CARSON, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy exited Utah on even terms with Real Salt Lake thanks to Jaime Penedo, who gave one of his finest performances in MLS to keep the first leg of the Western Conference semifinal scoreless.
Penedo made six saves -- a couple of them brilliant, most of them big -- as the Galaxy on Saturday held off a rampaging RSL attack, in the teams' opening game of the 2014 MLS Cup Playoffs, presented by AT&T, especially in the final 30 minutes, and arrive home for Sunday's second leg at StubHub Center (7:30 pm ET; ESPN2) needing only a one-goal victory to reach their fifth Western Conference final in six years.
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His biggest stops: a 69th-minute save on Joao Plata, when he charged off his line as the Ecuadorian forward sprinted alone in LA's box, and a leaping, twisting save on Javier Morales' wind-aided free kick headed toward the upper-right corner in the 84th.
“He made the saves you expect him to make, and then he made one really great save, the one on Plata,” Landon Donovan told media in Sandy, Utah. “And in the past few weeks, he's had quite a few similar plays at that angle that I think he would tell you he wants to do better on. Tonight he adjusted a little bit, and he made a really good save.
“That was the save we needed tonight. The other ones were some degree of difficulty but ones you expect a good goalie to make, and then that one was the save we needed.”
Penedo, LA's No. 1 goalkeeper since signing last summer following a tremendous CONCACAF Gold Cup performance for tournament runner-up Panama, is a superb shot-stopper but has struggled at times on crosses and with holding onto the ball after making a diving save. He spilled a rebound on his first big save at RSL, on an Alvaro Saborio attempt in the 37th minute, but a subtle touch by A.J. DeLaGarza kept Luis Gil, on the doorstep, from knocking home the rebound.
After that, Penedo was nearly perfect. He made a leaping stop on Plata in the 46th minute, the big save in Plata in the 69th, parried Morales' bending corner kick in the 75th, a leaping save on Saborio in the 82nd, then took a swipe when a Morales chip from the top of the box came at him from behind a wall of defenders in the 90th.
RSL was impressed. Head coach Jeff Cassar called Penedo “fantastic ... commanding in his box.”
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“Penedo tonight, credit to him. He stepped up big,” RSL right back Tony Beltran said. “There were a couple of big chances we had. Especially Javier's free kick save, I thought was particularly impressive.”
The biggest thing Penedo admittedly had to battle was the 20 mph winds in his face during the second half, but he still put forth a performance that has the Galaxy in a good position to advance.
“That's what we want him to do,” center back Omar Gonzalez said. “Definitely applaud him on a good game, but it's definitely what we expect from him game in, game out.”
