CARSON, Calif. Below are Bruce Arena's thoughts on the LA Galaxy's 2-0 victory over the Vancouver Whitecaps.
(On the win…)
ARENA: “I thought maybe we were a little sluggish in the fist half. I think you got to give Vancouver a lot of credit, they really threw a lot into the first half and closed us down, especially in the middle third. [They] kicked us a little bit, made it difficult for us, so I think the Juninho goal was huge. In the second half I thought you could see the energy that Vancouver put into the first half fatigued them, because they kind of looked to me like they hit the wall a little bit. I thought we had a fairly dominant second half and could have scored a few more goals.”
(On the play of Robbie Keane…)
ARENA: “He’s dangerous, probably had three or four chances. The concerns you have with these strikers is if he’s not getting chances and Robbie got a good number tonight and you know he’s going to finish his share but, Robbie’s a handful. I think, you know, when we get Landon [Donovan] back with him it’s going to be even better. I think Robbie, probably a little frustrated he didn’t get a goal tonight, but I thought he played well and was pretty dangerous.”
(On the recent play of Juninho…)
ARENA: “Huge goal. I think he’s had, what is it, five goals now in about a three-week stretch? And [David] Beckham’s getting us goals this year in the midfield. You know, [Mike] Magee in the midfield has gotten goals, so we have some pretty good balance. You know, hopefully we’ll get Landon back in the mix, good to see Edson [Buddle] back on the field. Jose [Villarreal] is moving a long as a young player so hopefully we can improve our team in the attacking part of the field as we move into this stretch at the end of the season.”
(Overall thoughts on the team’s performance…)
ARENA: “It was good. It was a solid performance tonight. I think Omar [Gonzalez] and A.J. [DeLaGarza] continue to play well in their partnership in central defense. I think [Sean] Franklin has played very well over the last couple of months. Todd’s [Dunivant] moving a long, Josh [Saunders] looks really comfortable in goal right now, so that group is good. This has been an excellent two weeks for our team because it was pretty challenging going in with the Champions League and having Dallas and Vancouver chasing us and getting three points in [all] four games and the contribution by the entire team because tonight’s performance wouldn’t be possible if it wasn’t for our group on Wednesday and the performance the gave against Puerto Rico. It’s been a very good two weeks for us.”
(On the teams’ progress over the last three months…)
ARENA: “A month ago we were pretty good too, you got to remember now, in the league we’re 13-11-4 and we were 3-8-2 at one point. If you do the math, that’s pretty good, so we’ve been in real good form over the last couple of months and we’re positioned now to move up the latter in the conference standing as well as a good position to move through the Champions League. So we’ve got a lot of work to do, we can play better, we know that and hopefully we’ll show that in September, October and November."
(On the international break…)
ARENA: “I think is actually going to be good for us, I think we need it. I think we’re going to have two reserve games during the break, which is a real plus as well. I think it comes at a good time for us. We’ll be fine by the time September 14th comes around.”
(On Edson Buddle’s performance…)
ARENA: “He was good, he held the ball up, very physical, it’s going to take him obviously a little more time, he’s been out for a while, but we’re going to give him some time in the reserve games. It’s good.”
