Landon Donovan, Los Angeles Galaxy Make History In Rout Of New York Red Bulls (VIDEO)

Sep 28, 2014; Carson, CA, USA; Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan (10) with forward Gyasi Zardes (11), midfielder Marcelo Sarvas (8) and midfielder Baggio Husidic (6) after a goal in the second half of the game against the New York Red Bulls at StubHub Center. Galaxy won 4-0. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

It was another historic night for Bruce Arena’s Los Angeles Galaxy in their 4-0 rout of Mike Petke’s New York Red Bulls at StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. More info regarding the historic night in particular is shown below in this piece, but for Los Angeles, they improve to 16-5-9 (57 points), good enough for second place in the MLS Western Conference by way of the first tiebreaker, total wins. As for New York, they drop to 10-9-11 (41 points) and will be sweating out the rest of October to make the playoffs.

Hear from Arena following this historic performance on Sunday night.

“It’s best team that we faced all year, by a long shot,” Petke said of the Galaxy’s performance to the media. “[The plan] was to be organized and look to sprint on some counters. I thought in the first half, it worked to an extent.

“We had almost three breakaways on goal. Another one or two half-chances, and we didn’t put any away. They capitalized on our mistake, which was the theme that I thought we got rid of long ago, but it definitely haunted us tonight. And on the quality side, if we don’t finish our chances, and give them opportunities, they are going to finish it.”

Here are six things we learned, followed by player ratings, for the match between the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls.

1. Landon Donovan is intent on earning the assists record

This was a big day for Mr. American Soccer himself, Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan, who scored a goal in the 50th minute, to go with three assists. It is almost a certainty, if not a complete certainty, that he will pass Steve Ralston this Saturday against Toronto FC.

“He was a key figure in the first goal. In the second half, I thought he was outstanding,” said Arena to the media. “He showed his quality in the second half. Our team, in general, played quite well in second half. Give the Red Bulls credit; they had a good 15, 20 minutes in the first half where they put a lot of pressure on the team. We got better in the second half.”

“I’m proud of it,” Donovan said of the record. “To get an assist record you have to have a lot of people scoring goals so it’s not just putting the ball in the right place, its people finishing. They scored three very good goals tonight, which helped. I’ve had a lot of guys score a lot of goals on my behalf so it’s a credit to all of them too.

“I’ve always tried to be a guy who makes the right play in front of the goal. So if that means making the pass that leads to the pass that scores, if that means making the pass that leads to the goal, or if that means shooting when you need to shoot. I try and make good decisions in those moments, they come fast and it’s not always easy to make the right decision, but I’ve tried to always make the right decision when I can.

“More often than not, when I’ve made the right decision, guys have gotten in good spots and scored. So that’s something that I’m proud of. I’ve always wanted to be that type of player. I didn’t want to be one dimensional; I wanted to have all sorts of different parts to my game and I hope that showed.”

“Congratulations [to Donovan]. I knew it was fairly close, and I said to keep going,” said Galaxy captain/forward Robbie Keane. “Keep getting more assists… So I always tell him to keep going. To have the most goals and the most assists, it’s an incredible achievement for anybody.”

“Landon is a phenomenal player,” said forward Gyasi Zardes. “He always leaves me speechless and I’m just trying to learn as much as I can from him. Just to help him tie that record is a blessing upon me. I hope he conquers and beats every record there is in the MLS. He is a phenomenal player and is so effective with our team. If you see this game, I think he had numerous assists; that speaks for itself.  ”

2. Robbie Keane, the goal machine, strikes again

Robbie Keane scored a sweet chip in the eighth minute of play then finished off the Red Bulls in scintillating fashion in the 82nd minute. Take a look at these gems.

“Good performance,” Arena said. “Two important goals. Obviously, the first one was a classic Keane goal. Spectacular goal. Overall, very good game.”

“If you ask the players in training, I’m always doing it,” Keane said of his first goal. “And it’s better when it comes off, obviously. Tonight it came off, a couple weeks ago against Chivas it came off.

“At the angle I had… I had to strike it low otherwise I wouldn’t have scored, it was too much of an angle. The only thing I really had was the chip, and as soon as I get an angle like that, I’m always going to do that.”

“I’ve watched Robbie Keane over the years, and he has always been consistent,” said Zardes. “He is an incredible and phenomenal forward. So just seeing that today from the chip, from his other goal, it’s just wonderful to see that and play alongside of that.”

3. Gyasi Zardes continues his hotstreak

The breakthrough year for Gyasi Zardes continues in the 69th minute, when a magnificant passing sequence resulted in Zardes scoring his 16th of the year. Take a look at this beauty.

“There was a through ball, I brought it back and passed it to [Stefan] Ishizaki and I ran off,” said Zardes. “Took a couple of touches with my left and I saw [Landon Donovan] just posted right there and I just played him in, got it right back and just tried to focus on putting the ball in the frame and it worked out pretty well.

“Scoring goals is always good for confidence. But against Dallas I had numerous opportunities, didn’t put the ball in the back of the net, and just to put the ball in the back of the net this game was just wonderful because the hard work that I do within practice pays off when the game comes around.”

4. Jaime Penedo comes up huge

Defensively, no one came up in the clutch better than Galaxy goalkeeper Jaime Penedo, who had six saves against New York. Penedo now has 76 saves on the season and adds one more shutout to his accomplishments this year. Thanks to Penedo, the likes of Bradley Wright-Phillips was a non-factor.

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“We needed them too,” Arena said of Penedo’s saves. “Bradley Wright-Phillips had some fantastic runs. Got himself in some good positions which he has done all year. Against all the other goalies, he scored those goals. Jaime did a great job, he came up big when we needed him. We don’t often need him to make many saves because our defense does a great job. But tonight we needed him, he was excellent.”

“All around Jaime [Penedo] did a great job tonight,” said defender Omar Gonzalez, “stopping those chances where Bradley [Wright-Phillips] got him behind; [Thierry] Henry running at you is never easy because he can put the ball wherever he wants and Bradley Wright-Phillips with good runs in mind, they’re going to get chances and that’s the way soccer is. They’re going to get chances in games but Jaime came out big and saved us the clean sheet.

“[Penedo] came back from the national team with a lot of confidence and that’s great to see. I love seeing my ‘keeper like that. Moving forward we hope he continues to play the way he has been and if he is going to keep playing like that then that’s big for us.”

“He has done well,” Petke said of Penedo’s performance. “The second one I think I should have scored, but the first one he has done well. He came out, kept himself big. I got to hit the ball a little hard and he saved it. I’m more disappointed with the second one. That had nothing to do with him. That was more on me. I should have got that contact on it.”

5. A.J. DeLaGarza, the unsung hero

Lost in all the hoopla regarding Donovan and Keane and Zardes and Penedo is the performance of defender A.J. DeLaGarza, whose cleanup ability and speed frustrated the attack of the Red Bulls early and often. DeLaGarza’s form will be key this October, without question.

“A.J. [DeLaGarza] is a great player,” Donovan said of DeLaGarza’s form. “He has been doing that for a number of years. Him and Omar are very comfortable in the back, I thought they were excellent again tonight.”

6. Team Statistics a bit deceptive

Despite the Red Bulls leading a number of categories, including corners and crosses, the Galaxy’s routine defending was key and Los Angeles won three key stats: shots, duels won, and saves.  There is no question that the race for the Shield will go down to the home-and-home between the Galaxy and Seattle Sounders.

Team Statistics

Los Angeles Galaxy Player Ratings

Jaime Penedo 8, A.J. DeLaGarza 7, Dan Gargan 6, Omar Gonzalez 7, Robbie Rogers 6, Baggio Husidic 6, Juninho 6, Landon Donovan 10, Marcelo Sarvas 6, Gyasi Zardes 8, Robbie Keane 9, Stefan Ishizaki 4, Leonardo 3, Alan Gordon NR

New York Red Bulls Player Ratings

Luis Robles 3, Chris Duvall 3, Ibrahim Sekagya 4, Jamison Olave 3.5, Roy Miller 3, Dax McCarty 4, Eric Alexander 4, Peguy Luyindula 4, Thierry Henry 5, Tim Cahill 4, Bradley Wright-Phillips 6, Richard Eckersley 3, Ruben Bover Izquierdo 2, Marius Obekop NR