CARSON, Calif. – The LA Galaxy wrapped up their penultimate day of preparation ahead of Sunday’s match with Seattle Sounders FC.
Below are LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena’s comments to the media…
(On Seattle…)
ARENA: A good team as always. Seattle is among the better teams in the league, year in and year out. This year, I think that they’ve done a little remodeling and changed a few things, obviously, to the credit of Sigi [Schmid]; he’s a very good coach. He knows how to get the best out of his team. They continually have the same kind of qualities. They’re a good team offensively, their goalkeeper has been outstanding, their new tandem of center backs has played very well as of late, and Eddie Johnson has been on fire. When you combine him with the qualities of [Brad] Evans, [Mauro] Rosales, [Mario] Martinez then they have a good team on the attacking side of the ball as well.”
(On Seattle being a rival…)
ARENA: “Are they a rival? How many rivals can we have? Every team that we play on our schedule are a rival.”
(On players thinking that facing Seattle leads to a heighten atmosphere…)
ARENA: “I hope it is [heightened] because we have to play better than we played as of late."
(On how anxious the team is to play after a disappointing loss to New York…)
ARENA: “I think that we’re looking forward to the game. I haven’t been able to judge on the anxious meter, how high it is, but we’re looking forward to the game.”
(On the club winning the battle of the health as most players are in training…)
ARENA: “You never win the battle of the health. Between now and kick off, we’ll have issues, but we’er getting there. Our goal is to get better as we move into the season. It’s still an early part of the season…We have a long way to go.”
(On New York City FC…)
ARENA: “That’s great. I think that we’ve understood for years, the likely of a second team in New York. For me, the most exciting news out of it is the Yankees involvement since I am a Yankee for life. That’s fabulous to hear.”
(On any speculation about him coaching New York City FC…)
ARENA: “I have a job. They’re great people to work for, I like working for the Galaxy and AEG.”
