Robbie Keane scored a hat-trick to fire the Los Angeles Galaxy an emphatic 4-0 win over Toronto FC on the day Steven Gerrard officially unveiled at the StubHub Center.
The Galaxy were handed the opportunity to take the lead in the ninth minute when Sebastian Lletget was brought down in the box and a penalty was awarded. Keane took the spot kick and buried his strike past Chris Konopka.
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Jose Villarreal nearly doubled his side's advantage when he managed to weave his way through the visitors' defence, but he was denied by a fingertip stop by Konopka.
Konopka was the only thing stopping the Galaxy from running away with the match in the first half as he produced another fine stop to save an effort from Lletget from the edge of the box.
However, Los Angeles did double their lead just before the break when Stefan Ishizaki released the run of Baggio Husidic down the right, who centred the ball for Keane to slot past Konopka from close range.
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During half-time Gerrard was unveiled by the club in front of the home supporters as he prepares to make his MLS debut in their next match against the San Jose Earthquakes on July 17.
In the second half, Keane notched his hat-trick to take the game beyond the reach of Toronto as he latched on to a through ball and rounded Konopka to place the ball into an empty net.
The Galaxy added a fourth goal in stoppage time when Lletget found the net from close range to seal their comfortable victory.
Simon Sinclair
