Robbie Keane scored two second-half goals to lift the Los Angeles Galaxy to a 2-0 victory Tuesday night over Costa Rican club Cartagines in their group opener in the CONCACAF Champions League.
Keane gave the Galaxy the lead in the 66th minute, taking a pass from Landon Donovan and firing toward the goalmouth from a tight angle on the left. The ball went off goalkeeper Wardy Alfaro's hands and rolled slowly into the net.
Keane netted his second 3 minutes into stoppage time, beating Alfaro one-on-one after taking another feed from Donovan.
''You see the difference when Landon came on,'' said Keane, who scored three in the Galaxy's MLS victory Saturday night over Real Salt Lake. ''We're very in tune with each other. We know each other's runs and where we want to be, so it was the case with the two goals, and lucky enough for us we got the two goals. It was a decent performance. It wasn't brilliant, but it was decent.''
The Galaxy don't play in the regional club championship until Sept. 18, when they're home against El Salvador's Isidro Metapan.
Cartagines, which beat Metapan in the Group 8 opener two weeks ago, is home next week against the Salvadorans. The winner of the three-team group advances to next year's eight-team knockout stage.
''Our team played very well tonight. Against a good opponent,'' Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said. ''(Cartagines) defended well, they defended with numbers for 90 minutes, and the second goal is going to be big (for goal differential) in the competition.''
Former Los Angeles midfielder Paolo Cardozo came closest to scoring an equalizer for Cartagines, firing over the crossbar with an open shot in the 72nd minute.
Galaxy winger Robbie Rogers, who returned to the lineup after he was left off the roster for the past two league games, exited just before halftime after straining his left hamstring chasing a loose ball.
