BAYAMÓN, Puerto Rico -- Landon Donovan was well-aware that it was never going to be easy when the LA Galaxy traveled to the Juan Ramón Loubriel Stadium on Wednesday. It certainly wasn't.
The Galaxy battled not only an extremely eager and active Islanders side desperate to stay in the CONCACAF Champions League, but the intense humid conditions and less than ideal field at the JRL Stadium. Despite the scoreless draw, the match was a back-and-forth affair with both sides trading chances throughout as both goalkeepers were repeatedly called in to action to preserve the shutout.
One of the primary offensive catalysts for the Galaxy in the second half was Donovan, who came on in the 60th minute for Pat Noonan -- his first appearance in the CCL this campaign -- and proceeded to spark several scoring chances for LA. Donovan became even more effective late as he was able to move from a free ranging role in the center to a position up top once Juninho and Marcelo Sarvas entered the match, but ultimately LA was unable to get the tying goal.
Below are Donovan's thoughts from the match...
DONOVAN: “We wanted to win, but we knew this would be a different game from the one a few weeks ago. Give them a lot of credit, they played that game like it was a World Cup final. They did a good job defensively, they created a couple chances and I think in the end, we needed one good play, one special play to win the game and we couldn’t find it today.”
(On the conditions…)
DONOVAN: “Yeah, I think that our guys wore out a little bit at the end. You can tell that they’re a lot more used to playing in this then we are, they had some good energy still at the end. I think that Bruce did a good job of getting some of us fresh guys into the game to try and make a play, but on the night it just wasn’t going to be.”
(On the play of Perk…)
DONOVAN: “Perk was great, he made one good save early and one good save late and was really solid in between. I thought our back four did a good job, Kenney and Rafa did a good job, it’s just a shame that we let that performance go without winning because they played well and Perk played well.”
(On the result's implications on Group 5…)
DONOVAN: “Well, we’ll see if Puerto Rico beat Metapán here then it’s over and even if they tie, it’s going to make it really difficult. We’ll do a little scoreboard watching and hope that it is all wrapped up, but if not then we have to go in there and win, which we’re prepared to do.”
