CARSON, Calif. – Energy is a key part of Michael Stephens' game so it was no surprise that the LA Galaxy midfielder was the only player from the Galaxy to go the full 90 minutes in Tuesday night's 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.
In 90 minutes of action against Spurs, Stephens was able to provide constant pressure on the Tottenham midfield as he helped the Galaxy hold on to the draw. But in the end, it wasn't just Stephens' grit that made an impact as he also played a role in helping Marcelo Sarvas set up David Junior Lopes' game-tying-goal in the 28th minute of play.
Stephens’ post game thoughts are below:
(On his role in Lopes’ goal…)
STEPHENS: “I waited too long. If I had given it to Marcelo earlier, he could have had a better shot. I took too long and I gave it to Marcelo and that was his only choice at that point, but it worked out.”
(On the team’s play in the first half…)
STEPHENS: “I felt like in the first half especially, they had a high line and we did a good job playing some longer balls and ended up getting some breakaways.”
(On Robbie Keane’s confidence level vs. his old team…)
STEPHENS: “I don’t know but I thought that he looked really good. I thought he had a really good game, he was getting a lot of the ball and he was helping us a lot in the first half by being an outlet.”
(On what he learned…)
STEPHENS: “The one thing is when they get the ball; they go forward and they go forward quickly. I think that most of the guys on their team have a lot of pace and they didn’t really take their time to build up, they just went for it as soon as they got the ball."
(On playing against Gareth Bale…)
STEPHENS: “I thought that he was impressive and probably the most impressive player on their team. When he got the ball, he was pretty dangerous.”
