LOS ANGELES GALAXY COACH DAVE SARACHAN
On the match:
When you’re on the road its pretty critical if you can get the first goal. It takes the wind out of their sails a little bit, takes the crowd out of it a little bit. I thought Edson (Buddle), besides the goal, had a great night. He was just a handful for them, he held up balls, and defensively as a collective 11 we did a great job of closing space. As the game went on I got a sense they were getting a little frustrated. We almost got the second goal, which we felt would have really put them out, but collectively it was a great effort from everyone tonight.
On Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez:
He’s living the life. For young guys, its not so much the physical stuff, it’s the mental. So now he’s coming off a Tuesday experience starting for the U.S. National Team, a quick turnaround to get ready for a league game and for a young guy I thought he showed a lot of maturity to handle that and to stay in it for 90 minutes. And the guy next to him tonight was terrific, Gregg Berhalther. He keeps him going, so I thought the pairing was excellent.
LOS ANGELES GALAXY DEFENDER OMAR GONZALEZ
On Red Bulls defender Tim Ream:
Watching some video on him I think he’s a very good defender, and could definitely be someone the (United States) National Team coach can look at. There are a lot of young guys coming up now, so it’ll be interesting to see who will be the next in the back.
On defending with his partner Gregg Berhalter:
Tonight, me and Gregg were just talking about being really aggressive. I think that me and Gregg did really well to just get under their skin and make sure they didn’t get too many touches on the ball.
On Juan Pablo Angel and Thierry Henry:
They’re just both two smart players who can play really well off the ball. If you’re not careful they can just run behind you because they always play off your shoulder and play on the line. It’s really tough going against a forward like that. They’re just a different class, and I think the backline did well today.
LOS ANGELES GALAXY MIDFIELDER LANDON DONOVAN
On Red Bull Arena:
The stadium was fantastic. I like the way the seats are built, how close they are, and it just feels really intimate. It’s a good environment it, was fun to play in.
On the Red Bulls:
They were pretty good. They looked like they were maybe a little tired, I know they played a game mid-week. They’re not a bad team, but obviously it’s going to take them time to gel. You can’t throw in a few new players like that and expect it to just happen overnight. They’re going to be good, they’re going to be around. They’re going to be in the playoffs, and if they put together a few good performances they can do well.
On playing against multiple designated players:
It was great, we need that in our league. We want the opportunity to play in full stadiums and I guess now with (Thierry) Henry and (Rafa) Márquez here, they’re going to have a lot more fans. For us it makes the game a little more intense, a little more real, and it’s fun to play them.
On the addition of star players to the league:
It gives it immediate credibility. It makes the league better. You can see the difference in the skill level, the intelligence, the work rate, the positioning. You can tell when guys like Henry and Márquez are on the field. It brings something a little different, and it’s going to make our league better.
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH HANS BACKE
On the match:
I liked this game. It was probably one of the most intense games for us this season. One turnover cost us a goal, but I’m still rather happy with our performance. We didn’t overplay possession, and we played rather relaxed, and still created a number of chances. Once again, it’s a good sign for us that we can compete and control possession against a team like the Galaxy. Sorry for the result, but our performance I’m happy with.
On Rafa Márquez and his turnover leading to the Los Angeles goal:
It’s happens in football today, if you’re in the middle of the park and make some mistakes or side passes, on the highest levels, you will pay a price. It’s difficult to say, he’s not fully fit. Perhaps he took too much time on the ball or tried to do something spectacular in a way. Unfortunate, but still we responded very well after being one down and still controlling the pitch.
RED BULLS MIDFIELDER JOEL LINDPERE
On the game:
Overall I can say we played well. Even 1-0 dow,n we chased them really good, created many chances and hit the crossbar. The goalie saved a couple of chances from the line. I think we had a good game, but lately we have been missing and haven’t scored goals. So I think this is a problem for us. It looks like we can play really good, but if you don’t score maybe we have to do something and change our game plan or I don’t know. Maybe it will just start one day.
On his thoughts of Rafa Márquez:
He’s a new player on the team and he also needs to get used to it (style of play). We have played many good games at home, but we don’t get penalties. We play at home and I don’t think we have earned those red cards or penalties for us. I think we should have it, but it’s the game. Marquez is a new player in the team. Of course he came from Spain so it’s a little different football.
On the play leading up to the Galaxy goal:
Maybe it was a free kick before the goal. Here they don’t give it as easy. I think in Spain it would have been a free kick. So it’s a little bit different here. I think we as a team and him as a player understood this and it was just an unlucky mistake.
NEW YORK RED BULLS FORWARD JUAN PABLO ANGEL
On the match:
I think it was a physical game. Without having that many chances, I think we still managed to hit the post. In the second half I had another one off a corner kick that came off the line, but apart from that there wasn’t that much for the strikers in general in the game.
On Rafa Márquez adjusting to the style of play in MLS:
It’ll be fine. Any player needs to be in a good form in order for him to perform and bring the best out of him. And the only way he’s going to do it is by playing games. We’ve got to have a little bit of patience with him, and also with (Thierry) Henry because people expect too much right from the very beginning. They are going to be absolutely fine, and I think they’re going to be very important for this team. Not just for the rest of the season, but for years to come.
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER RAFA MARQUEZ
On his performance:
I am not happy at all. I need more time to perform to be at my best level. We had many chances to tie the game, but we had no luck to achieve that.
On how much more time he needs to be at his best level:
It’s hard to know how long it’s going to take. But I will try to get to my best level as soon as possible.
On crowds at Chicago and Red Bull Arena:
I think the two crowds at the two stadiums were both incredible. We got a lot of support here and it really had taken me by surprise.
NOTES:
- With the win, the Galaxy are now 13-3-4 on the season and remain alone in first place in the Western Conference with 43 points. The Galaxy are now seven points clear of Real Salt Lake, who host the Columbus Crew later tonight, at the top of the Western Conference and six points ahead of Columbus in the race for the best record in MLS.
- Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena was not on the bench for the game after being released from the hospital earlier in the morning. Arena was admitted to the Hackensack University Medical Center on Thursday because of viral complications and spent two nights there before being released this morning. He watched the game from a private box at the stadium.
- In Arena’s absence, Associate Head Coach Dave Sarachan and Assistant Coach Cobi Jones led the team.
- The Galaxy made two changes to the team that lost 3-2 to Chicago in their last league game back on August 1, with A.J. DeLaGarza replacing Todd Dunivant at left back and Juninho replacing Jovan Kirovski in central midfield.
- DeLaGarza was making his first start since July 18 at D.C. United.
- In addition to Dunivant, the only other Galaxy player to miss the game through injury was David Beckham, who remains on the Disabled List after undergoing surgery in March to repair a torn Achilles tendon.
- Mike Magee was back in the 18-man squad for the first time since May 29 in a 2-0 Galaxy win at Columbus. He underwent surgery to repair a bilateral sports hernia in late June. He was placed in the Disabled List on June 24 and missed the next six games before returning tonight.
- He entered the game in the 61st minute, replacing Tristan Bowen.
- Edson Buddle, Landon Donovan, Omar Gonzalez and Donovan Ricketts were all in the starting lineup for the Galaxy after playing for their respective national teams in the middle of the week. Buddle, Donovan and Gonzalez were all in action for the U.S. in their 2-0 loss to Brazil in New Jersey on Tuesday, while Ricketts played in goal for Jamaica in their 3-1 win at Trinidad & Tobago on Wednesday. All four trained with the club on Friday before starting in today’s game.
- Buddle scored his MLS-best 13th goal of the season in the 10th minute. The goal was his first in the league since July 22 against San Jose and his fourth in six games since returning from the World Cup.
- Juninho collected the only assist on the goal for his second assist of the season and first since April 17 against Real Salt Lake. Both assists came on game-winning goals scored by Buddle.
- That goal gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in a game for the first time since the 2-1 win at D.C. United on July 18. LA had allowed a goal in the opening five minutes of each of their last two league games before today’s match.
- This was also the first time since that game that the Galaxy did not allow a goal in the first half of play.
- Donovan Ricketts made two saves to earn his 10th clean sheet of the season and his first since June 26 at Toronto FC. The 10 shutouts are one more than Ricketts recorded in 2009, his first year with LA.
- Ricketts is now one shutout shy of tying Kevin Hartman’s record of 11 clean sheets in a single season, which he set in 1999.
- LA is now one clean sheet away from tying the club record of 12 shutouts in a season, which they set in 2009.
- LA had allowed a goal in their last five league games before tonight.
- The win was the Galaxy’s 13th of the season in MLS, one more than they recorded in all of 2009. Additionally, the Galaxy’s 43 points are just three fewer than they had last season.
- The Galaxy are now a perfect 13-0-0 when scoring the game’s opening goal, compared to 0-3-1 when allowing the first goal.
- The Galaxy are now 7-2-2 in 11 games on the road this season, including 3-1-2 against the Eastern Conference. This was their eighth clean sheet away from home this season.With Todd Dunivant missing today’s game, Micahel Stephens is now the only Galaxy player to have played in all 20 of the club’s regular season games this year. He started and played the full 90 minute in midfield against the Red Bulls.
- Donovan Ricketts played the 45th game of his MLS career tonight, while Sean Franklin played the 55th.
- Neither Chris Birchall nor Juninho were booked in the game, meaning that both are eligible to play next weekend at San Jose. Both players are one caution away from an automatic one-game suspension for yellow card accumulation.
- No Galaxy players were booked in the game after the club tied a club record with five yellow cards on August 1 against Chicago.
- This was the Galaxy’s first-ever game at Red Bull Arena. LA are now 14-13-5 all-time when playing their first MLS game at a new stadium.
- Prior to the game, the Red Bulls honored former New York and Galaxy star Clint Mathis, who retired last week.
- Injured Galaxy midfielder David Beckham accompanied the team to New York and sat on the bench with the team’s coaches during the game.
- The attendance for today’s game was a sellout crowd of 25,000.
- The Galaxy are back in action next Saturday, August 21 when they head north to take on the San Jose Earthquakes at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif. That game kicks off at 1 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on Fox Sports West starting with Galaxy Live at 12:30 p.m. and Telefutura.
