LA Galaxy 1, Chivas USA 0
Saturday, May 21, 2011
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.
Scoring Summary:
LA – Chad Barrett 3 (David Beckham 6) 26’
Misconduct Summary:
CHV – Simon Elliott (Yellow Card) 50’
CHV – Zarek Valentin (Yellow Card) 73’
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, A.J. DeLaGarza, Todd Dunivant; David Beckham (Michael Stephens 89’), Juninho, Landon Donovan(c), Mike Magee (Chris Birchall 64’); Chad Barrett (Miguel Lopez 71’), Juan Pablo Angel.
Subs Not Used:Josh Saunders, Frankie Hejduk, Gregg Berhalter, Paolo Cardozo.
Chivas USA: Dan Kennedy; Zarek Valentin, Heath Pearce, Andrew Boyens, Ante Jazic; Simon Elliott, Ben Zamanski, Nick LaBrocca, Jorge Flores; Alejandro Moreno©, Justin Braun (Chris Cortez 66’).
Subs Not Used: Zach Thornton, Michael Umana, Mariano Trujillo, Gerson Mayen, Francisco Mendoza, Victor Estupinan.
Referee: Jair Marrufo
Assistant Referees: Chris Strickland and Frank Anderson
4th Official: Fotis Bazakos
Postgame Quotes:
LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena
Overall thought on 1-0 win over Chivas USA:
“It was a hard earned victory, for sure. We really had to battle to get three points and I think you have to give Chivas credit there. They certainly showed a lot of energy in the second half trying to get the equalizer. I thought we played very well in the first half, perhaps if we put away that chance by Barrett in the opening minutes of the second half we make life a little easier for ourselves. But, good to be in these games, where it’s a battle and, on a night where you are not your best, not particularly sharp, to walk off the field with three points is a positive. That’s what we accomplished tonight.”
On Chad Barrett’s performance:
“Obviously a good goal and a couple of other chances, and I think at times he held the ball up pretty well tonight. Getting better, he and Juan, as we continue to go forward.
On the substitutions:
“I thought Lopez played very well when he came in the last 20 minutes. We needed some energy over the last 30 minutes and I thought Birchall and Lopez did a really good job for us.”
On David Beckham’s assist on a set play:
“He’s made a living at that. I do know that we get a lot of chances and we get goals with David’s service on set pieces. Certainly a great serve tonight and a very good finish by Barrett.”
On the play of Omar Gonzalez:
“I think he played very well, I thought the entire group played well, and obviously part of the reason we got the three points tonight. They’ve been pretty solid. Over the last 20 minutes I think Chivas put us under a lot of pressure with a lot of serves and our guys had to be up to the task and they were.”
On Chivas USA’s ability to pressure the Galaxy:
“I don’t think they were going to get behind us, I think the issue is just, were they going to be good enough and put together some passes and hold the ball up and being able to continually threaten us. I’m not sure they were able to accomplish that tonight, in the first half in particular. We were able to deal with (Justin) Braun and (Alejandro) Moreno and did a solid job and dealt with (Nick) LaBrocca coming forward and I think that was a positive. In the first half, they were dangerous in a couple of set pieces and, they did a good job, they played real hard today.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder Landon Donovan
On the team’s play:
“We created a lot of chances and moved the ball well. This year we have done that a lot in the first half and we have tried to continue that in the second half and for whatever reason we haven’t been able to do that, but sometimes when you are not perfect you have to find a way to win and I think that a lot of teams would have drawn or lost that game so we’re still happy.”
On the team’s mindset in the SuperClasico:
“We’re certainly confident in these games, but to their credit, this was as good of a game as they’ve given us in the past few years. They didn’t have any great chances, but they had some really good chances and they put a lot of pressure on us in the second half.”
On his defensive workrate tonight:
“It’s just the way the game was. I had a few chances to make a few plays, a couple I did okay on and a couple I didn’t do great on. I think that if we were a little better with our passing in the second half as we broke out we would have gotten some chances. I would have like to have been more involved offensively, but if you have a night like that where things aren’t going perfectly, you have to make sure that you do the defensive part and help your team win.”
On the play of the two forwards:
“I think [Chad] and Juan are getting more and more comfortable as games go on. It takes a while to acclimate into a team, especially a group of guys that have been together for a long time now. It took them a little while, but obviously the goal was great, Chad’s workrate was great, he was a little unlucky not to score the second, but I thought the two of them were good tonight.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder David Beckham
On his assist and the win:
“I know that if I put it in that area that we have a chance of scoring and it has happened the last few games. We want to continue that. This was an important game today but at the end of the day it’s just another game and another three points, but we feel like this is our stadium and it was important that we win this game.”
On winning the SuperClasico:
“At the end of the day it was another three points that we wanted. When you come up against your rivals in a derby game, you want to win. It’s important for the team and the organization to show that we’re not messing around and we’re serious about winning games and improving and I think that we did that tonight.”
On the team’s possession-oriented style of play:
“I think that if we can pass the ball around and we can keep the ball and keep possession, then we have players that can hurt other teams. We’ve done that the last few games, we’re continuing to do that and we’re working at doing that. It plays to our strengths because if we keep the ball well, we have players like Juninho and other players in the team that pass the ball around well and it creates chances, it creates spaces and we have players that can hurt teams if we do that.”
On the play of Chad Barrett:
“I think tonight was the best game that Chad has played in a Galaxy shirt. He’s been good the last few games getting good goal scoring opportunities and he did the same tonight. I think that his all around play tonight was exceptional and it was fitting that he got the winning goal.
On the play of Juninho:
“I think that [Juninho] has been the best player the last four or five games. He’s performing well, getting goal scoring opportunities, he’s winning the ball and passing the ball well. He’s a very talented young player and hopefully it continues because when he plays well it shows.”
LA Galaxy Forward Chad Barrett
On his goal:
“Nobody was in that space when I got there. And, I was just thinking, hey I’m going to stay in this space. Everyone kind of went to the back post. If anything, I was going to make sure that I got a flick on it or something. Fortunately, the ball went down, to my head, and I just gave a little flick and I don’t think Dan Kennedy was expecting it.”
On the scoring opportunity he had in the second half:
“I think if I would have scored that goal it would have made it easier (on us), instead of defending and worrying about them counter-attacking and scoring a goal. We have to have that killer instinct and go out there and get that second goal.”
On his performance:
“I want them to be something they expect from me. Obviously this is my first year with the Galaxy, in Toronto it was kind of the same way. Fans didn’t really respond to me at first and they came around eventually and that’s what I hope to do here. I like being the provider as much as the goal scorer, but ultimately I’m here to score goals and it was great to get the goal here and help the team get the three points.”
LA Galaxy Forward Juan Pablo Angel
On the win:
“I think that the team is playing well. Tonight probably wasn’t the greatest performance, but we won. These kinds of games, you don’t play them, you win them. It was a scrappy game, especially in the second half, we didn’t keep possession as much as we would have liked but in the end we got the three points and that is what counts.”
On winning over Chivas USA:
“At the end of the day it’s three points. We did, win this game, because those are important for the fans and for the confidence for the team, but we got the job done today. It wasn’t the prettiest game for us, but we got the job done.”
On the play of Chad Barrett:
“It’s good. Any striker would live off of their goals and tonight was an important one for Chad. He is working really hard for the team, he’s getting the goals and I’m delighted for him because at the end of the day, all of the hard work he is putting in is being rewarded by scoring goals.”
Notes:
- With the win, the Galaxy are now 6-2-5 on the season, leaving them with a league-best 23 points. LA remain in first place in the Western Conference and stretched their lead over second place FC Dallas six points. Real Salt Lake are seven points back in third place and will visit FC Dallas on Sunday.
- The Galaxy are now 13-3-5 all-time in the SuperClasico, including 6-1-3 when they are the road team.
- LA are now 6-0-1 in the first SuperClasico of the year, outscoring Chivas USA 16-5 in those games.
- Since the start of the 2008 season, the Galaxy are now 6-0-3 in the regular season against Chivas USA.
- Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made two changes to the team that beat Sporting Kansas City 4-1 last weekend at The Home Depot Center. Juan Pablo Angel and Donovan Ricketts each returned to the starting lineup in place of Miguel Lopez and Josh Saunders, each of who started the game on the bench.
- With Ricketts returning, Brian Perk was dropped from the 18-man Gameday squad for the only change in the group that dressed for tonight’s game.
- The Galaxy were without Sean Alvarado, Adam Cristman and Leonardo who are all recovering from knee surgery.
- Three of the 11 players in the Chivas USA starting lineup played previously for the Galaxy with Simon Elliott, Ante Jazic and Alejandro Moreno all lining up for the home side. Additionally, defender Zarek Valentin’s brother Julian Valentin played for the Galaxy from 2008-09.
- Chad Barrett gave the Galaxy a 1-0 lead in the 26th minute with his third goal of the season. Of his three goals, two have come in road games, having also scored in the 2-1 win at Chicago on April 17.
- Barrett’s goal was the first for the Galaxy by a non-Designated Player since his goal in the 4th minute of the 3-0 win over Portland on April 23.
- Each of Barrett’s last two goals have proven to be the game-winning goal in shutout victories for the Galaxy at The Home Depot Center.
- He is the first Galaxy player to score three or more goals in his first year with the club since Edson Buddle scored five times in 2007.
- David Beckham moved into a tie for the MLS lead in assists with six, setting up Barrett’s goal by providing the freekick for Barrett to head past Dan Kennedy.
- Five of Beckham’s six assists this season have come from set pieces. From 2007-2010, Beckham tallied just four assists from set pieces.
- The Galaxy are now 3-1-2 this season when Beckham records an assist.
- The Galaxy have now taken a 1-0 lead in five of their eight road games this season, going 3-0-2 in those five games.
- Landon Donovan did not score in the game, snapping his career-long five-game goal scoring streak.
- Donovan Ricketts made two saves to keep his fourth clean sheet in nine games this season.
- Ricketts is now 4-1-4 on the season with a 0.66 goals against average.
- The Galaxy have now shutout Chivas USA in five of the six games that the two sides have played with Bruce Arena as the club’s head coach.
- Todd Dunivant once again started and played the full 90 minutes at left back. He is the only Galaxy player to start every game this season and is the only one to play the full 90 minutes in each as well.
- Chad Barrett and Sean Franklin each started the game as well and join Dunivant as the only three Galaxy players to have each appeared in all 13 of LA’s games this season.
- The Galaxy’s three Designated Players each started tonight’s game. This was just the fourth time this season that Juan Pablo Angel, David Beckham and Landon Donovan were all in the starting lineup with the Galaxy tallying a 2-1-1 record in those four games with the only loss coming on May 1 in a 2-1 loss at FC Dallas in which the game-winning goal was scored following a 66-minute lightning delay, after which both Angel and Beckham were substituted.
- The Galaxy are now 3-2-0 against the Western Conference this season, with four of those five games being played on the road.
- After losing their first game in May, LA are now unbeaten in their last four, going 2-0-2.
- LA are now 5-1-3 when not allowing a first half goal.
- Chivas USA have not scored a first half goal against the Galaxy since July 10, 2008 in a 1-1 draw.
- The attendance for tonight’s game was a sellout crowd of 27,000. Seven of the Galaxy’s eight road games this season have been sellouts.
