LA Galaxy Postgame Notes
LA Galaxy 0, FC Dallas 0
Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016
2016 MLS Regular Season
StubHub Center – Los Angeles, Calif.
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH AND GENERAL MANAGER BRUCE ARENA
On if the team can turn the page to focus on the postseason:
“Well clearly, if we’re not able to do that right now, we’re in a lot of trouble. It was still important to play this game today than get on with the business of the playoffs. I’ll congratulate Dallas on the Supporters’ Shield. I can’t process it the right way not understanding how you do that when you have an unbalanced schedule. It seems a little odd to me, but hopefully they can fix that down the road and it’ll make a little more sense. But they had a good year and credit to them.”
On facing Real Salt Lake in the Knockout Round:
“A good team. I think we played them twice this year…beat them at home and had a tie on the road there. Always a good team. Obviously a team we’ve seen before in the playoffs. We expect a tough match. I know they had a good one in Seattle today. As always, any team you’re playing in the playoffs is going to be ready to play.”
On the performance of the team’s younger players today:
“It was good to get Ariel Lassiter on the field and see where he’s at. It’s good for him to help gauge his performance as well. A number of players got an opportunity today and I think that’s a positive. Certainly we’ll have changes when we open up the playoffs from the lineup today.”
On Jelle Van Damme’s performance:
“Solid. He needed a game. He hadn’t played in two, maybe three weeks, I can’t remember exactly. His last game he was suspended for the game at Houston. He played Dallas Oct. 1, so it’s been three weeks and it was important to have him play and get him ready for the playoffs.”
On playing an elimination game instead of home-and-away:
“Well I think it’s good. I think if you look at the calendar, there’s international fixture dates during the playoffs and it would be very difficult to play home-and-away and then get on with the next rounds. We just don’t have enough dates in our calendar to accommodate many more games in the playoffs. So the only way you could expand the playoff field and get the games in is to play a midweek single game. That’s all you can do.”
On Giovani dos Santos being named team MVP:
“He had a very good year obviously. His numbers tell you that. He had 14 goals on the year and a number of assists. He had a good year and grew as a player. It’s his first year playing regularly…in his career, I think. And hopefully he continues to get better. But he had a much improved year and he’s gotten acclimated to our city, our club and our league and hopefully he continues to get better.”
On the partnership of Jelle Van Damme and AJ DeLaGarza continuing into the playoffs:
“It’s possible. Dan Steres has had a very good year. We haven’t decided on who we’re going to use in the first game, but obviously one would assume Jelle will be paired with AJ or Dan.”
On how he would define this regular season:
“Long. Awkward. I think the MLS regular season is difficult and I think probably, if I was coaching in the NBA or NHL I’d tell you the same thing. We probably need to be better in how we schedule and organize our travel in the league. As the league has grown geographically and the number of teams and the time zones and conditions it seems like the whole year we were playing teams at 90 degree temperatures at 12 o’clock and 1 o’clock. It wears you out. It’s been a long and testing year. It’s just a battle.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER LANDON DONOVAN
On his performance:
“I felt like I wasn’t thinking about my fitness anymore. So that was good. Obviously we wanted a better result, but all in all, given everything, I think we got what we wanted, aside from the result, out of the game.”
On playing Real Salt Lake:
“They’re a pretty similar team consistently. They play a little bit differently now out of a 4-3-3. So tactically it changes a few things, but it’s pretty obvious where their strengths are. Kyle Beckerman is one of the best players in the league in his position. But when Yura Movsisyan and Joao Plata play, they’re terrific. Morales is as good as it comes. We know they’re a good team. There’s no two ways about it: they’re a very good team. This is a game that’s going to be a real test for us and we know that.”
On the team’s unity ahead of the playoffs:
“I think the last three weeks have been really good. What hasn’t shown up yet is the quality in the attacking third and when you’re missing, last week, two of your best attacking players in Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard and today all three of them with Giovani Dos Santos…it’s going to be hard to create real chances. But I think when you look at the way we play, the ability to not give away too many chances and just the effort…we have a chance. Now we need to make plays on the other end of the field.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER JELLE VAN DAMME
On the team’s performance:
“Of course I wanted to win, but I don’t think we created enough chances to get the three points today. I think we defended well and our shape was pretty much okay, but we didn’t create enough to be able to say we deserved to win.”
On winning the LA Galaxy Defender of the Year Award:
“It’s good. It’s always nice to be recognized for the stuff you do. I appreciate those things. And at the end, I want to win the big team prizes, but it’s always good to win some individual things as well.”
On how the team approaches the postseason:
“I look at is as another season. You just know mentally as well. It’s money time. Our game is coming up Wednesday or Thursday and if you lose you’re out. It’s maybe just a little bit different of an approach, but for me it’s the same season, it’s all a bit more important though.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER A.J. DELAGARZA
On if the playoffs is a fresh start for the team:
“I think guys know now it’s win or you go home. You can be done in October, but the goal is to win in December which is a big gap. So we’d rather be playing games in the playoffs rather than training for weeks after our season. I think this team always finds a way to turn it up a notch whether that be in training or in games in the playoffs so starting tomorrow we’ve got to get back at it.”
On if there is a mental change:
“There’s a mental change. We’ve got guys in here who have won a bunch of MLS cups so we’re obviously capable of doing it and we’re going to show that Wednesday or Thursday.”
On how important it is to play the Knockout Round game at home:
“You don’t want to go on the road in a playoff game especially like we did last year against Seattle in the knockout game. But we know how much better we are at home than we are on the road. We’ve just got to put some goals away and defend well. Salt Lake is a good team, so we’ve got to be ready.”
FC DALLAS HEAD COACH OSCAR PAREJA
Thoughts on winning the game and the Supporters’ Shield:
“Obviously it’s a prize and reward for the guys with such an effort this week. Going to Guatemala and advancing in CONCACAF, getting a tremendous result at home against Seattle that put us in the run and gave us the option to come and own the destiny of this cup and they came to LA and got the job done. We are really proud. The game was obviously hard. In the first half we resolved some questions that we had with their lineup and their formation. The boys adapted to it and we thought we had options to score and unbalance the game but we were not finding it in the last third. But the composure of the team the whole game just gave me an idea of how much the team has grown and in the second half it was very controlled. You could see a team that was very mature. And we’re happy now obviously and just thinking about the playoffs.”
On his team’s motivation to win the treble of U.S. Open Cup, Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup:
“I’ve been trying hard just to keep the boys in the philosophy of playing one game at a time and with our group sometimes it’s, in my opinion, overwhelming just to demand such an assignment. It’s fine to dream about it, but for them it’s just one game at a time. So a change every three days in our mode is going to CONCACAF, playing for the Cup, trying to sustain our position in the league, come here and fight for the Supporters’ Shield…it’s a lot. But now we have the next objective and it’s the playoffs and obviously that will make us feel that the treble is possible. But this group of players hasn’t placed that as a priority, we just go one at a time and I think that has been working well.”
FC DALLAS FORWARD TESHO AKINDELE
On winning the Supporters’ Shield:
“To me it shows that we are the best team in MLS. This is 34 games and we came out on top and I think that shows that we are the best team, I think we deserved it. We were on top most of the season. We’re a good team.”
On whether they knew what was going on with the Colorado game:
“Nobody on the field did but people on the bench knew. They didn’t want people on the field relaxing because we knew the Colorado [score] was in our favor. When I was on the field I didn’t know, when I came off they let me know. Nobody knew unless you were off the field.”
On what the team did best this year:
“I think it was just a combination of things. We played good defense for most of the year and offensively we had a lot of different people contributed and scored goals and we worked hard. Everybody in our team ran a lot and I think those were the three keys.”
FC DALLAS DEFENDER WALKER ZIMMERMAN
On the team’s performance and attitude throughout the scoreless draw:
“We were comfortable. As the beauty of where we had put ourselves in that position and if we held them to zero, we were going to be champions at the end of the day. The longer it was 0-0, the more and more confident we became.”
On taking the Supporters’ Shield home without Mauro Diaz:
“He played such an important role in this run and this trophy in particular. So to be able to bring that back to Mauro is a big thing and it’s important for the club.”