Postgame Notes & Quotes: LA @ SJ

LA Galaxy Communications

LA Galaxy 0, San Jose Earthquakes 0
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Buck Shaw Stadium – Santa Clara, Calif.
Scoring Summary:
Misconduct Summary:

LA – Todd Dunivant (Yellow Card) 37’

LA – Josh Saunders (Red Card) 43’

SJ – Steven Lenhart (Yellow Card) 43’

Lineups:

LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts (Josh Saunders 24’); A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter©, Todd Dunivant©; Juninho, Michael Stephens, Chris Birchall, Mike Magee; Miguel Lopez (Sean Franklin 66’), Juan Pablo Angel (Chad Barrett 84’).

Subs Not Used: Jovan Kirovski, Paolo Cardozo, Adam Cristman, Bryan Jordan.

San Jose Earthquakes: Jon Busch, Steven Beitashour, Bobby Burling, Jason Hernandez, Ramiro Corrales©, Bobby Convey, Brad Ring, Khari Stephenson (Anthony Ampaipitakwong 46’), Ryan Johnson (Ellis McLoughlin 76’), Simon Dawkins, Steven Lenhart.

Subs Not Used: Andrew Weber, Sam Cronin, Chris Leitch, Brandon McDonald, Scott Sealy.

Referee: Juan Guzman

Referee’s Assistants Fabio Tovar and Kevin Duliba

4^th Official: Baldomero Toledo

Notes:

With the draw, the Galaxy are now 9-2-8 on the season, leaving them with a league-best 35 points. LA remain in first place in the Western Conference and are now seven points ahead of second place FC Dallas, who host Portland later tonight, and Seattle, who host New England on Sunday.
The Galaxy are now unbeaten in their last 10 games, going 5-0-5 in those contests for 20 of a possible 30 points.
The 10-game unbeaten streak is the longest in MLS this season. The Rapids had a nine-game unbeaten streak, but that was snapped by LA last weekend
Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made two changes to the team that beat the Colorado Rapids, 3-1, last weekend at Dicks Sporting Good Park. Gregg Berhalter and Donovan Ricketts each returned to the starting XI in place of Sean Franklin and and Josh Saunders, respectively. After making his 2011 debut in Colorado last week, Berhalter made his first start of the season on Saturday, while Ricketts returned to the lineup after being out the previous three games due to International Duty, playing with Jamaica in the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
In addition to Beckham, Frankie Hejduk (ankle) remained in Los Angeles as well. The Galaxy were also without Sean Alvarado and Leonardo who are each recovering from knee surgery.
With Beckham unavailable and Landon Donovan in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final in Pasadena, Berhalter wore the captain’s armband for the first time this season.
The Galaxy’s vice-captain Berhalter is the Galaxy’s fifth different captain this season. The club is now 0-0-1 with Berhalter as captain, 1-0-0 with Dunivant as captain, 1-0-0 with Ricketts as captain, 0-1-4 with Beckham as captain and 7-1-3 with Donovan as the captain.
Midway through the first half, Ricketts came off the field off play with a left forearm injury after a collision with Khari Stephenson in the 24th minute. Ricketts, who was replaced with Saunders, finished the game with two saves.
Saunders was on the field for 19 minutes before he saw referee Juan Guzman’s red card in the 43^rd minute, leaving Arena’s side one-ma n down and without a backup goalkeeper.
Due to the red card to Saunders and the injury to Ricketts, Mike Magee was forced to step in and make the switch from field player to goalkeeper. Magee, a midfielder, who had never played in goal in his MLS career, finished the game with four saves and helped the Galaxy record a shutout.
The shutout was Galaxy’s ninth of the season, second in the month of June.
The match, a physical affair that led to three yellow cards and one red card, ended with 24 fouls total (Nine for LA and 15 for San Jose). Earthquakes forward Steven Lenhart led the way with three fouls called on him, including one yellow card in the 43^rd minute for unsporting behavior.
The Galaxy and Earthquakes will conclude their season series on August 20^th at The Home Depot Center. The game, which will be broadcast by Prime Ticket, kick’s off at 7:30 p.m.
The attendance for tonight’s game was a sellout crowd of 10,872.
The Galaxy are back in action on Tuesday, June 28 against the Los Angeles Blues in the Third Round of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup at Titan Stadium in Fullerton, Calif. That game, which kicks off at 7:30 p.m. (PT).

Quotes:
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On San Jose’s Offense vs. Mike Magee in Goal:

“In retrospect they could have been a little more dangerous, but our two big center backs stepped up and Magee actually did alright in goal. We didn’t believe we were going to win the game. We thought that what we needed was to play for a tie. I think if we got a point out of this game in normal circumstances it would have been good, so we’re elated with the point.”

On Donovan Ricketts’ Injury:

“We don’t know. He needs to get an x-ray, but it doesn’t look good.”

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER/GOALKEEPER MIKE MAGEE
On Nominating Himself to be Goalkeeper:

“I think I blacked out. I looked around after Josh Saunders got the red card, and I nominated myself. I did alright I guess. Looking back I have no idea why I nominated myself. I had no idea that after halftime I would be back out on the field. Then it hit me that I was going back in goal, and that was pretty nerve-wracking. But Bruce gave me all the confidence I needed.”

On Galaxy Defense:

“The defense played great. They knew if they let any shots come at me it wouldn’t have been too pretty. Omar Gonzalez and Gregg Berhalter did an amazing job. All of the guys did really well. If anything went by it was probably a 50-50 chance that it was going in.”

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH FRANK YALLOP
On game:

“I thought that the first half was the best soccer that we have played since the team came back in 2008. We were moving the ball well and we created a number of chances. We should have been up a couple of goals. You have to give LA credit though because they didn’t buckle. In the second half, their game plan worked and ours didn’t. We couldn’t get that goal that would have changed the game.”

On playing with man advantage:

“We are disappointed that we didn’t get the three points today, especially playing a man up. We couldn’t break them down the way that we wanted to and LA really did a good job crushing the space. I can’t fault the guys for their effort, but we couldn’t sustain the good play we had early in the game in the second half.”

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER BOBBY BURLING
On inability to finish:

“Unfortunately that’s the game sometimes. A bounce here and there makes all the difference. We had a bunch of chances to score, but to their credit they made some good saves and got some good bounces. At the end of the day, a little luck in this game sometimes is what you need and luck seemed to be on their side today. It felt like there was a lid on the goal today.”

On start to the match:

“I think the midfield and the forwards really set the tone for the first 30 to 40 minutes of the first half. We were all over him really unlucky not to get a goal the first five minutes. I think (Donovan) Ricketts made four or five saves at point-blank range. Defensively, the red card made our job easier, basically defending one forward instead of two, but getting a shutout today doesn’t mean as much. It definitely felt like a loss today.”

SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES GOALKEEPER JON BUSCH
On shutout:

“I thought the defense played well today and we didn’t really give them anything, even when we weren’t a man up. I didn’t really have much to do today so it is a credit to the back four for making my job easy. Defensively we’ve been playing really well the past two months. Unfortunately today we just couldn’t get a goal to get the three points.”