Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 1 – 0 Vancouver Whitecaps FC
MLS Regular Season
Saturday, April 12, 2014
StubHub Center
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On Stefan Ishizaki’s performance:
“A great play by Stefan [Ishizaki] on the goal. Taking the ball down and getting by [Jay] DeMerit, whipping in a great cross to Robbie Keane. It was a great play. Stefan performed the best of the year. We got close to 80 minutes out of him. He looked a lot better. We think he can certainly continue to get better.”
On Jaime Penedo’s performance:
“Good solid performance. I think in the first half he made a terrific save on [Kekuta] Manneh. A play where [Dan] Gargan misjudged the ball and that was a big save. He wasn’t tested a whole lot tonight, but that save in the first half was key.”
On the team’s performance:
“We got a goal. That helped. I think going into half time they were going to hit a wall in the second half. They worked really hard the first 45 minutes. They had to chase the ball a lot. They were going to lose some of that energy in the second half. Certainly, getting that goal early changed the game. They can’t sit back and be content. And, the game opened up a little more. We created more chances. Unfortunately, we didn’t get another goal or two.”
On Vancouver’s speed:
“Their number 11 [Darren Mattocks] and 23 [Kekuta Manneh] are certainly dangerous. We were well aware of their speed. They tried at times to get behind our backline; I think our backline played very well tonight, in particular Leonardo and [Omar] Gonzalez. They did a good job to neutralize those dangerous forwards.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ROBBIE KEANE
On Stefan Ishizaki:
“The last few weeks, he has definitely been getting stronger. Physically, you can see his fitness is certainly getting better. I knew that with space, the more I make, he’s going to find me, and that was the case.”
On Vancouver:
“They were good, very well organized, if I do say so myself. They have a good manager, so I have to say that. But they were very well organized and made it difficult for us at times. I knew that if we kept the ball moving, and we got the first goal that it would open the game for us, and that was the case.”
On the team’s passing:
“I thought the passing was great; maybe not the first half, but definitely the second half. The way we moved the ball, the way we passed, I think was probably the best. When teams go around, the game opens up. With the players that we have, they’ll keep the ball and make it difficult for the other team. And that was the case, in the second half you can see they were certainly getting tired because the passes were killing them a little.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On Vancouver:
“They’re a fast team, quick team. I thought they played well in the first half actually. We worked hard; I think our passing wasn’t great. That being said, we still created a few chances, fortunately Jaime [Penedo] made a couple of good saves. We wanted to do better in the first half, but I thought our second half was very good, and in the end we deserved to win.”
On the second half goal:
“It was just a great goal. Good touch by Stefan [Ishizaki], great run by Robbie [Keane], great cross. In a game like that we need someone to make a play, and those two made a play and it ended up being the difference. He is an incredible player, and he knows how to play the game.”
On the team’s overall performance:
“It was good to get a few chances. We as a team had enough chances to score some goals tonight, but all in all it was a good performance and we are happy with the result. I think they got worn out; they put a lot of effort and energy in the first half with the ball and defending. Eventually when our ball movement got better, we passed the ball better, we wore them out. Their forwards wore out, hard to chase our defenders. We did a good job at making them work in the second half; our only fault is that we needed to punish them more.”
On second leg in Vancouver:
“We’ll see, it’s going to be interesting. It’s an interesting dynamic playing two times in a row, much like a playoff series. We’ll have to make adjustments, and I’m sure they’ll have to make some adjustments, and I’m sure the game will look different there. So we’ve got to be smart, we have a good road mentality. We understand how to play on the road, but we are going to have to be a little better if we want to get a result there.”
On #Landon135:
“It’ll happen when it happens. I’m happy with every one of my performances this year, I’ve played well in every game, and I thought I played well tonight. I want to contribute, if I can hit the net, it would be nice but at this point with winning games and playing well, I’m happy. I’m getting a lot of chances, and I had a lot against Chivas [USA]. I just have to keep doing the right things, hit the target and eventually it’s going to go in.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER STEFAN ISHIZAKI
On his performance:
“As you play more games, you get more comfortable on the pitch. The more that I play with all my teammates, I get a better feel for them and they get a better feel for me. I’m still not 100 percent or on the top of my form yet, but it’s getting better.”
On the goal:
“We had possession on the right hand side, Juninho gave me a ball up and I had a really good first touch. The defender gave me time and dropped off a little bit so I could see what was in the box. Robbie put his hand up and I picked him out. When I saw that the keeper didn’t come for it and I saw that Robbie was coming with pace, I was sure that he was going to finish it.”
On Vancouver’s play:
“They made it tough for us. They didn’t give us a lot of time on the ball. We tried to play, but they made it hard. We still created some good chances and probably should have finished a few of them, but in the second half, we came out flying and scored in the first few minutes. That’s always a great sign.”
On interchanging with Robbie Keane:
“Robbie has the great vision and sometimes I try to run off and make space for him, but today they were running up close to him so it was up to me and Landon to take that role a little bit more. I’m comfortable with that and I like the ball at feet and I like running at defenders and making that final play.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER A.J. DELAGARZA
On his performance:
“I was comfortable out there. My first priority was defending, and for the most part the whole back line, all the midfielders, and everyone defending did pretty well tonight.”
On Robbie Keane’s performance:
“Robbie is always in front of the goal, puts them away, so we’re happy.”
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC HEAD COACH CARL ROBINSON
On tonight’s game:
“The boys played very well obviously one minute of lack of concentration in the start of the second half cost us. A long straight ball, the ball got in behind us and Robbie [Keane] finished off. Disappointed with the goal but very pleased with the performance.”
On the performance of his young players:
“Rusty [Russell Teibert] as was fantastic as was Gershon Koffie. I think today some of my young players came of age. It’s a tough environment to come and play against a very good team, a very organized team, a very successful team and they showed that we can go head to head which was a pleasing thing.”
On Robbie Keane:
“I was pleased for him because he played very well obviously he got the winner. He told us a few positive things about the team and the way we played so that was pleasing from a top player. Today he took his chance. We didn’t take our chances, which was unfortunate and obviously we didn’t get anything out of the game.”
On David Ousted:
“He was great. He was great all week and it is about getting him up to speed with his fitness. No doubt in his ability and he showed it today. Away at LA is not an easy game. He was electric in the first half as was Darren [Mattocks] and Seba [Sebastian Fernandez].
On not playing Kenny Miller and Nigel Reo-Coker:
“Kenny [Miller] has played the first five games after having no preseason so I wanted to look after him as well. Rested Kenny obviously Nigel has been out for two weeks working his way and I just felt that I need young legs in there. I went for Russell [Teibert] and [Gershon] Koffie but I spoke to the guys before the announcement and they were good and they were fine and they responded great.”
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FORWARD KEKUTA MANNEH
On the result of the game:
“We created some chances and played how we wanted to play. We went one down and lost the game one to zero but I thought overall our performance was great. We had some attacking plays and defended well, they just got the one goal. There were positive things from the team and as we play together and get to know each other better, we will definitely put some good performances together.”
On his play tonight:
“Right now I am happy to be creating chances and the team was helping me with that as well so that is a positive. We have to keep the momentum going and next week we will take them on again and hopefully get three points next game. We can definitely hang with them, tonight we were unlucky to concede the goal, but the team performance was great and we played together and did what we wanted to do.”
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS MIDFIELDER GERSHON KOFFIE
On Vancouver’s performance tonight:
“We came here to get some points, but we had a lapse for five seconds and then came back but unfortunately couldn’t equalize the goal.”
On playing alongside Russell Teibert:
“I think the manager [Carl Robinson] decided to go with a youth side and I like playing with Russell [Teibert]. We have good communication on and off the field; I was delighted to play with him.”
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS MIDFIELDER ERIK HURTADO
On the performance of Vancouver:
“I thought the team did really well. The first half we came out fine, came out strong. I thought we actually played really well the entire game, besides the second minute of the second half, which is the only time we shut off. We matched them for eighty nine minutes and we have a youthful team, it shows how well we are going forward this season.”
On getting more minutes tonight:
“It always feels good to get some minutes. You get in and try to help your team and affect the game. That is what I try to do, go on and help my team win.”
On playing the Galaxy again in Vancouver:
“We are going to show up with a chip on our shoulder. They beat us at their home so we want to beat them at ours. Los Angeles is a good team and I know our team is going to get up for that game and be ready to win.”
