Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 3 – 0 Chivas USA
MLS Regular Season
Sunday, April 6, 2014
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LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA:
On the play of Stefan Ishizaki:
“In time he is going to give us good passing. He is capable of scoring goals like he demonstrated today, but he needs a little time, he is still making the adjustment in to the league. Today is a difficult day for a player that has played in Europe his whole life, a lot in Scandinavia and all of a sudden he is on a field that is about 80 degrees, it’s sticky, all of that. So that was a little challenging for not only Stefan but all the players. The conditions were difficult today to play in. He had a solid game, obviously a good goal. I think he needs to deal with the speed and the pressure on the ball a little bit better than he did today.”
On the tactical changes made in the midfield:
“I don’t want to underscore us or over score us. Formations are what they are. It’s 11 players out on the field. It so happens that it accommodates the players that we have out there a little bit better. If we somehow shifted [Marcelo] Sarvas next to Juninho and Stefan [Ishizaki] a little on the right and Baggio [Husidic] a little bit on the right, the world wasn’t going to change. Don’t be understanding that this formation is what we’re changing; it’s the 11 players on the field. If that was the case, then you create formations all day using that as a reason of why you’re winning or not winning. And really in all honesty, I really think it is overplayed and I think it is a question of how those players move together and work for each other.”
On the team’s first win of the season:
“I suspected we win a game at some point this year, I think we have such an awkward schedule it’s been difficult. It’s just good to get back playing again and winning a game. You know you have to win a game, that’s the name of the game. That’s why you play. It’s important, it’s our first win. It has to establish some confidence in the team, and it’s good to just be playing again. If we had to do another two weeks of training, I think we’d kill each other, we wouldn’t have a team ready for the next game.”
On the team’s performance:
“We do have a good team. We have good days. We had a good day today, but I think we were a bit sloppy. I think we could have been better today. Obviously we had a two goal lead at half time and it’s a little easier. I anticipated this game would be a close game. I think we did a good job in the first 15 minutes of the second half and basically killed the game.”
On Landon Donovan’s 90 minute performance:
“He played 30 minutes the other day. He played 90 minutes today, we’d expect a little fatigue but 30 minutes shouldn’t bother him. Landon is pretty fit, and he looked pretty good to me tonight.”
On Chivas USA’s performance:
“Like I told Wilmer [Cabrera] after the game, I think he is doing a good job with the team. It’s a starting point. Defensively they had a plan there, they’re hard to break down. The players worked hard for 90 minutes, which is a good sign for them, and that means in our league that if you could do that then you can steal some games, you’re going to win some others but you’re going to be around there. So those are the characteristics they have. I think they have a very good goalkeeper in Dan Kennedy, they have a young player up top who has now scored goals in the League, [Erick] Torres, which is encouraging. [Mauro] Rosales could play for any team in the league. [Carlos [Bocanegra] is a good experienced player. They’ve got good players and good things going and they have a good year. I think for sure there are more signs of improvement for Chivas.”
On the play of forward Robbie Keane
“Robbie [Keane] doesn’t necessarily like these conditions. This would be like burning in hell in Ireland. He got the first goal; he was part of a bunch of goal scoring opportunities. He could have had another goal. Robbie played well; he is a factor on the field.”
On the team’s midfielders:
“They’re all good soccer players. There’s enough bite in them where they can win tackles. Marcelo [Sarvas], Juninho, and Baggio [Husidic ] get around the ball pretty well. They can all pass the ball; those are good characteristics for midfield players. If your midfield players can’t pass the ball then you’ve got some problems. So that helps us a little bit.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On everything being put together today:
“Aside from the first half against Tijuana away, we’ve actually played well most of the year. Today we rewarded ourselves; we really threatened them from the beginning. Fortunately the goals came, which doesn’t happen sometimes like we saw against Salt Lake and it makes things difficult. We did a great job getting the goals.”
On the experienced new additions contributing:
“They’re experienced and they have a lot of quality. There’s not a ton of guys in this league who can score a goal like Stefan did. That takes really quality to score a goal like that. Baggio’s movement and his passing has been great in terms of the way that he links up with us. His finishing has been good as well. We have more experience and more quality as well and it’s showing.”
On the midfield diamond:
“We’re putting our passing team on the field. We have a lot of quality on the field so we move well and pass well. When guys are combining, it’s really difficult to defend against. When Robbie and I get underneath the other guys are recognizing it well and moving forward. Marcelo got behind them, Baggio got behind them, Stefan got behind them, Juninho got forward and made plays, so when you make defenders deal with all those things, it makes it very difficult.”
On the midfield diamond again:
“They spend a lot of time defending us and worrying about us and that makes it difficult especially on a day like today where it’s so hot. When you do a lot of chasing and defending, when you get the ball then you don’t have the energy to go forward. We did a good job of pressing and getting the ball back immediately so we were able to have wave after wave of attack.”
On him not finishing:
“I don’t feel unlucky. I can do better with those chances, but it was a little sticky today and the ball caught up a few times. I’m happy with how I played, I thought I played well. Goals will come, I’m happy to win games.”
On the ball movement:
“Today was very enjoyable. We had a lot of fun playing today and as we get more comfortable playing with another, it’s going to get even better. We have the quality to pull of plays like that. It’s not always going to happen perfectly but we certainly have the ability.”
On the record:
"I just want to play well and eventually goals will come. I’m not worried about [the record]. As long as I play well and I’m contributing then that’s what is important. “
On the dominant showing:
“I think that we expected a little more, but it was hot and we played well. You have to give us credit. They had to defend for long stretches and when you’re running without the ball, it becomes disheartening. We didn’t give them a lot of time to play and catch their breath. We kept the pressure on and you have to credit us with that.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ROBBIE KEANE:
On the dominant showing:
“It was a great performance from start to finish from the way that we played to the manner that we played. Keeping possession, keeping the ball and sometimes that extra pass can open up the defense. Certainly that was the case today.
On the midfield diamond:
“We have more possession the ball, if you look at the players that we have in there, they’re certainly not wide players, but technically they’re very, very good. As I said before, when you keep that ball and you make the opposition run more than you do, ultimately they’re going to get tired, and that was certainly the case. Then when you have extra bodies in the center of the park with myself and Landon running off at times making it even more [packed], I think they found it difficult to deal with.”
On the stylish passing:
“Certainly you look at the third goal. It was certainly a proper goal the way that we like to play. A counter attack, keeping the ball and going as quick as possible, and ultimately we got a great goal from it.”
On a possible confidence booster:
"It’s always good to get the first win on the board. I think that I mentioned a few weeks ago that I wasn’t too worried about us. I was fairly confident with the way that we were playing and, certainly, the way that we were training. It was going to come, it’s only been three games so we certainly be too carried away with ourselves, but today is a performance that has been coming for a couple of games. Even when we played in the Champions League, you could just sense [a good performance] was coming. [Today’s] was a performance that we certainly enjoyed because that’s what we enjoy doing, just keeping the ball down, making the ball very quickly and making the ball very quickly. That’s what we did today.”
On his goal:
“I just ran in and I thought that Dan was going to smash me. I don’t know whether it hit my arm or my side…I knew that it hit off me and I anticipated that the goalkeeper was going to come out. I just jumped up to get my body in the way and lucky enough, it hit of me.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER DAN GARGAN
On his condition:
“I’m okay. I just got crunched a little bit. I got hit on the backside and moved the wrong way which squished everything together. It’s nothing serious.”
On his performance:
“I thought it was good. We did well today. We spread them out, had a good shape and moved the ball around. Bruce has asked me with the way that we are playing to take the space available. I don’t mind that, I’m feeling fit and I have the ability to get up the flanks. If it’s there, I like to get into the attack and I want to be a part of it.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER BAGGIO HUSIDIC:
On the buildup play of his first MLS goal:
“It was a nice goal. It was a good goal, a team goal. There’s no better way to put it, a lot of one-two touch, from the back to the front really quick.”
On the team’s formation:
“I think Bruce [Arena] is putting a lot of central midfielders in that diamond shape, and I was kind of hoping, of course, to have more possession. A more passing kind of team, get the outside backs to run and it seems to be working. I think defensively we’ve been very solid. I think Marcelo [Sarvas] has been doing well tucking in and making it difficult for them. I think the only chance that they had was [Mauro] Rosales crossing from 20-30 [yards out], but nothing too dangerous.”
On the diamond midfield:
“It seems to be working. We’ve limited the chances for the other teams and I don’t see why he would change it at the moment but of course each team plays different so he’s going to make formations and make changes.”
On his goal:
“It’s been a while, two years. It was my second game at Hammarby. Actually, it wasn’t even my goal. I hit it near the post and the goalie messed up and it went in, but they gave it to me. This one though was a proper goal.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER OMAR GONZALEZ:
On the team’s performance:
“It was a great team win, I think everyone was on. We knew that it was going to be hot out there so we wanted to make sure to keep the ball and make them run a lot, tire them up, and I think that is what we did. We played a good, calm game and when we were in front of goal we finished our chances and it was a great day.”
On the team’s formation:
“I think this is our second game with it now and it’s looking good so far. The way we played the past two games, we’re making good strides with that formation and hopefully it can just keep on getting better.”
On Chivas USA lack of shots on goal:
“It’s great for us, as long as we can keep on doing that we’ll be winning games. I think we have to be smarter towards the end of the games when we start trying to be too cute towards the end and we gave them those chances. We just have to be smarter, recognize when they’re starting to press and make them make mistakes.”
On the team’s performance:
“think we still made a couple of mistakes but for the most part it was a very good 90 minutes. Getting Chivas 3-0 is always great, so now we look forward to Vancouver and hopefully we can put on the same performance against them.”
On the team’s best performance of the season against archrivals:
“Three games in and we put a performance out like this, so that is good. That means there’s a lot more to come, because we are all still getting sharper and it gets me excited.”
Chivas USA
CHIVAS USA HEAD COACH WILMER CABRERA:
Thoughts on the game:
“Today, since I’ve been here, today we played the worst game. As a team, individually and collectively, we didn’t play well from the beginning. It didn’t feel good and the team never looked good and today’s game is not a game that you can take lightly, especially against the LA Galaxy. They overplayed us, we were never a threat, we never came back. Today was a very bad day for all of us.”
On how to stop the team from getting into last year’s mentality:
“I think we have to see we haven’t played that bad throughout the year, so today we didn’t find a good shape, we didn’t find the ball, we didn’t combine, we didn’t create options, so that was today, and tomorrow we have to get up and continue working, and that’s the mentality that we have. We can’t just start crying because we lost or celebrate too much when we win, no we have to put our feet on the ground to realize that we have a lot of work to do, and today we didn’t perform at the level that we should and that we have. Against LA Galaxy or any other team in MLS you can’t perform the way we did today.”
Does today’s result change the progress accomplished thus far?:
“No, I believe in this team and these players. But there’s no doubt that in order for us to become a better team, a more competitive team in MLS, we have to be more consistent and we have to take every game as a final, and we cannot just suddenly don’t show up or not perform. That’s impossible. We have to be sure that we come to every game with energy and discipline and with good mentality. That’s important for us and we need to use today as a lesson for the rest of the season.”
On the lack of scoring chances:
“Today we didn’t show sharpness, we didn’t show fire. In a game like this, you cannot come flat because they are going to make you pay for it, and they did it. We have to realize that we still have to work in our mentality, in our discipline and our energy during the 90 minutes because if we do that, we are going to be ok the way we’ve been doing so far, but today was a really bad day.”
On when Chivas USA realized the game was lost:
“I think when we were down 2-0 at halftime, I told the guys that if we could score one goal, we could come back and that that would be a different game. Let’s try to find that goal, let’s try to go after them, and it’s going to be ok, but the third goal came in and then the guys didn’t quit, but there was no answer on the field. Even when we tried to fight and made some changes, bring some fresh legs on the field, we didn’t find a way to create options and score a goal. At that point you notice that Galaxy was happy with the result and for us, we just couldn’t find a way to score a goal. Let’s turn the page, and look forward to the next game.”
CHIVAS USA GOALKEEPER DAN KENNEDY
Thoughts on the game:
“Certainly, it’s a new group and a new coaching staff. It’s something that I’ve said before that I’m extremely optimistic about being a part of. Days like today, this is when you got to dig in. Our expectation was to come in here and win this game and we’re disappointed; it was not a good performance. We obviously have a lot of work to do, but you’ve seen from us glimpses and times, like in the New York game, where we’ve done really well. It’s important that we don’t just completely freak out about what happened today, just mark it up as a bad performance and we got a handful of days to prepare for Portland.”
On whether today’s performance reflects past seasons:
“I don’t feel that way at all, we have a very experienced locker room. I think you can see, even up to this point, you can see the quality of players that we have; it’s definitely a different group. We got to make sure that we’re tough. We knew this was going to be a hard season, and mentally we have to stay motivated and after a game like today, we should have everything to prove.
“I never felt like there was a black cloud here. My goal is to always be optimistic and positive and that’s the way I keep going. I’m definitely excited about our future here.”
On the lack of spark or fire in the SuperClásico:
“I felt like everyone was out there giving everything. Maybe the sharpness wasn’t there in possession. I know for me, this rivalry means everything. I don’t want to lose a game, but most importantly to them. I think, for the day, we weren’t good enough and the performance showed it in the end.”
CHIVAS USA DEFENDER ANDREW JEAN-BAPTISTE
Thoughts on the match:
“It’s unfortunate the result did not go our way. I know this team has a lot of character, they are solid. A loss like this can hurt a lot of teams, but I know we are not going to dwell on it too long. What’s done is done, we know our mistakes and we are already looking forward. We played against a good team today. They exploited some of the things that we did wrong, which on the good side is what we needed, so we know what we did wrong and we’re going to just work on it and get better it.”
On starting at left back Sunday:
“It’s a new position. I have not played outside back in some years, but whatever coach needs me in I’m going to just go out there and try and put in 100 percent.”
On injuries that have changed the team’s lineup:
“Injuries are the worst thing you can probably hear when you think about going into a season. It’s part of the adversity every team has to deal with and we’re going to just deal with it and do the best that we can and put the players that we can put in and hope that they do the job. They guys on this team, they were brought here because they can do the job. Injuries are unfortunate, but there is no reason we should think that it should be an excuse on our team performance.”
On next week’s match at Portland:
“Going back to Portland where it all started, I know it’s a crazy environment, I know the fans I know how they get into some players’ heads. A lot of teams crumble under that kind of pressure but I just look at it like I’m going right back home. I see nothing by it. A lot of guys on this team have played there, so they shouldn’t see it any different than another game against another team. We’re going to go in there and try to get a result we that we’re capable of because we are a really good team.”
