything more there.

"It was good to have him on the field and he brought some energy and he’s buzzing around and doing the things we’ve seen him do in the pass and just happy to be with him.”

Los Angeles's next league game will be on the road against the New York Red Bulls on Sunday, Aug. 28 at Red Bull Arena in Harrison, N.J. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET and will be televised by ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes.

Los Angeles's next match, against Liga Deportiva Alajuelense is scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 25. Kickoff at the Home Depot Center is scheduled for 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET and will be televised by Fox Soccer Channel.