CARSON, Calif. -- Below are LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena's comments from the club's 2-0 victory over FC Dallas.
(Overall thoughts on result…)
ARENA: “Well, it’s close, not quite there. Tonight was one of our better games on the year. I thought we played very well on both ends of the field. Passing was much improved from the previous couple games. Our movement of the ball was very good. I think we again created chances, finished a couple tonight, could have finished a few more. Rock solid on defending restarts against a team that’s outstanding in the area of attacking restarts. So, I think tonight was a real good win for our team and this week was obviously a good week, so hopefully we can continue to get better. We are starting to now have close to our first group together, which has been close to impossible the whole year. So, I think we are beginning to see signs of becoming a better team.”
(On the defensive performance…)
ARENA: “Omar, A.J., Sean, and Todd played very well tonight. Carlo was real solid, made some excellent punches on defending corners, did a good job there. The midfielder defended very well against a good team, they are a very good team not an easy team to play with. So, tonight was a more complete, coordinated effort by our team.”
(On the play of Marcelo Sarvas…)
ARENA: “A great, great goal. You know we’ve gotten more out of Marcelo and [Juninho] over the last three games getting into the attack. [Marcelo and Juninho] played well tonight against an outstanding group in the middle of the field with Jacobson, and Michel, and Ferreira. They are good, and our guys held up well so it was a real good effort there.”
(On Keane becoming the assist leader in MLS and whether he is pleased…)
ARENA: “I’d like to see him score some more goals. I’m pretty greedy. He can get some goals as well. He’s a very good player. He can set up goals and he can score goals.”
(On Robbie Rogers’ showing…)
ARENA: “It takes a while, his fitness looked really good and his last 60 minutes were really good. A little unlucky [in front of goal]…He’s in good position. His width at times is really good. And Hector [Jimenez], I thought that he had an outstanding performance as well.”
(On the Galaxy being four points out of the Supporters’ Shield…)
“I try to tell you guys that you have to be a little bit patient. A lot of games ahead. There’s 15 important games left and two more at home than away. It’s going to be important. Hopefully we can position ourselves, first of all, to be in the playoffs and second of all, to challenge in the conference for the first spot. But there is a lot of soccer ahead, but we need to be patient and grow along the way. Hopefully we’re doing this at the right time.”
(On Charlie Rugg, Kenney Walker, Bryan Gaul training in Sweden and whether it could turn into a loan…)
ARENA: “It’s good experience for those players…Sure, that’s a club that we know very well.”
(On Robbie Keane’s role with this team…)
ARENA: “Robbie is the leader of our team, he is our captain. He is arguably our best player. Robbie has a great head on his shoulders; he’s a very competitive person. He took a blow in a game against Columbus on Thursday and he was a last minute decision whether he could play tonight and you can see that he’s the last guy that’s not going to play. He’d have to be in real bad shape not to play. So, his competitiveness, his hunger to play and to win is contagious. Besides, his quality, his leadership is critical. Tonight he showed the team that this game was important and he wanted to win and he was there.”
