Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 0, Club Tijuana 0
Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016
Preseason Exhibition
StubHub Center – Carson, California
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
Bruce Arena’s thoughts on the game:
“I thought it was good exercise. I think especially with the newcomers – to see them be a part of the team and get to understand the time a little bit is good. But I think the younger players came in in the second half and did a good job. Overall it was good. You could see the difference in fitness between the two teams, but I think the exercise is real good for us.”
On how this helps in preparation for Galaxy’s Champions League matchup against Santos Laguna:
“That’s a whole different exercise. But I do think you see a bit of Mexican football in the game tonight, but it was another game as well. Our guys won’t be totally surprised when they see Santos but they’re different teams and different issues, but I think it’s always good to see a little bit of flavor of Mexican football.”
On Ashley Cole’s performance:
“I think he did well. He’s a good player. He’s going to help us. We’ve got to be smart about his minutes. He hasn’t played much over the past six months or so, but we’ll build him up. You can see he’s a player with a lot of experience and quality.”
On Emmanuel Boateng’s potential for the Galaxy attack this year:
“He obviously has the speed effect. I think his work rate was real good tonight. I thought he did good defensively which was a bit of a shift for him, but I think he’s done well. However his role plays out remains to be seen but he and [Sebastian] Lletget in that position there, I think we have a good 90 minutes there and have players that can come off the bench and help us in the last 20-30 minutes of games as well. I think that position has definitely been upgraded for us.”
On Jelle Van Damme’s performance on the back line:
“I think he did well. He has good experience, he’s comfortable on the ball, he communicates well; he’s a leader back there. The more games he gets in that position the better he’s going to get. I think he’s obviously a good addition to our team.”
On Robbie Rogers’ performance today:
“He did well. He probably played 85 minutes which is probably a few too many for him right now. But we kept him in there and he seems to be doing fine. I think he did well. He had a good night and number 23 for Tijuana is a pretty good player and was a good challenge for him tonight and I think he did well.”
On Jeff Larentowicz being unavailable:
“He’ll be back in training probably in another week or so. He has surgery for a hernia and is recovering from it."
On why A.J. DeLaGarza was unavailable:
“A.J. [DeLaGarza] got stepped on the foot the other day. He’s probably going to train on Thursday.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ROBBIE KEANE
On how Ashley Cole and Jelle Van Damme looked with the team against Tijuana:
“I think you saw it for yourself. They were settled. They settled in for us very quickly. You could see the team is starting to get in a bit of a rhythm and we’re only two games in. But we need to get those minutes in because we have a big game in two weeks’ time.”
On how important this game against Tijuana was ahead of the Galaxy’s matchup against Santos Laguna:
“I think it’s always important to play a similar team like we did tonight. It wasn’t the best game. It was two teams who you could see at times could play some good football and it was probably a fair result. There were a few chances but for us it was more about just the fitness really and about getting minutes and making sure we’re ready for the game in two weeks’ time.”
On what it means to have Mike Magee back:
“It’s good. Good player. Obviously he’s got good experience. He knows this team inside and out. So it’s certainly good to have someone like him back.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER ASHLEY COLE
On how it felt to play his first game with the LA Galaxy:
“It was okay. I haven’t played a competitive match in a long time so I thought it went alright. I’m not a 100 percent fit yet, so hopefully in the next game I can play some more minutes and get ready for the start of the season.”
On his current fitness state:
“I don’t feel 100 percent sure in terms of getting types of players and going with runs, but it’s going to game. We only have one preseason game left. I’ll have to work on the training ground to get more fit. I don’t feel I’m up to these guys yet in terms of fitness because they’ve been training a little bit longer than me, but I’ll work with the team and hopefully the fitness with come.”
On how the defense’s ability to communicate with each other is coming together:
“I hope it comes together quick because you always need a strong backline in order to win things. This is just our second game together. I’m hoping next game we can play again together and get the chemistry ready for the start of the season.”
On his level of comfort on the field today:
“I felt okay. The more games I get under my belt the more confident I’ll get to how I know I can play because that was a problem before and I lost a bit of confidence. I think the confidence will come and I think my teammates have been very helpful and welcoming and I hope we can win some trophies.”
On if it’s easier to be on the same page as Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard:
“Of course it’s easier because we’ve all played in the same leagues and the Premier League so we know we have a lot of experience, Champions League and international football. So we have understanding, but so do the young guys.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER JELLE VAN DAMME
On his level of comfort with the team after two games:
“This one was more difficult since we were playing at a real stadium. The feeling is better; it feels more like a real game. I felt good and confident. I played 65 minutes and I think it went okay.”
On his ability to connect with Leonardo:
“It’s good. We understand each other. As defenders you need to speak a lot and help each other out, and with Ashley as well. You need to talk a lot and I like to talk. It’s always a good feeling for the fans to have a clean sheet.”
On adjusting to the weather:
“I have to adapt honestly. That’s the hardest thing to adapt to for me, so that will just be a matter of time, but it’s no problem.”
On facing a Mexican team ahead of CONCACAF Champions League:
“They had a few good technical players. I think we have two weeks left before the important game and I think we have two more games before that, so we have time.”