LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
Overall thoughts on result:
“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:
“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:
“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 Robbie Keane’s role with this team:
“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.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ROBBIE KEANE
On tonight’s performance:
“It was a complete performance right from the start. It would have been nice to get a goal in the first half but it wasn’t to be. We managed to get a goal in the second half and then we killed the game off after.”
On the play of Marcelo Sarvas and Hector Jimenez:
“Marcelo’s been great in the last few games and totally deserves that goal. He’s been doing well. Full credit to him, he’s been one of our best performers in the last month or so. Hector as well, since he’s come in since Landon’s left he’s done very well.”
On why he had to pass a fitness test prior to the game:
“I had a swollen knee so I had to get fluid taken out yesterday in the hospital. It was kind of touch-and-go before the game, so I’ve come along way the last two days to get myself fit. Lucky enough I felt 80 percent.”
On being the league’s leader in assists:
“Thanks for telling me. I don’t really sit and look at it to be honest with you. As long as we win the championship at the end, I don’t care to be honest with you. It’s always nice, I like setting up goals so it’s always pleasant. I think the position where I play I like to score goals but I think certainly I also like to set up goals as well.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER MARCELO SARVAS
On the importance of tonight’s win:
“It was a really good game to win. The team came in to win. We scored to make it 1-0 which made it easier for us. But we are happy, three points [tonight] and six points this week and most importantly we’re climbing the standings and are now closer to our objective of being in first place.”
On the team feeling relieved after scoring the first goal:
“I think this is every game. Every game we play we are creating a lot of chances. This is good because the team has some idea and is playing well. I think we have to be more accurate in the box and make it hard on the defenders every time. If we just score 10 percent of the chances we are creating we could win every game.”
On his opening goal:
“I know that the defenders were all looking at [Keane]. I was in the box and when he put his head down to cross the ball I moved into the back of the defense and they didn’t see me. It was a good goal. Keane put in a very good ball with good movement and I’m happy, happy, happy with the goal.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER HECTOR JIMENEZ
On his goal:
“Robbie Rogers did a great job being down the line and hitting the ball across. I didn’t hit it as clean as I wanted to hit it but I made enough contact with the ball to go in.”
On his current role:
“Every year is different. Now that Landon’s gone I have to come in and contribute and take advantage of this time that he’s gone right now.”
FC DALLAS HEAD COACH SCHELLAS HYNDMAN
Overall thoughts on the game:
“I thought we were OK, maybe not the first 20 minutes and then things started getting more difficult. I think the reality is that they basically outworked us. And by out working us they caused us a lot of problems. In the first half we saved some chances— that the Galaxy created— they play very simple but they were running off the ball and you knew what was going to happen, Keane was going to get open and then there was going to be slashing runs across and services into the box. Nothing we didn’t know, we were just unable to keep up with them in the second half and the Galaxy played like an MLS champion. It was the best I’ve seen them play this year and they made us look very average.”
On not creating enough scoring chances:
“We’re always talking about this not happening, that not happening but today, basically, we just got out worked. We didn’t create enough scoring chances, which causes you problems, we didn’t have people running off the ball, we didn’t have many tackles. I thought we did fine in the middle third of the field— you know, getting the ball, keeping the ball— but at the end of the day Juninho and Marcelo they killed us. They were making runs through the field and there wasn’t a lot of pressure on them. So, before we gets too complicated with the scoring chances we have to get better, we have to get some work done.”
On Blas Perez participating in Gold Cup:
“Blas is a very important player for us, leading goal scorer, but the fact of the matter is that he didn’t really get a lot of opportunities these last couple of games. We have to find ways to make ourselves a little bit more dangerous.”
FC DALLAS FOWRAD BLAS PEREZ
On losing to LA Galaxy:
“It hurts. We were in search of at least a point but today we leave with this sadness and this bitter taste of losing here in LA.”
On Panama beating Mexico:
“Happy that my national team won, but sad that I’m leaving my team after this loss. I hope that we can win our next game, which is at home.”
On what Galaxy did well tonight:
“They are a great team. They are a team that’s been playing together for many years and that knows each other to perfection. Today, everything worked out in their favor. There’s no doubt they have a great team, good players and, well, I hope we can get better. We need to focus on us getting better and try to change for the good for the team.”
FC DALLAS MIDFIELDER DAVID FERREIRA
Overall thoughts on tonight’s game:
“Well, it was a tough game. I think that the team for the first 30-35 minutes played well. We didn’t give up any space to the Galaxy but in the second half the team came apart a little bit and they took advantage of that opportunity and scored the goals.”
On what he thinks the Galaxy did well:
“You have to give them credit because they played a good game. The game was very intense, but they beat us well. Like I said, the team came apart in the second half and they took advantage of the spacing that we weren’t allowing in the first minutes and end up with a bad result. We came here with the intention of winning, but that didn’t happen. So, we need to keep working and keep thinking about what’s ahead and hopefully the next game will be a positive one for us.”
