LA Galaxy 3, Portland Timbers 0
Saturday, April 23, 2011
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.
Scoring Summary:
LA – Chad Barrett 2 (Landon Donovan 1, David Beckham 4) 4’
LA – Landon Donovan 1 (Penalty Kick) 8’
LA – Landon Donovan 2 (Juan Pablo Angel 1, Chad Barrett 1) 67’
Misconduct Summary:
POR – Rodney Wallace (Yellow Card) 7’
LA – Sean Franklin (Yellow Card) 17’
LA – Mike Magee (Yellow Card) 91+
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza, Todd Dunivant; Juninho (Michael Stephens 78’), David Beckham, Mike Magee, Landon Donovan(c) (Paolo Cardozo 74’); Miguel Lopez (Juan Pablo Angel 46’), Chad Barrett.
Subs Not Used:Josh Saunders, Frankie Hejduk, Chris Birchall, Jovan Kirovski.
Portland Timbers: Troy Perkins; Steve Purdy, Mamadou Danso, Eric Brunner, Rodney Wallace; James Marcelin (Diego Chara 46’), Jeremy Hall (Darlington Nagbe 59’), Jack Jewsbury©, Kalif Alhassan (Sal Zizzo 73’); Kenny Cooper, Jorge Perlaza.
Subs Not Used: Jake Gleasson, Kevin Goldtwhaite, Adam Moffat, Ryan Pore.
Quotes:
LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena
On the team’s performance:
“It was certainly a good win for our team. The storyline is the two early goals. To be up by two goals in the first ten minutes of the game is important. I think, at times, tonight we played quite well. We are passing the ball better. We are getting a little bit better as a team. However, it’s still a little bit sloppy over 90 minutes. Our concentration could be better at the end of the games. We got sloppy at the end of the game, but overall it’s a good win and it’s nice to get three goals. Hopefully, we continue to move forward as a team.”
On the Galaxy’s forwards:
“I thought our forwards in the last game played well, so I didn’t want to make a change. [Miguel] Lopez got kicked in the first half, so we made a change at half time. It was difficult for Juan [Pablo Angel] because he didn’t get any notice. He wasn’t warmed up properly, so it was difficult for him to start the game, but as he warmed up he played better.”
On Chad Barrett’s performance:
“Chad’s a player with a lot of promise. We’ve seen over the last three or four weeks his understanding of how to play with our team. His mobility—he’s a great asset, a strong player. Obviously, he finished off that first goal quite well. I think he’s been very promising over the last two or three games.”
On Landon Donovan returning to the starting lineup:
“He played well. He’s obviously been out a little over two weeks. It was good to get him in for 65 minutes. I thought in the first half he played quite well. I think Landon should be scoring goals, so it’s good to get him on the board here and hopefully, there is more to come.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder Landon Donovan
On the result:
“The guys did a good job getting involved early, and when you score early it kind of helps everyone’s confidence. It took some pressure off. The adrenaline gets going a little more. It all played out very well tonight.”
On coming back from injury:
“I felt good. I didn’t feel as sharp or fit after 60 minutes, but it was good to get 70 minutes, I think. In the beginning of the week, 45 would have been a stretch, so I’m happy to play and it was a good result.”
On scoring his first goal of the MLS season:
“I could care less about scoring. I want to win. I’m not as much as a scorer anymore. I think you guys are seeing that with both the U.S. team and this team. That part of my game has not been the same as when I was younger. I want to win. And, it feels good to win.”
LA Galaxy Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts
On his saves in the second half:
“I just reacted and luckily it hit me. I’m glad I picked it up. You just react. Today was my day to make saves.”
On the defense:
“That’s what I like with my defense. They keep it clean and whatever spills—I just mop up. It’s good team work.”
LA Galaxy forward Chad Barrett
On scoring the first goal of the game:
“A lot of people say it just takes that first one to gain confidence in your strike and stuff like that. I didn’t think twice about taking that shot. That’s what you need to do if you want to constantly score goals. I had a lot of opportunities and wish I could have buried a couple more, but I’m very happy to have scored that goal early and get us off to a good start.”
On the team’s performance:
“We started off well. We started off on the attack. We had some good combination play going up. It was great to have Beckham, Landon, those guys back in the line up. The ball was really moving around today.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder David Beckham
On Landon Donovan’s performance:
“It’s great to see him back, obviously scoring. It’s great to see him back because, obviously, he missed out on three games. So, it’s good that he is back, it’s good that he is scoring goals again. Like you said, it was nice to have goals coming from elsewhere as well.”
On his pass to Donovan that led to the penalty kick:
“I knew that if I got the ball to him that he would have a chance to score, or a goal scoring opportunity. I saw the space and just put it in there.”
On the fast start:
“I think we set ourselves up very early in the game, obviously Chad (Barrett) scoring a great goal to start off set it up nice for us, and we’ve not had that in the last few games. I think we’ve had disappointing starts early on in the season, so, it’s good off to get a good start, it’s good to play the way we did. I think we played some great soccer in the first half, especially I think we passed the ball around well.”
On Portland:
“We knew that they were a big team and if we gave them chances with set pieces and stuff that they would cause us problems. And they did it, on occasions. But, we knew that if we kept the ball on the ground passing, like we know we can pass, we’d win the game.”
On Chad Barrett finding open space on the field:
“We’re dangerous when we can pass the ball like we can, and like we did tonight. When we get players in good position and when we move around the field like we do, like we did tonight, it makes it easier for us to play. And Chad, he gets in goal scoring opportunities, a lot of scoring goal opportunities, so it’s good to have a player like that.”
Portland Timbers Head Coach John Spencer
On the team’s performance:
“We lost three nil. We probably lost the game in the first ten minutes, going two nil down. I was disappointed that we conceded two goals in quick succession, it’s something that we are going to have to address, obviously. When you go down a goal, you can’t break down mentality. For the next five, ten minutes, keep it tight. We’ve done it too many times now. I’ve spoken to the guys about it, but to me—the last two weeks have been fantastic.”
On the officiating:
“I think the penalty was very soft, outside the box. It’s a very difficult job the officials have got, but someone mentioned it a couple of weeks ago—it’s every game now that we are making statements about bad decisions, poor decisions. First goal—great goal, extremely well. The second one, soft as I said. I still think we weren’t creating from the run of play, but we had chances from set pieces that we should have done better.”
On what the team needs to do to win on the road:
“I think we need to start better. Against New England we started well. You can get a little bit too high on your horse and think what a fantastic team you have and forget why you’re winning games. We are winning games at home because we compete from the first whistle. We’ve done extremely well, but tonight we got beat by a better team.”
Portland Timbers Midfielder Jack Jewsbury
On tonight’s game:
“I thought Donovan Ricketts had a great game. We created chances, Kenny had a great chance and we had three or four off set pieces. So obviously the final score when you look at it is disappointing. They definitely had the better run of play but he had some big saves. At that point in games they can kind of change the momentum so hats off to him and they were the better team tonight.”
Portland Timbers Forward Kenny Cooper
On tonight’s game:
“We are disappointed by the result. We didn’t get off to a good start but I thought that we continued to fight. I ended up having a couple of good chances and we as a team ended up having a couple of good chances. They took two of theirs and we weren’t able to find the back of the net tonight.”
On the team’s performance:
“I thought we showed good character not to give up and to keep fighting. I have a lot of confidence in these guys. I thought the boys showed good character and showed a good fighting spirit to not put their heads down and keep going.”
Portland Timbers Midfielder Diego Chara
(Translated from Spanish)
On his MLS debut:
“I thought I played well. Despite the result I am very happy because this was my first game. I still have to get accustomed to the team and the playing style and my teammates have to get accustomed to me as well.”
On being fatigued:
“A little bit because of the traveling. Once I start working with the team I’ll feel a lot better.”
On what he brings to the Timbers:
“I bring my technique and my ability to give the final pass.”
On going back to Portland and making his home debut:
“Yes, very much. I hope we have a great game and get a win.”
Notes:
- With the win, the Galaxy are now 4-1-3 on the season, giving them a league-best 15 points. LA are now three points ahead of Real Salt Lake at the top of the Western Conference standings and four points better than the Eastern Conference leading New York Red Bulls.
- Tonight’s game was just LA’s third home game of the year and their first since April 2.
- This was the Galaxy’s first ever game against the Timbers in MLS.
- Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made five changes to the team that defeated Chicago 2-1 on Sunday afternoon at TOYOTA PARK. David Beckham and Juninho were each suspended for that game but returned to the lineup tonight, while Landon Donovan returned from injury and Sean Franklin and A.J. DeLaGarza each returned in defense. Beckham and Juninho paired in central midfield in place of Michael Stephens and Paolo Cardozo, who each came on in the second half, Donovan replaced Chris Birchall in midfield as well after missing three straight games through injury. Franklin returned at right back in place of Frankie Hejduk while A.J. DeLaGarza replaced the injured Leonardo in central defense.
- In addition to Beckham and Juninho, Jovan Kirovski also returned from suspension, though he was an unused substitute.
- In addition to Leonardo, the Galaxy were also without Gregg Berhalter and Adam Cristman who all missed the game through injury.
- Chad Barrett gave the Galaxy an early 1-0 lead, scoring his second goal of the season on the 4th minute. This was the second straight game in which Barrett had scored.
- That goal was the Galaxy’s fastest goal of the season, eclipsing Mike Magee’s 12th minute goal at D.C. United on April 9.
- Landon Donovan and David Beckham each assisted on Barrett’s goal. The assist was the first of the season for Donovan and the team-best fourth for Beckham.
- The last time the Galaxy scored a goal that both Beckham and Donovan assisted on was on September 19, 2009 when the pair combined to set up Edson Buddle for an 83rd minute goal in a 2-0 home win over Toronto FC.
- LA doubled the lead four minutes later when Landon Donovan scored from the penalty spot. The Galaxy captain was taken down in the box by Rodney Wallace to set up the penalty.
- This was the first penalty kick earned by the Galaxy this season. They earned four spot kicks in 2010, with Donovan taking all four and converting three of them.
- That goal was Donovan’s first for the Galaxy since September 18, 2010 when he scored twice in a 2-1 home win over D.C. United. He had not scored in eight straight regular season goals before the penalty kick tonight.
- Donovan added his second goal of the season in the 67th minute, heading home a Juan Pablo Angel cross from close range.
- No Galaxy player had scored multiple goals in a game since Donovan did on September 18, 2010.
- Donovan is now tied with Chad Barrett and Juninho for the team lead in goals with two.
- Both Angel and Barrett tallied the first assist of their Galaxy careers on LA’s third goal.
- This was the first time this season that the Galaxy scored more than two goals in a game, a feat that they accomplished five times last season.
- The Galaxy have now scored five goals in the last two games after scoring five in their first sox games of the season.
- Donovan Ricketts made a season-high six saves in the game. The last time Ricketts had six saves in a game was May 5, 2010 in a 1-0 win at Colorado.
- This was his third clean sheet in five appearances this season. In 450 minutes of play, he has only allowed two goals, one of which was a penalty kick.
- The Galaxy have now kept a clean sheet in each of their last two home games.
- Miguel Lopez was replaced by Juan Pablo Angel at halftime after taking a knock on his left knee. He will be further evaluated at the start of next week.
- Juninho left the game in the 78th minute after being kicked on his left quad.
- Todd Dunivant once again started and played the full 90 minutes at left back. He is the only Galaxy player to start ever game this season and is the only one to play the full 90 minutes in each as well.
- The Galaxy’s three goal margin of victory was their biggest in a game since the 4-1 win over Houston on June 5, 2010.
- The Galaxy are now 12-4-2 in their first-ever game against a team in MLS, including 3-0-2 against expansion teams that have come into the league since 2005.
- The attendance for tonight’s game was 23,719.
- The Galaxy are back in action on Sunday, May 1 when they travel to Texas to take on the defending Western Conference Champion FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park. That game kicks off at 4 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live locally on FOX Sports West, starting with the Galaxy Live pregame show at 3:30 p.m. The game will also be available live nationally on Galavision.
