LA GALAXY HEAD COACH SIGI SCHIMD
On the LA Galaxy’s second half performance:
“I thought our fight and determination was good. In the first half, obviously we were down two to nothing, but it wasn’t like I thought we had played horribly. We had gotten forward, created some chances, but obviously we got caught on the counter, we made a mistake on the first goal, we got caught that way. Then take the early goal in the second half, because we had a good halftime talk, it was a little bit questionable. I thought Baggio Husidic coming into the game helped us a lot, and obviously [Zlatan] Ibrahimović helped us a little bit too. But, the fight for the team to come back to win this game four to three, it’s incredible, for the fans, for this game to be on national TV, how you cannot love this game is beyond me.”
On the impact Zlatan Ibrahimović’s presence had on the game:
“His presence all of a sudden when the ball comes over the whole defense is focusing on him, and that opens up some space then for Chris [Pontius]. We knew going in that 20 minutes – 25 minutes was max, I sort of wanted to bring him in with 30 to go, but I was told no no no, we can’t do that. Obviously, he came in and rewarded us. His presence on the field obviously draws the attention of the opponents, his ability to hold the ball, all great players like him or a [Lionel] Messi, or [Cristiano] Ronaldo, everybody talks about their offensive progress, but they’re also very good passers of the ball, and you saw that on this play today. There were a couple of good passes from him as well.”
On what he told Zlatan Ibrahimović before putting him in the game:
“We just told him to play up, and work with Ola [Kamara], and sometimes Ola [Kamara] would drop in. I think obviously as they get to practice together they’ll develop a coordination with each other, I think [Zlatan] Ibrahimović is going to get a lot of assists on playing Ola [Kamara] into the spaces. We were thinking do we go to a 3-5-2, do we bring [Zlatan] Ibrahimović on and stay in a 4-4-2, we decided to go into a 4-4-2 because I felt keeping four in the back was important, because of the way they cheat on offense, or they cheat on defense to play offense, obviously it all worked out at the end. When it works out you’re a genius, when it doesn’t work out you’re an idiot.”
On the absence of Giovani dos Santos, Jonathon dos Santos, and Romain Alessandrini:
“I’m just very proud of this group, I don’t want to talk about the guys who weren’t out there, I want to talk about the guys who were out there, because the guys who were out there certainly rolled up their sleeves. We did a much better job in the second half when Rolf [Feltscher] got forward, making sure we slid over and covered that space a little bit between our midfielders and our central defense sliding over, and as a result to that we were much better. I know we can play better, it wasn’t a good first half for us overall, but I’m just proud of the effort and the battle that all those guys put in.”
On the post-game huddle that the team had:
“I guess sports phycologists call them team building moments, you never know what our defining moments are for our team. But this is the kind of game that becomes a defining moment, there’s a realization within that group that nothing is impossible, you’re three to nothing down and you can still come back. It helps build our character, and our belief in our abilities. Last week in Vancouver was important. That was a hard fought game that we got a zero to zero tie, and a point on the road, and then being able to come back in a game like this which I’m sure, if you would’ve taken a poll of the fans afterwards three to nothing they would’ve said it’s gone, it’s lost. But, then they showed the character and they come back, so those become defining moments for your team, and they really build the character of your team.”
On the depth of the LA Galaxy:
“That was something that we really tried to improve in the off-season. There were guys that were missing for sure, but guys like [Chris] Pontius step up, [Sebastian] Lletget, who I’ll say again we’re playing way too many minutes right now, we need to get him off the field a little bit so he can recover for us, but you know the depth of [Servando] Carrasco, Baggio Husidic, the guys we’ve added, [Dave] Romney coming off the bench and playing some key minutes for us. I’m very pleased with the improved depth of our team.”
On deciding to only play Zlatan Ibrahimović for 25 minutes:
“Obviously we talked. I talked to Zlatan, I said how’d you sleep last night, and we talked about that a little bit. Obviously, we knew where he was at in terms of fitness and just the recovery from traveling overseas. So, we wanted to make sure like I said before we didn’t do anything that was going to put him into a situation where he could get injured, because that’s something we don’t want to have happen. So, we were like at 20-25 minutes we felt would be good. And, that’s what we ended up putting him in there.”
On the impact that Sebastian Lleget’s goal had on bringing Zlatan Ibrahimović into the game:
“We were probably going to bring him on anyway, even if it were to still be three to nothing, we would’ve brought him on. But, obviously momentum is a huge thing in sports. As a basketball coach you can control momentum sometimes, you can call time outs, and you can kill momentum, and you can get momentum back on your side. As a soccer coach, you can’t really do that. Sometimes getting messages to guys, because it was a really loud stadium today, was also very difficult. But certainly, that was a key goal.”
On his impression of Zlatan Ibrahimović’s first goal:
“I just turned, I turned to Dominick [Kinnear], and my coaches and I said that’s just world class, you can’t teach that. The vision to see that he’s got the goalkeeper off his line. The ability to raise his leg that high and hit the ball is something that I don’t think many of us can do even on our best days. I had a coach that I use to coach with and he use to have a saying he called the “you’ve got to dare to be brilliant.” You can’t do something brilliant unless you dare to be brilliant. And [Zlatan] Ibrahimović is a perfect definition of a guy who always dares to be brilliant, and if you do that, you pull of some things. I mean, that’s got be a goal that’s going to go around the world, I’m sure it’ll be a YouTube sensation. It was fantastic.”
On noticing the momentum of his team:
“Even when we were at three to nothing, we felt that we were starting to possess the ball and get forward in creating attacks. We wanted to get Emmanuel [Boateng] forward a little bit more in the second half, sometimes his running off the ball needs to be better, because he’s got such great speed. So, we got him involved a little bit more. Rolf [Feltscher] kept getting forward. [Chris] Pontius I thought was having a pretty good game. So we started to put pressure on them, it wasn’t a situation where they were constantly putting pressure on us, they had pressure on us on counters and on quick-play, but on terms of possession you know we dominated that part of it. But, it’s also a matter of playing forward. So, once we started to get those chances, and the when Sebastian [Lletget] scored, I felt hey this is a game we can still get back into, and then obviously at three to three we’re saying hey, can we win this, or can we make something happen here still.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC
On his appetite:
“I am still hungry. It was a good start. Losing 3-0 is not a good result, obviously, especially at home. I think the first half, we did many simple mistakes, not well organized. But when we got the first goal, we kept going, and then we scored the second and got the third and the fourth… I’m only here two days, and what I see, I’m super happy for them… When everything is new, many new players, to settle in, everything isn’t easy, especially for myself. It was hot. It was hot on the pitch. After 10 minutes, I was asking for sun screen because I was burning. But it went well anyways. So I’m super happy for the win. But this is only one game. We need to continue and bring this confidence to the next level.”
On playing 20 minutes:
“I felt I played 40 games for my 20 minutes. I was feeling everything, jetlag, didn’t play for a long time. I did a first sprint, and I was starting to breathe immediately. So when the second came, I said this time I shoot, I don’t run with the ball. And that’s the ball that went in. I said I would save strength to play a lot of 15 minutes. I was feeling good, a lot of adrenaline. I didn’t play for a long time. Step by step, you build it up. I need to come in the rhythm and feel the game. But it’s not only about the game, you need to adjust to the weather, the team that plays, you need to have a balance the way you can play to save strength for the whole game. Under these weather conditions, it’s not easy, but I think you also get used to it.”
On whether he has done anything like that before:
“If you look back, every team I came to in the first official game, I scored. And I said I will not let them down today. I will score also today.”
On the match:
“It was fantastic. It was the first derby. The derbies that I’ve played in have had many historical moments. This will be one of them. This is the start. Like I said, in the press conference, I just want to be part of the history of the Galaxy and MLS. A new team like LAFC is doing new things and Galaxy has been doing things for many years. This is the first of many games that will come. Hopefully, we put the level for this type of game. Let’s hope it’s more under control next game and not crazy like this.”
On his first goal:
“Normally as a second striker, you go behind (the play) if the ball would come, just like it came …I saw the goalkeeper (Tyler Miller), he was out and I said I will shoot it over, but it was all depending how do I shoot, do I shoot high or in front to put power on it. I chose the power way and it went in. Then the adrenaline starts, you start, and you don’t want it to finish. You take off your shirt and you just want to celebrate with the fans. You want to feel the energy that is going through the stadium. If I would have more strength, I would have run all over the pitch. I just managed one side of the field.”
On influencing the game:
“I am demanding a lot from me when I play. I have a lot of pressure coming here from the media, from the fans, from the club, and the players, but nothing is compared to my own pressure. I said many times, I’m not here because I’m Ibrahimovic, I’m here to perform. I’m not here to prove anything. Like I said, you prove when you haven't played on the big stage to see that you can do it. I’ve been doing this for 23 years and I’ve played in the biggest clubs in the world with the best in the world and winning a lot of things out there. It’s only about performing. If you perform good, it’s fantastic, if you don’t, you’re still the same player in different conditions. My vision was good before I came. Every movie has a good ending, yeah? And a good start, remember.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER SEBASTIAN LLETGET
On the game:
“I am still lost for words. I don’t even know what just happened. It’s amazing, I think once we got the first goal, the momentum shifted, and you can feel it but we were still down and it was a long way up but as soon as [Ibrahimović] came in, he made a huge difference. He just landed here two days ago and it’s unbelievable.”
On the game’s atmosphere:
“I mean you can feel it from the day they got here that this was going to be a big game. The lead up to the game, we could all feel it. I think anybody would be lying to you if they said this was going to be a regular game. It was an incredible atmosphere. It was amazing for our fans. Especially how we showed some resilience and to show that we weren’t going to give up on this.”
On when he felt the game turned:
“It’s tough to say. Once their third goal went in, I think we could have done two things: we could have just given up and put our heads down, but we actually kept going and kept calm. We knew, our game plan was to get the first one. We weren’t focused on getting three right away, because you can’t do that in soccer. You have to get one and then go from there. We just didn’t give up.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD CHRIS PONTIUS
On the comeback:
“I’ve never had that happen, at any level that I’ve ever played at, and to have it happen at this big of a game, there’s no words that can describe that feeling. It’s pretty special. To be honest, although it was three to zero, I never felt like we were completely out of the game, I thought we started off the half pretty well, we had a couple, I think maybe two looks, and they came down and that own goal is a bit unlucky. But, I knew that we had started off on the front foot, which is something we didn’t do on the first half. They took it to us pretty good, I think they put a lot of energy into that first half, and we were able to kind of find some pockets, just because they had a bit tired legs, and then we sub in a guy like Zlatan [Ibrahimović] they drop even more because they respect the guy, rightfully so. It’s like a perfect storm, and we were able to finish our chances.”
On the atmosphere of the game:
“I think the fans got their money’s worth today. Obviously, the first half didn’t go our way. For LAFC, they couldn’t do anything wrong. And then in second half it felt much the opposite. So, Back and forth game, and even saying that they had some chances in the second half that hit the post. It was just one of those games that I’ll go back and watch later, and just enjoy watching it. You know, just an exciting game.”
On the impact this game had on the team:
“I think it’s rare that you get a game this early in the year that actually feels like a playoff game, and that’s what that felt like today. To win a game like that, especially a cross-town rivalry, all the buildup, it can certainly give us a little boost here. I think you’ll see, even just now in the locker room there’s been more confidence within the guys, and we can take that going forward.”
On the depth of the team:
“That’s why you build a roster like that. You hope that it doesn’t get tested, but eventually it will. Ours got tested a little bit earlier than most. Vancouver was a good result to. We went up there and got a tie, in a tough place to play, and today we were able to produce. We’ve got competition at every position, and that’s only going to make players better in training. It’s going to push players. So, Sigi [Schmid] has got a good problem on his hands.”
LAFC HEAD COACH BOB BRADLEY
On today's game:
“The most important thing for us is that there are moments in football games where as a group you have to be resilient. The first two games went our way. 3-0 – things seemed to be going our way, we lost the ball and then at that moment we needed to find our way back to playing football the way we can and obviously momentum and some incredible moments by Ibra [Ibrahimović] and so we end up in the back end but we'll learn. It's going to be important for us. This day is going to go a long way towards making us a really good team.”
On how the team prepared to play against Zlatan Ibrahimović:
“We knew he would come in and then at that point we have to continue to play our football. We had chances after that but we are not as sharp as we need to when we hit the post. Then all of a sudden you don't finish games and it all lends itself to a home team getting back into it so we have to learn.”
On Carlos Vela's performance:
“Carlos has been excellent. Early in the second half they were man marking him and we were trying to find some ways that we can move the ball better and get him involved so for me I still think in the second half after we scored the third goal we had chances. Had we been sharper we would have had more goals but we let ourselves down in those ways.”
LAFC MIDFIELDER BENNY FEILHABER
On things going well until Zlatan Ibrahimović entered the game:
“That is not true. We were doing very well until I lost the ball in the middle of midfield. Zlatan [Ibrahimović] came on when it was already 3-1, the game had changed so we know what kind of player he is. He's a very special player and he showed it today but my mistake in the middle is what changed the game today.”
On tonight's loss:
“You can imagine what the thoughts are in the locker room. In a game where we are up three nothing, I'd say close to dominating the game and we lose 4-3 in 30 minutes, I think you don't need any description other than what your imagination allows you to think so we are very disappointed and we know what kind of team LA Galaxy are, there is a reason why they have won so many championships. We took our foot off the gas and we paid for it.”
On what the team can take away from this game:
“One big thing is we really changed the way we played, I think in the last 30 minutes we were a little bit more tentative we weren't playing through the middle of the field. We weren't creating as many opportunities on the counter attack as were in the first half. Like I said the fact that I lose a ball in the midfield and we give them a gift of a goal. We gave them life and it took away a little of our confidence and I think and our willingness to play so we have to make sure in any game that that happens, because that can't happen again, we can't allow ourselves to change the way we play because we know we can be very good when we play our style.”
LAFC FORWARD CARLOS VELA
(Translated from Spanish)
On today's game:
“I thought we got off to a great start. We got ahead but we couldn't control the game and we lost the game. Being up 3-0 we should not have allowed them to comeback.”
On giving up a 3-0 lead:
“We are taking this and learning from this. Being a new team, we learn from tough games and I think today is one of those games. I think when you're winning everything is great but then you don't value it, you don’t work hard on what you don’t see, you just focus on the result. Today is going to be a good day to look back at and see what we have to improve on because we are a new team and we have to remember that we are still building the team and we have a lot to improve.”
On his performance:
“I thought I had a great start trying to help the team out by scoring goals and creating chances but what is important is the result. When you don't win I can't say that I am going home happy.”
[Spanish quotes]
Sobre el partido:
“Creo que el equipo empezó muy bien, nos pusimos por delante pero luego no supimos manejar el partido, y perdimos el partido. Más que ellos ganar creo que nosotros lo perdimos porque con un 3-0 no se nos puede remontar.”
Sobre la reflexión que se hizo en el camerino:
“Bueno lo tomamos de una manera positiva. Creo que un equipo nuevo, sobre todo, aprende a base de golpes duro y creo que hoy es uno de ellos. Cuando vas ganando, y todo es bonito la gente no valora, no trabaja lo que no vemos, porque vemos solo lo bueno. Creo que hoy va a ser un día bueno para reflexionar, para ver en qué nos falta mejorar porque somos un equipo nuevo. Hay que recordar que todavía estamos construyendo el equipo y tenemos mucho que mejorar.”
Sobre su actuación:
“Creo que arranqué muy bien, intentando como siempre ayudar al equipo a base de goles o pases, pero lo que importa es el resultado y cuando uno no gana, no puedo decirte que estoy contento o que me voy tranquilo a casa porque no es así.”
