VANCOUVER, B.C. – LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena’s quotes following LA’s 1-0 victory over Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday…
Check it out below…
(On whether the victory was meaningful…)
ARENA: “Sure. They all are at this time of year. There wasn’t a need to get a win but it’s important to get wins now, we’re in a tight battle for the playoffs and for the guys to get a win on the road in these type of circumstances is real good.”
(On goalkeeper Penedo’s huge save…)
ARENA: “Great save! What more can you say? We’ve not had a lot of these opportunities this year where we can close out a game but we got it done tonight.”
(On the performance of LA’s defense…)
ARENA: “Obviously they got a couple chances at the end but I thought our guys held up well. The conditions are tough here but the artificial field; it’s not easy playing under those circumstances with a closed roof. You could see our guys were fatigued. I was real pleased our guys came up on top.”
(On the impact of Landon Donovan’s early goal…)
ARENA: “Landon played a good game and he scored a big goal. Well… it’s like starting a game with a one goal lead. It put them under a lot of pressure. At times, our team played real well, we had a couple chances to get a second but give Vancouver a lot of credit; they fought real hard, put us under a lot of pressure. They haven’t lost many games here at home, so that’s an impressive win for our group.”
On the defensive pairing of Leonardo and Gonzalez…)
ARENA: “It’s good. They’ve played together on and off over the years. I think it’s important to have center backs with the profile of center backs. Leonardo gives us that. You see a lot of these games when you’re under a lot of pressure. The ball’s in the air, we’re being challenged. Our center backs can hold up to those battles.”