LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena
On the team’s performance:
“We
got beat soundly tonight. There is no question about it. There are no
excuses. I thought for the night our effort was good, our execution was
not. A couple of things: I think our experienced players didn’t have a
good night for us tonight. Secondly, our finishing was poor and theirs
was superb. That is the right way to describe their finishing. Their
goalkeeping was excellent. Ours wasn’t…ours was not good enough. We
didn’t get a save out of Josh [Saunders]. Their effect was outstanding.
Ours was good, but those couple of areas where they were a little bit
better, a little bit more fortunate. Give them credit—their execution
was excellent and ours was poor. We had some chances to put the ball in
the back of the net, and listen, even at 2-0, 3-0, we could have made it
3-1, 3-2, make it more interesting challenge for next Wednesday. We
didn’t get it done.”
On Josh Saunders performance:
“I think
Josh Saunders hasn’t had a goal scored against him this year. Josh is a
good goalkeeper and he is certainly capable of playing in this game
tonight. We didn’t lose this game tonight because of Josh Saunders.
There were a lot of reasons why we lost this game. It was more a bit
over our head than Josh Saunders.”
On the team’s schedule:
“This
has nothing to do with the schedule. I mean, Puerto Rico had to do a
little bit of traveling. This has nothing to do with our schedule. If we
for a second use that as an excuse, we are absolutely insane. Maybe rip
the coach here. As much as our performance and some players didn’t
execute absolutely, but when you get a result like that, I don’t think
the coach did a good job tonight, either.”
LA Galaxy midfielder
Landon Donovan
On the result:
“Embarrassment isn't a word that
would like to use. I'm just disappointed. I think we were incredibly
naive about things when we went a goal down. Clearly, our defending was
not good. We have to have to be a lot better in front of goals. There
were two or three shots we should have scored.”
On the team's
performance:
“Our team knows that how it has been all year. Guys
should know that if they don't play well, we aren't going to play. I
think we learned about our team tonight and we need to get a lot
better.”
On needing to score against Puerto Rico next week:
“I
can see it two ways. One, it's incredibly difficult to go anywhere and
score two goals. The flip side of that is we are able to score four
goals. We are going to go for it and see what happens.”
LA Galaxy
forward Edson Buddle
On the team's performance:
“I think at home
it is embarrassing. I think you have to give credit to Puerto Rico. It
does happen. The game has a way of checking you sometimes. It puts this
in perspective. We just have a bigger challenge a head of us to do the
same thing. Let’s hope to do the same thing they do to us in their
place.”
LA Galaxy midfielder Michael Stephens
On tonight’s
game:
“They made big saves and they kept getting shots and hitting
really good shots from the outside. You got to give some credit to them
obviously it wasn’t a great performance by us.”
On Puerto Rico’s
performance:
“I think after a while it was a pretty even game. I
think a couple of things fell their way which helped them and gave them a
little momentum and being on the road they got a couple of breaks and
built on it. Overall I don’t think our effort was terrible. I think that
we didn’t have a great game at finishing as well we gave up a few soft
goals.”
On the Galaxy’s defense:
“I think defensively we have
to get back to not giving up goals. I think we were lose all over the
field and all the goals show that. I think that we need to regroup and
get back to what got us here.”
LA Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza
On
the result:
“We just got out played. They are a good team, they are
good all around the field. Their goalkeeper played tremendous tonight
and that is what saved them. They had two deep goals which were pretty
good shots on their part. We just got beat today.”
On the second
leg of the series:
“It is not over yet. We still have a game. We
still have to go to Puerto Rico which is not easy to play there but we
are going to be hungry. We are thinking about Chicago first and then we
are going to have to take care of business in Puerto Rico.”
LA
Galaxy defender Gregg Berhalter
On tonight’s game:
“It was one of
those games. It was a bizarre and we give a lot of credit to them but we
also have to look at ourselves and say that it clearly wasn’t good
enough. It was one of those games were you keep knocking your head
against the wall waiting to get a break and waiting to get a break and
them we give up goals and they score some good goals and it was just a
nightmare. It was one of those games which you can’t explain. But that
is how soccer goes.”
On the team’s recent form:
“I think we
have gotten a bit complacent but it was a crazy game. I think we came
out with a focus. I think we came out trying to move the ball quickly,
trying to get a breakthrough that just didn’t come. We give up that
goal, again on a set piece, which has been our nemesis recently, so I
think it could be used as a wake up call.”
Puerto Rico Islanders
Head Coach Colin Clarke
On the result:
“I was pretty surprised. We
knew coming in here that it was going to be a tough night for us.
Delighted. We deserved it. Our boys worked very hard and took our
chances.”
On the team’s performance:
“First thing we knew was
that we would need a little bit of luck. They are a really good team. We
knew we would have to take our chances. And honestly, they have some
really, really good players that we had to try and contain. We managed
to do that. We worked very, very hard. We also knew that when we got the
ball, we had to keep it and pass it and frustrate them. I think we did a
great job of that tonight…playing, passing, moving. We took our
chances.”
On Bill Gaudette’s performance:
“Bill played really
well. We knew he was going to be busy. He came up with the saves. He’s
done that for us for the last few years in this competition. He’s
someone who has been in MLS and maybe he feels that he should still be
there and has something to prove. He’s a very good keeper. I’d like to
think with expansion coming up there’s a chance that Bill will step up
and get somewhere in MLS next year if that’s what he’s looking for. And
performance like this won’t hurt him.”
Puerto Rico Islanders
Forward Nicolas Addlery
On playing against MLS team:
“It is always
going to be a team effort. Playing against the Galaxy is a wonderful
experience. Getting past them and winning is more important than
anything personal for me.”
On playing against the Galaxy:
“We
basically we just stuck to the game play. We worked hard. We stuck
together as a team and took our chances. I don’t think we were ever in
charge of the game, but throughout the game we kept our composure, kept
playing and doing the things we needed to do. We tried to contain them,
and of course they have great players. We just stuck to our game plan.”
NOTES:
• With the loss, the Galaxy now trail the two-leg aggregate goal series 4-1.
• The return leg of the series will be played on Wednesday, August 4 at Juan Roman Loubriel Stadium in San Juan, Puerto Rico. That game will kick off at 5 p.m. (PT) and be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel.
• Because of the away goals rule in the series, the Galaxy must win in Puerto Rico by more than three goals in order to advance. They can also advance with a three-goal victory, but only if they score more than four goals in the match.
• If the second leg ends 4-1 in favor of the Galaxy, the series will go to 30 minutes of extra time.
• The winner of the series will be placed in Group D of the CONCACAF Champion’s League, along with Toluca of Mexico, Olimpia of Honduras and the winner of the Xelaju of Guatemala and FAS of El Salvador Preliminary Round series.
• Bruce Arena made five changes to the starting lineup he used against San Jose in Thursday’s 2-2 draw. Josh Saunders started in goal in place of Donovan Ricketts, while Chris Birchall, Gregg Berhalter, A.J. DeLaGarza and Eddie Lewis all returned to the starting lineup in place of Todd Dunivant, Omar Gonzalez, Dema Kovalenko and Michael Stephens.
• The 2-0 score at halftime was only the 10th time this season that the Galaxy had been held scoreless in the first 45 minutes of a match, in all competitions (24 games).
• The four goals given up by the Galaxy were the most the club has allowed in a single game in all competitions since losing 6-3 to FC Dallas at The Home Depot Center on Sep. 12, 2009.
• That defeat was also the last time that the Galaxy lost by three goals or more in a game.
• That loss to Dallas was also the last time the club lost at home, in all competitions, including international friendlies. During that stretch, which spanned 16 home games, LA went 13-0-3.
• After not allowing a goal in 656 consecutive minutes in MLS regular season, postseason and U.S. Open Cup play between April 4, 2009 and July 7, 2010, Galaxy goalkeeper Josh Saunders has now allowed six goals in his last 140 minutes. He allowed two goals in the second half of the 2-0 loss to Seattle in the U.S. Open Cup Quarterfinals on July 7 and four goals tonight.
• The Galaxy outshot Puerto Rico 23-9 and had nine shots on goal compared to seven for the Islanders.
• Puerto Rico goalkeeper Bill Gaudette made seven saves to record the victory.
• The attendance for today’s game was 6,873.
• The Galaxy are back in action on Sunday, August 1 when they host the Chicago Fire at The Home Depot Center. That game kicks off at 4:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Sports en Espanol.
