LA Galaxy 2, Los Angeles Blues 1
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Third Round
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Titan Stadium – Fullerton, Calif.
Scoring Summary:
LAB – Cesar Rivera (Carlos Borja) 62’
LAG – Omar Gonzalez (Juninho) 75’
LAG – Mike Magee (Omar Gonzalez) 81’
Misconduct Summary:
LAB – Josh Tudela (Yellow Card) 1’
LAG – Gregg Berhalter (Yellow Card) 8’
LAB – Mehrshad Momeni (Yellow Card) 70’
LAG – Adam Cristman (Yellow Card) 88’
LAB – Israel Sesay (Yellow Card) 90’
LAB – Israel Sesay (Red Card) 90’
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Brian Perk; Sean Franklin, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter©, A.J. DeLaGarza; Jovan Kirovski (Juninho 64’), Michael Stephens, Bryan Jordan (Miguel Lopez 46’), Mike Magee; Paolo Cardozo, Chad Barrett (Adam Cristman 83’).
Subs Not Used:Josh Saunders, Kyle Davies, Dan Keat, Hector Jimenez.
Los Angeles Blues: Oscar Dautt, Cameron Dunn (Leonard Griffin 40’), Nelson Akwari, Erlys Garcia, Mike Randolph; Mehrshad Momeni (Akeem Priestly 87’), Josh Tudela©, Edwin Miranda (Cesar Rivera 46’), Israel Sesay (Sent Off 90’); Carlos Borja, Chukwudi Chijindu.
Subs Not Used: Amir Abedzadeh, Gerardo Bravo, Tomislav Colic, Shahryar Dastan.
Referee: Alejandro Mariscal
Referee’s Assistants Eduardo Mariscal and Apolinar Mariscal
4th Official: Felisha Mariscal
Notes:
- With the win, the Galaxy advance to the Quarterfinals of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup where they will face the Seattle Sounders FC. That game will be played at Starfire Complex in Tukwila, Wash. on Tuesday, July 12 at 7 p.m.
- The Sounders advanced to the Open Cup Quarterfinals with a 2-1 win over the PDL’s Kitsap Pumas.
- This will be the second consecutive season in which the Galaxy and Sounders meet in the Open Cup Quarterfinals. Seattle won 2-0 last year en route to winning their second consecutive Open Cup championship.
- Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made six changes to the team that drew 0-0 in San Jose on Saturday. Brian Perk got the start in goal in place of the injured Donovan Ricketts. Sean Franklin returned at right back with A.J. DeLaGarza moving to left back and Todd Dunivant being rested. Jovan Kirovski and Bryan Jordan each started in midfield in place of Chris Birchall and Juninho while Chad Barrett and Paolo Cardozo started up front in place of Juan Pablo Angel and Miguel Lopez.
- Of the group of players that were taken out of the lineup following the draw in San Jose, only Juninho and Lopez were on the bench. Both came on in the second half.
- Kyle Davies, Hector Jimenez and Dan Keat were all in the 18-man squad for a first team game for the first time this season though none entered the game.
- In addition to Ricketts, the Galaxy were once again without Sean Alvarado, David Beckham, Frankie Hejduk and Leonardo who each missed the game because of injury.
- The game was scoreless at the half. The Galaxy last scored on in the first half of an Open Cup game on April 24, 2007 when Nate Jaqua scored in a 1-0 win over Columbus in a First Round Play-In Game. They have now failed to score in each of their last seven Open Cup games.
- The Galaxy outshot the Blues 9-3 in the first half and had a 4-1 advantage in shots on goal.
- Cesar Rivera gave the Blues a 1-0 lead in the 62nd minute, beating Brian Perk from close range off a feed from Carlos Borja.
- That goal was the first that the Galaxy allowed to a non-MLS team since the Third Round of the 2007 Open Cup when they lost 1-0 away to the USL Second Division’s Richmond Kickers.
- Omar Gonzalez equalized for the Galaxy in the 75th minute, heading home a Juninho freekick. That goal was the first of Gonzalez’s Open Cup career while the assist was Juninho’s first as well.
- Gonzalez got his first career Open Cup assist six minutes later, setting up Mike Magee for the eventual game-winning goal in the 81st minute. The play began with a Juninho freekick that was headed back into the center of the box by Gonzalez with Magee getting to the ball first and beating Oscar Dautt from 12 yards out.
- This was the Galaxy’s first come from behind victory in the Open Cup since the 2006 Quarterfinals when they erased a 1-0 deficit to beat Colorado 3-1 in extra time.
- Mike Magee was making his first start in the Open Cup as a member of the Galaxy.
- Brian Perk was making his first appearance with the first team since joining the Galaxy in August 2010. He made two saves in the game to earn the victory.
- Perk is the sixth goalkeeper in Galaxy history to win a game in the Open Cup, joining Steve Cronin, Kevin Hartman, Dan Popik, Matt Reis and Josh Saunders.
- Sean Franklin and Chad Barrett each started the game, meaning that they have appeared in all of the Galaxy’s first team games this season in both the league and the Open Cup. Todd Dunivant has started all 19 of the Galaxy’s league games this year but he did not dress for tonight’s game.
- Chad Barrett, Paolo Cardozo, Adam Cristman, Miguel Lopez, Brian Perk and Michael Stephens all made their Galaxy Open Cup debuts. Of that group, only Barrett and Cristman had played in the Open Cup before.
- Former Galaxy forward Israel Sesay was sent off in the 90th minute for the Blues. He was one of four former Galaxy players to appear tonight for the Blues.
- The attendance for tonight’s game was 3,627.
- The Galaxy return to MLS action on Monday, July 4 when they host Seattle Sounders FC at The Home Depot Center. That game, which is presented by adidas, kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen live on ESPN 2, ESPN Deportes and ESPN3.com. Following the game the Galaxy will host Southern California’s biggest fireworks show, powered by 102.7 KIIS FM.
Quotes:
LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena
On tonight’s game:
“It was a good win. I thought the L.A. Blues played quite well. They really got after us and stepped up and pressed us for a good part of the evening. I think when we went down a goal I told our guys on the sideline I wouldn't be surprised if we got two goals and win this game in regulation. In the second half we created a lot of chances and had the run of play it was just a matter of time till we got a goal. The [Omar] Gonzalez goal was a heck of a goal, great header. We put a lot of pressure on them and I thought the second goal was going to come. Give our opponents credit they played quite well tonight.”
On Brian Perk’s performance:
“I thought Brian [Perk] did very well. I thought he had a good night. He looked comfortable in the back I was pleased with his performance.”
On the differences between the two sides:
“We should be a little bit ahead of them technically and maybe professional fitness. A lot of those players in the Blues have played in the league. We knew that obviously they have enough experience to give us a good game.”
LA Galaxy Goalkeeper Brian Perk
On starting tonight:
“It’s always good. I have the game coming up on Monday so this is great getting used to it again. This is great for me getting into a full game, full 90 that means something. I have played three reserve games which helped me do this and I have all the confidence to step in Monday and do the job just like I did tonight.”
On making hi MLS debut on Monday:
“I am tremendously excited I might not look it but I have been waiting a year and a half now I haven’t played many games so it’s good to make my debut.”
LA Galaxy forward Mike Magee
On the game-winning goal:
“It started with a free kick with Juninho. Obviously, a couple of times we would get free with Omar and floated ball up to him and he knocked it down— he had knocked it down the last three times and scored a goal, so I knew it was coming down so it was a pretty easy tap-in.”
On the team’s performance in the second half:
“I think we just woke up. I think the first half we were kind of slow and sluggish and we might have thought it that it was just going to come to us and then as soon they got the goal it kind of lit a fire under and we started playing better and obviously resulted in a win.”
On the last five days:
“Luckily I don’t have a twitter account because I’ve heard it’s been pretty intense on twitter. But I’ve gotten a lot of text and phone calls from family and friends, it’s kind of fun because they are having a lot of fun with it. But it’s been pretty nerve-wracking. I’m still a little nervous from playing goalie, the butterflies haven’t left yet.”
LA Galaxy Defender Omar Gonzalez
On his performance on set pieces:
“It’s good that I got this goal and the assist and it’s something that we need to keep working on so that we can start getting goals during league games.”
On his goal:
“Right before that happened, Gregg said, ‘wake up, just find a way to get yourself into the game.’ And I took that and Juni[nho] just put the ball back in the air and went after it. The keeper was coming out, but that didn’t scare me, and I got the goal.”
On Brian Perk’s performance:
“Brian is steady back there. Brian is good with his hands, good with his feet, so I had no worries about it and I think he did great tonight. I’m looking forward to him doing well against Seattle.”
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