CARSON, Calif. -- LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena spoke to reporters after the Galaxy's 2-1 win over Columbus Crew SC.
On if he felt the team took his advice to shoot more:
“I don’t think that was the goal tonight. The goal tonight was to get three points. That was accomplished.”
On what changed for the team in the second half:
“We played better. I think the first half was pretty even. Both teams had a few chances. I thought in the last 15-20 minutes of the first half we had a little bit more control of the game. They worked real hard and then got a little bit tired. I think in the second half it was going to take a special play by someone to win the game. And in my book, I’d still like to consider Baggio’s goal as the game-winning goal, but I think it was a fantastic goal obviously. Giovani dos Santos’ goal was a good goal, an opportunistic goal. And overall I think we played pretty well. I’m disappointed with that fiasco in the end or whatever caused the penalty kick, whether it was won or not. I would have like to just walk off the field 2-0. But having said that, I’ll take the three points and leave it at that.”
On Brian Rowe’s performance:
“He did a good job. There was one play where he had to be pretty sharp in the first half, he did well there. And he dealt with all the shots from the outside. Generally teams against us will get us off of corners and those type of things. I think all in all, I think our backline, for the most part, played pretty well. I little unsteady in the first 15-20 minutes, but I think after that they did a good job and at the end of the game we just need to be better on that play that created a penalty kick.”
On Raul Mendiola’s performance:
“Good job. Obviously he’s a fighter; he’s skillful. He’s the kind of player that when you pick sides you’d like to take him because he’s going to battle for you. He’s going to play through the good and bad throughout the game. He’s a real competitor and I like that. I decided to play him tonight because I felt we just needed a little bit more energy on the field, a little bit more competitiveness. He brings that. He’s an honest player, can play on both sides of the ball. Did a real steady job.”
