LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan defended Robbie Keane after his spotkick miss in their 1-1 draw with FC Dallas.

That former Tottenham striker Keane and not Donovan took the penalty kick was odd - not since June 2007 had a player other than Donovan taken a penalty kick for the club.

"I just told Robbie I wanted him to take it. He did everything right except he just mis-hit it a little bit," Donovan said. "He's a guy who's taken many penalties and made many penalties and I'm sure the next time he takes one it will go in."

Galaxy coach Bruce Arena said he was not immediately sure what sort of conversation the two players had on the field before the penalty was taken but said the miss was simply that.

"I'll be honest with you, if any team has the choice of Robbie Keane or Landon Donovan or (David) Beckham taking penalty kicks, you're real happy," Arena told lagalaxy.com. "The easiest thing to do in the aftermath is to be critical... There aren't many better players in the world to take penalty kicks than Robbie Keane or Landon Donovan. We missed it."