Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 1, Portland Timbers 1
Saturday, May 11, 2014
MLS Regular Season
Providence Park – Portland, Oregon
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the result:
“Our team played very well. I think you can talk about all you want the referee needs to gives us that call on Juninho. It’s at least a foul. Yellow card, red card, whatever. And then we have to manage the game better at the end. Five minutes of extra time on [Portland]’s injuries and all. You know, listen, we fell asleep at the end of the game. A bunch of guys can do better on the play, but we played very well today. Should have walked away with three points.”
On if he spoke to the referee after the game:
“What’s he going to talk about? He blew it.”
On what he liked about the Galaxy’s performance:
“Our team played very well. We had a fairly dominating performance. They didn’t create a whole lot during the game. We screwed up a set-piece where I think 98 [Futty Danso] hit the post, but we were very good defensively. Created chances, kept the ball pretty well under difficult conditions. We played well today. It’s a shame we didn’t get the three points. We can fault the referee as much as we want, but we were still the team in control at the end of the game where we could have denied a goal-scoring opportunity and didn’t get that done.”
On whether this was the most solid display from the Galaxy this season:
“I’d say so. I’d say so. It’s going to help us to be able to play some games consecutively now and get a little bit of a rhythm.”
On Landon Donovan’s performance:
“Landon was the best player on the field today. Played very well. Good to see.”
On Diego Valeri’s performance:
“Give him credit. He got a goal.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ROBBIE KEANE
On the result:
“They had some help there from the officials. We can stand here and just make excuses. We shouldn’t have conceded the goal, there’s no question about that. In the last few seconds you have to be stronger and not concede. Some of the decisions today from the officials, not even the referee. Seeing the linesman on the other side for Juninho, he has to see that. There’s no question. He’s right in line with it. So I would actually say more the linesman in that situation than the referee because he is chasing the play like everybody else. Some poor, poor decisions there. We have to accept and take responsibility ourselves as well because the last minute of the game, you shouldn’t be conceding a goal.”
On coming away with one point, instead of three:
“It’s difficult because that’s two games now on the road, against Vancouver and Portland, playing on turf, which is always difficult. We played well both times and deserved to win both times. We certainly deserved to win today, there’s no question about it. We didn’t, so what do you do? Just get on with it and move on and look forward to next week’s game.”
On the Galaxy’s winless streak on the road:
“I wasn’t aware of that. But if you look at the performance it’s not that we’re not playing well. We’re doing the right things. We did the right things today. We did the right things against Vancouver as well. At the end of the day it’s about finishing the 90-plus minutes. We didn’t do that. We lacked a bit of concentration at the end of the game, that cost us.”
On his goal:
“Dan [Gargan] was taking his time and I told him ‘Just do it quick. Go. Get it in the box. You never know.’ A few minutes left, you have an opportunity to get a goal. Try to get a goal. We did that and lucky enough, the bounce came for us in this situation.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER LANDON DONOVAN
On the match:
“I thought we played extremely well today. I thought we dominated every facet of the game. They really had no business getting anything out of that game. Our goal at the end was absolutely what we deserved and then still trying to figure out how that wasn’t a foul called on Juninho, which obviously have ended the game. One of those days and frustrating, but we still played very well.”
On if the Galaxy or the referees are to blame for the result:
“Both. I mean, referees are human. They make mistakes and I’m sure when both Armando [Villarreal] and the linesman look at it again, they’re going to feel bad about it. We all make mistakes. That’s part of life. But we can still be better on the last play, there’s no question. There’s probably five or six guys that can make a better play. We’ve been punished for it this year. When those things happen, we’re getting punished.”
On the emotions of the match:
“The only frustration came in the final play there. Other than that, I think we felt great about how we played. There’s not a lot of teams that come in here and completely batter them the way we did today. We can take some positives from that, but at the end of the day, this is a results business and we let two points slip away today.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER JUNINHO
Thoughts on the no-call just before Portland scored:
“It was a good opportunity to score and take points away, but I think the guy pushed me in the back. I couldn’t shoot on goal. I think the referee made a mistake. I felt him push me in the back and couldn’t score the goal. The referee could have called that one.”
On the match:
“What a game. You play very hard for 90 minutes. This is very important, but not enough. You don’t take the points back home and it’s tough for us.”
On if he saw Landon running with him on his right on the late breakaway:
“I didn’t see anything. In that moment, in front of goal, I tried to score, but it happens.”
On moving on from the draw:
“It’s tough, lost points like that. When we have the points in our hand and [expletive] up in the end. You play very good today and look forward to the next game.”
