MLS POST-GAME QUOTES
Portland Timbers vs. LA Galaxy
July 13, 2013 – JELD-WEN Field (Portland, Ore.)
FINAL: Timbers 2, Galaxy 1
LA Galaxy Quotes
Galaxy defender Sean Franklin
Thoughts on the result:
“It's inexcusable. It's been the story of our season giving away late goals all the way back to the Monterrey game giving up a late goal. It's been a pattern for us and we have to be ok with getting one point. We expose ourselves, we give up a corner late and we don't do a job of defending on the set piece and they get a goal."
On pushing to get a second goal late in the second half
"It's five minutes of stoppage time and we have to realize that getting a point is what's needed. We need to just be smart, sit back and not push numbers forward. When we do that, that's when we get spread out and are open to the counter. Like I said, our team is too experienced to be giving up goals in the 94th minute. We need to be able to just sit in, kick the ball out if we have to and get away with a point."
On the team’s scoring chances against the Timbers
"I think we did a pretty good job of creating chances, but maybe if we put those away, maybe we're up 2-1 in the 94th minute instead of being the one to give up the goal late."
Galaxy forward Robbie Keane
On allowing another late goal:
“I'm not sure what to say. I can't explain it. It's happened again. It's happened too many times this year, so we certainly didn't expect it to happen again tonight because we played well and certainly didn't deserve to lose again. It was the last kick of the game and the same old story; a set piece and then you score. So, it's obviously disappointing.”
Overall thoughts on the result:
"There's not really much to look back on because we know exactly what went wrong. It could have been a couple occasions when we could have avoided them getting a corner."
On making that last play and finishing the game off rather than letting in a goal
"It could have been avoided twenty seconds before that. Sometimes I think we need to be clever and get to the corner sometimes instead of trying to score that second goal and coming away from here with a good result. In the end, we lost and we have nothing."
Portland Timbers Quotes
Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On the win against the Galaxy:
“I think it’s a big win for a lot of reasons. The biggest one is it moves us up the table. To be clear, it’s three points. It’s nothing more, nothing less. But what it does is it continues to give us belief. You gain belief through success, and when you’re in a game like this, where you got two very good teams and it’s tight and the margin of error is slim — you’re one play away from losing the game, you’re one play away from winning the game — winning teams give a little bit more. Losing teams shrink. We grew.”
On playing LA at home:
“We’ve been building a fortress. We’ve shown this year that we’re very difficult to play at home. For them to come in and play us toe-to-toe like they did, I think it’s a credit to the quality of team that they have, the players and the coach.”
On whether there were any harsh words with coach Bruce Arena after the game, and his admiration for Arena:
“No. I have the utmost respect for Bruce Arena. He’s the guy I’ve stayed in touch with, talked to, admired, studied, followed and he is the greatest American coach in the history of the sport. That doesn’t change. What he’s accomplished is tremendous. His reputation, his success, his accomplishments speak for themselves. He’s a role model to me because I came out of the college game as well. The career he’s had, if I could have half the success he’s had I would be very pleased.”
On all three goals in the game coming on set pieces:
“Good teams are organized on set pieces, they’re clever, they’re opportunistic. They were opportunistic on the first goal, they put it down, played it wide, served it in. We were opportunistic as well, and obviously on the corner kick at the end. A lot of credit needs to go to Sean McAuley and Amos Magee because I kind of give them set pieces. That’s their job, to sort those things out. They weren’t happy after last game, when we gave up a goal against Columbus, but I thought they were a big part of us winning the game tonight.”
On the team showing a strong response following the loss to Columbus:
“I knew this would be their response because if you’re a team that has belief, mental toughness, character and talent, you get better through adversity. You handle it positively, and if anything, your response to it is to improve, to fight harder, to get better. They picked themselves back up after the [Columbus] game and went back to work. We had a great week of training and it carried into the game. I knew they’d have a good performance because I know what these guys are about.”
On coming back after giving up the first goal against LA:
“We’ve given up a goal before, and we’ve come back before. It’s not like we’ve not been in this situation. We give up a goal, we were going to have to score a goal anyways because we’re a team that tries to push the game, decide the game and has the ball. If we’re a counter-attacking team that sits back and tries to hang on, when you give up a goal, now what do you do? Game plan’s over, you’re done. With us, we’re pushing the game so if we give up a goal, nothing changes, we’re pushing the game. To win the game, you’ve got to score goals so the first goal doesn’t change a thing for us whatsoever, and you saw that in our play. We kept going, we kept pushing.”
Timbers forward Ryan Johnson
On the play that led to him scoring the Timbers’ first goal:
“It was a set play we had been working on in training. Diego [Valeri] played a good ball to isolate Darlington [Nagbe]. He’s so good in the box, one-on-one, and he was able to get that ball across and I was there. It was a good set play that our coaches had been working on with us in practice this week.”
On the team’s resiliency after giving up the first goal:
“Giving up the first goal is obviously tough, and that’s something that we work on. We’ve been a team all year that’s very resilient. That’s something that Caleb has put on us here, and we’re really responding to it very well. We want to always keep taking these games into the rest of the season, and put that push into the playoffs because we want to be in the playoffs this year, that’s our ultimate goal.”
On where the win ranks in his career:
“It’s up there, probably top three for me. For Drew [Andrew Jean-Baptiste] to get that goal is going to be huge for his confidence the rest of the season. A young guy like him, the more confidence the better, and he’s one of our leaders even though he is so young.”
Timbers defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste
On his game-winning goal in stoppage time:
“[Gyasi] Zardes was marking me. He was doing pretty well marking me the whole game. I just felt the adrenaline pumping. I faked him right, left, right and then followed the flight of the ball to the back post and just made sure I got a good header on it.”
On what the win means for the team going forward:
“We beat a good team today, but we’re not done. We haven’t accomplished anything. All we’ve done is just win a couple of games, and until we get a couple of trophies in our cabinet, we haven’t done anything.”
On the team’s response coming off the loss to Columbus:
“Right off the bat, when we came back [from Columbus], coach was like ‘we’re not losing two games in a row.’ I mean, he won’t allow that, and that’s just not us. We’re just not going to lose two games, and we all knew we weren’t. We’re confident in our team that we’re not going to lose two games in a row, and obviously tonight we showed it.”
