CARSON, Calif. -- LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena spoke to the media after the club's 2-0 victory over the Chicago Fire in the opening match of the 2015 regular season.
Arena's comments are below.
(On starting Jose Villarreal…)
“Obviously he played well, and obviously got the winning goal for a really big game. He is a good player; he dedicates himself to being a good professional. He’s got the talent to be a real good player, so I’m really pleased with his game today. … Last year for a while, we loaned him to Cruz Azul and it didn’t work out. He came back, but 2014 was really a little bit of a wasted year for him. We started to get him going a little bit with Galaxy II, but he’s is a player with a lot of talent, maybe his best position would be a second forward. Perhaps where Robbie Keane plays, but he’s not going to get on the field because of that. We have a lot of forwards, and we asked him to make this transition to midfield, and it’s a bit challenging, but he has worked real hard to get fit. I thought tonight he showed that, and he did in his last couple of preseason games. So we’re pretty excited about his development.”
(On relying on Stefan Ishizaki with the absence of Donovan…)
“I don’t even give any of that a thought. We’re building a team for this year, and it has nothing to do with Landon not being here. It has to do with the players that are here and getting better and making our team better. Landon is obviously respected, and we appreciate everything he has done, but that is over. Ishizaki is in his second year in this league, he is much more comfortable. He is a very good player, and we expect him to have a really good year this year, as he did last year.”
(On defensive line…)
ARENA: “It’s a pretty experienced group. All of our players, beside the group the group that started tonight, you saw A.J. coming on, we have Tommy Meyer, and Todd Dunivant, we have good experienced players that can play multiple positions in the back line and they have played together for a while. So they are pretty consistent and obviously talented. Omar is a tremendous talent, Leonardo is probably a little bit of an unsung hero, he’s played very well for us, he is going to have an outstanding season.”
(On why Rowe started over Penedo…)
ARENA: “Jaime has had some knocks in preseason and he hasn’t played that much. We felt that Brian was a little ahead of Jaime at this point.”
(On UniMas reporting that Penedo sat out the game due to contract negotiations…)
ARENA: “He is healthy…That wasn’t my decision. Our decision was made because we felt that Brian was the right guy for this game.”
(On the league starting on time…)
ARENA: “It was great. I think the league had to go on, and start on schedule this year. I don’t think we could have received the type of support we need if there we had a strike and the season was delayed. I think it’s important that we got the season started on time, and obviously we are real happy to be able to play.”
(On the experienced nature of the team…)
ARENA: “It’s the same thing for the most part, they’re an experienced group, & they know how to play and at home we obviously played well. But it’s an experienced group of players on the field and they’ve tasted a lot of success and they understand what they need to do to win games. We’ve been through it before, and I thought the first half we played well, especially the last 15 minutes of the half. So I think it’s just a matter of time to get a goal, and I think Chicago started off the second half much better. They put us under some pressure, so obviously Jose’s goal was big. We thought that we put them in a position where they tire out a little bit because they had to do a lot of defending in the first half. Our guys kept their concentration and had the kind of discipline they needed to have. When they got the first goal, I thought they felt pretty comfortable that they would be able to get a second one, and get three points.”
(On if the team’s sharpness ‘waxed and waned’…)
ARENA: “Wax and wane? I don’t know if it did that. Wax and wane? We weren’t as sharp as we needed to be. It was the first game of the season. The players don’t fully have their legs yet, but if we were a little bit sharper in the first half then we’d get a goal, no question.”
