Gyasi Zardes strike hands Los Angeles Galaxy victory

Jul 13, 2014 at 3.30am UK

FT(HT: 1-0)

The Los Angeles Galaxy defeat Real Salt Lake 1-0 in their MLS clash as Gyasi Zardes scores the only goal of the game in the 20th minute.

Published: July 13 2014 | 06:06

Last updated: July 14 2014 | 23:20

A first-half strike from Gyasi Zardes was enough to hand the Los Angeles Galaxy a narrow win over Real Salt Lake.

The home side took the lead in the 20th minute when Zardes collected Marcelo Sarvas's cross from the right on the edge of the box and fired a low effort into the bottom corner via the post.

Los Angeles could have doubled their lead a minute later as Robbie Keane and Robbie Rogers exchanged passes that allowed the striker to cross for Zardes, but he just couldn't get a toe on the ball that would have resulted in a certain goal.

The visitors responded and came close to a leveller when Kyle Beckerman let fly with a 25-yard shot that Jaime Penedo couldn't hold, but the Galaxy managed to clear the danger.

In the second half, Penedo kept his side in the lead with a brilliant reaction save to deny Joao Plata as he hit a first-time shot at goal from close range after latching onto Tony Beltran's cross from the right.

Landon Donovan had a chance to seal his side's win in the 90th minute when he was put through on goal, but he lost his footing at the crucial moment as he tried to round Nick Rimando and the visitors cleared the danger.

The Galaxy were handed a chance to wrap up the game deep in stoppage time when Rimando felled Sarvas in the area and a penalty was awarded. Sarvas took the spot kick himself but saw his effort saved by the Salt Lake keeper, although the home side still saw out the win.

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Eastern Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Inter Miami Inter Miami	34	22	8	4	79	49	30	74
2	Columbus Crew	34	19	9	6	72	40	32	66
3	FC Cincinnati Cincinnati	34	18	5	11	58	48	10	59
4	Orlando City	34	15	7	12	59	50	9	52
5	Charlotte FC Charlotte FC	34	14	9	11	46	37	9	51
6	New York City FC NY City	34	14	8	12	54	49	5	50
7	New York Red Bulls NY Red Bulls	34	11	14	9	55	50	5	47
8	CF Montreal Montreal	34	11	10	13	48	64	-16	43
9	Atlanta United Atlanta	34	10	10	14	46	49	-3	40
10	DC United	34	10	10	14	52	70	-18	40
11	Philadelphia Union Philadelphia	34	9	10	15	62	55	7	37
12	Toronto	34	11	4	19	40	61	-21	37
13	Nashville SC Nashville	34	9	9	16	38	54	-16	36
14	New England Revolution New England	34	9	4	21	37	74	-37	31
15	Chicago Fire	34	7	9	18	40	62	-22	30

Western Conference

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Los Angeles FC Los Angeles	34	19	7	8	63	43	20	64
2	Los Angeles Galaxy LA Galaxy	34	19	7	8	69	50	19	64
3	Real Salt Lake Salt Lake	34	16	11	7	65	48	17	59
4	Seattle Sounders Seattle	34	16	9	9	51	35	16	57
5	Houston Dynamo Houston	34	15	9	10	47	39	8	54
6	Minnesota United Minnesota Utd	34	15	7	12	58	49	9	52
7	Colorado Rapids Colorado	34	15	5	14	61	60	1	50
8	Portland Timbers Portland	34	12	11	11	65	56	9	47
9	Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver	34	13	8	13	52	49	3	47
10	Austin FC Austin	34	11	9	14	39	48	-9	42
11	Dallas	34	11	8	15	54	56	-2	41
12	St Louis City	34	8	13	13	50	63	-13	37
13	Sporting Kansas City Kansas	34	8	7	19	51	66	-15	31
14	San Jose Earthquakes Earthquakes	34	6	3	25	41	78	-37	21