David Beckham’s LA Galaxy have prevailed in a penalty shootout over Melbourne Victory to win the Hyundai Club Challenge at Etihad Stadium after scores ended 2-2 after 90 minutes.
David Beckham’s LA Galaxy have prevailed in a penalty shootout over Melbourne Victory to win the Hyundai Club Challenge at Etihad Stadium after scores ended 2-2 after 90 minutes.
While Harry Kewell’s non-appearance was a let down for the crowd of 34,608, Beckham did enough with a few moments of brilliance to light up the night, winning the penalty that allowed Galaxy to equalise early in the second half.
His highlight was his sublime passing, while he threatened to score on a couple of occasions when given space in the second half. He was substituted feeling for his right hamstring on 89 minutes.
Victory had taken a 2-0 lead thanks to Carlos Hernandez on 15 minutes and Isaka Cernak 22 minutes later.
But two penalties either side of half time, both of which were contentious, saw the Galaxy draw level with Robbie Keane flawless from the spot.
The match went to penalties and Landon Donavan’s miss with the first Galaxy penalty looked set to prove the difference, but youngster Paulo Retre and Marco Rojas both missed spot kicks to hand honours to the visiting side.
It was an open and end-to-end first half, with Archie Thompson having one shot saved and pushing another wide inside the first five minutes.
Beckham got the crowd going with an ambitious lob from 55m, which almost caught Ante Covic out as it sailed just wide.
But 15 minutes in it was the home side celebrating when Cernak set-up Hernandez, whose first shot was blocked by a defender before he got clear to beat Josh Saunders for the opener.
Galaxy had a good chance pushed just wide when Adam Cristman’s header went astray soon after, while up the other end Danny Allsopp hit two straight at Saunders, while Thompson and Cernak conspired to mess up another great chance.
Victory were piling on the attacking pressure as Hernandez put a free kick over and Thompson hit a good chance straight at the keeper.
The second breakthrough came on 37 minutes with Hernandez playing provider to Cernak this time, hitting a perfectly weighted ball for the midfielder to lope onto and finish well.
Galaxy had a Keane shot saved before Chris Birchall’s drive forced a Victory handball in the box and a penalty for the visitors. Keane slotted the spot kick to make it 2-1.
Victory should have restored the two-goal buffer before the half, with Adrian Leijer having a header cleared off the line by Birchall before Allsopp waltzed onto an excellent chance but hit it over.
Beckham inserted himself into the game in a decisive manner soon after the resumption and when he was upended by Petar Franjic, Strebre Delovski again pointed to the spot. Keane had no trouble beating substitute keeper Lawrence Thomas.
He would shoot from range a few minutes later and then sky two gettable shots before the hour, while Donavan and Paolo Cardozo followed suit with errant shots
There was a fair share of profligacy going on up the other end, with Jean Carlos Solorzano unable to shoot into an open goal and then failing in his bid for a penalty.
The game petered out towards the end with Allsopp going closest to scoring a winner for the Victory, while Hector Jimenez hit the post late in the game.
The shootout looked like going Melbourne’s way, but a couple of mistakes from youngsters proved the difference.
Melbourne Victory 2, Hernandez 15, Cernak 37)
LA Galaxy 2 (Keane 40p, 49p)
Galaxy won 4-3 on penalties
Crowd: 34,608 at Etihad Stadium
