CARSON, Calif. – Below are Bruce Arena’s post game comments from the LA Galaxy’s 2-1 defeat to Monterrey.
(On how the game ended…)
ARENA: “Obviously, not good. We actually played a very good game tonight. I think a little bit more experience and a little bit more quality; we win this game by a couple of goals. We end up losing. Credit to Monterrey for their quality and for playing a complete 90 minutes. The goalkeeper makes a big save in an important point of the game, but we were well positioned to get a second goal, maybe a third goal and did a poor job in conceding the first goal. And you know, give Monterrey credit, they’re a very good team and I think it was a good game.”
(On whether he has a Juninho injury update…)
ARENA: “No I don’t.”
(On the play of Juninho and Sarvas…)
ARENA: “Good. Both teams are strong in that position. The game was a really good game. I think for the majority of that game, our back line did a great job and then they were very poor in the last 10 minutes. And perhaps the most important minutes of the game, arguably and Monterrey was able to exploit us.”
(On whether the club was fatigued…)
ARENA: “No. Everybody is tired. They travel too. Why wouldn’t they be tired, right? Everybody is tired at the end of the game. It’s experience and concentration and I think some of our players ran themselves out of their positions in the last 15 minutes and it hurt us.”
(On Monterrey’s last 15 minutes…)
ARENA: “They’re a team with a lot of quality and they have very good players all over the field. Obviously, the first goal, I’d like to believe we can do better, but give them a lot of credit. Carlo [Cudicini] put us in a good position to win the game, made some big saves and we let him down a little bit.”
(On lessons heading into the second leg…)
“There are clear lessons for our team: the kind of concentration you need, the experience, the tactical understanding. You know, so what if we don’t get the second goal, we win the game 1-0. That’s it. So obviously, we didn’t do the job that we needed to do. If we don’t concede, we walk away with a win tonight and position ourselves better to go into Monterrey. Now going into Monterrey is obviously going to be very difficult and that’s going to be our challenge.
(On DeLaGarza’s offensive presence…)
ARENA: “Just playing the game. At the end of the day, A.J. needs to be defend well, not attacking. I think maybe showed some inexperience in that position where maybe he ran himself into the ground and perhaps it hurt us at the end of the game. Our back line was tired, and they weren’t -- they didn’t play the last 15-20 minutes of the game in a smart manner. They needed to be much more solid.”
(On what his frustration was at the end of the game…)
ARENA: “The result. Why wouldn’t I be frustrated? I don’t think I should be jumping for joy. It’s a game where if were a little bit smarter, a little bit better, we win by a couple goals. Instead we lose. And again tremendous credit to Monterrey, they showed their experience and their quality.”
