LA GALAXY HEAD COACH AND GENERAL MANAGER BRUCE ARENA
On Mike Magee:
“That is the reason why we wanted to bring Mike [Magee] back here. We think he is a great player that can score goals and we've been very careful with him in preseason and we will continue to be in the beginning of the season and kind of be smart about his minutes and make sure he is completely healthy and have him ready to have a great year. But I think he kicked it off well tonight.”
On tonight's game:
“Conceding a goal four minutes in is not easy. I thought D.C. United did a good job being organized and getting numbers behind the ball and making things difficult for us in the first half. But having said that, we still played OK in the first half. We obviously had to get a goal and get ourselves back in the game in the early part of the second half and I think we did that.”
On tonight's result:
“I think it's a good kind of win for us. We had to come from behind, dig a little bit, and work really hard. We’ve got a nice blend of experience. We have enough guys that can settle everyone down and keep their composure. It's a good balance. I think you see the experience that Nigel [de Jong] brings in the midfield and that Ashley [Cole] brings in the back. Bringing in a goalkeeper in the first half is highly unusual and we dealt with some issues and overcame them so I think it's a real good win for our team.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ROBBIE KEANE
On LA Galaxy defender Daniel Steres’ debut goal:
“Very perfect header. I kind of said before the game, if we get the lead, it’ll open up and that was the case. Mike scored a great goal, we got the penalty and from then on it was ours. We started off OK, they just broke well - had a shot with a bit of luck and scored. Against these teams, they sit back a lot and that was the case in the first half. It was hard to break them down, but in the second half we did.”
On his playing history with LA Galaxy forward Mike Magee:
“We knew what he could do. It was a very calm finish you saw with the first goal and that’s something he’s going to bring to the squad. First time around when he was here, he was brilliant and he’s continued on from there.”
On if he was worried when goalkeeper Dan Kennedy left the game; “No. We’ve got a great backup in Brian [Rowe] and he made a couple of great saves.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD MIKE MAGEE
On if coming off the bench is a role that he embraces:
“You know, I just came in here with one thing in mind: to win games. I think I’ll keep pushing [Bruce Arena] to start me no matter how fit or healthy I am. That’s my goal, but I think Bruce [Arena] has earned the right to dictate who plays where and when. I might argue with him, but I’ll accept it.”
On his goals:
“I was the beneficiary of some incredible movement on the first goal and an incredible ball by Sebastian [Lletget]. My touch was just bad enough to bounce up and the rest was easy. The second time I was just trying to get in the box and it just hit me in the head. Stevie [Gerrard] played a perfect ball. Not easy at all as far as I go, but my teammates made it look easy for me.”
On if he could have had a better return performance for the LA Galaxy:
“It feels a little bit surreal. I didn’t know what to do after I scored. Literally I haven’t scored in years. It felt weird and a little uncomfortable with people jumping at me. Once the game ended it felt weird but incredible. I’m still obviously scrambling for words right now so you can imagine what’s going through my mind.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER STEVEN GERRARD
On LA Galaxy forward Mike Magee’s performance:
“I think he changed the game for us. We were 1-0 down and lost Gio [Giovani dos Santos] at halftime – fingers cross the injury is not too bad – but credit to Mikey. It was a man of the match performance and he deserved all the applause he gets. He was sensational.”
On the difference between the Galaxy’s first and second half:
“I think we were a bit open the first 10-15 minutes and unfortunately conceded a goal. Then it was just all about being patient and then we lifted the tempo in the second half. Midweek I mentioned that in Mexico we were very passive and slow on the ball and tonight we changed that. Tonight we changed that and we were a lot closer to where we want to be in the second half.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER DANIEL STERES
On his MLS debut performance:
“I thought it went well. Most important thing was that we got the win and the goal was just a bonus.”
His perspective of his first MLS goal:
“It was a corner kick and we needed to get back in the game. Put in a really good ball; it was in a really good spot. Gyasi [Zardes] kind of got a pick for me and I just found some space, saw the ball the last second and put it in. I got to give Gyasi [Zardes] a lot of credit. We’ve worked on a couple plays like that and he did a good job giving me a pick.”
On his defensive performance:
“I thought we did well. It was a bummer to give up that first goal so early. Obviously you want to get a shutout but after that, I think as a group we picked it up pretty well and I was pretty comfortable back there with A.J. [DeLaGarza], Robbie [Rogers] and Ashley [Cole].”
On his feelings after his impressive MLS debut:
“Definitely excited. It feels great and I’ve been waiting for this for a while, so it feels really good to get out of here with a win.”
On if he was nervous:
“Not really. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time. We’ve got some great players and great coaches here and they gave me confidence so I was just excited to get out there.”
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On the team's second half performance:
“We had to make a quick change and we were in a little bit of disarray and they came out with a lot of energy, which is expected after the first half down at home. They made an adjustment - I think a good one - where Mike Magee comes in the game, it really helped out. They started to go more direct and we were under it. The unfortunate part is they get two set piece goals and that is something we pride ourselves on. If you go away and give up two set piece goals it is going to be tough.”
On tonight's game:
“I can say up here it is not a 4-1 game, but it is a 4-1 game. I thought overall there is a lot to build from this game with our group. It is disappointing and it hurts to give up four goals but there were a lot of chances out there for us, some good movement with a lot of new guys. I thought Lamar [Neagle] played very well, stretched the field. Patrick [Nyarko] the first half in particular had some really good attacks.”
D.C. UNITED FORWARD LAMAR NEAGLE
On the team's first half performance: “It was good. Like Ben [Olsen] was saying, obviously the first half was a lot better for us. We came out and got right on top of them. We were selective in our pressing and it ended getting us a goal. We had chances here and there and there. A little bit of the run-of-play possession wise, but I think we were smart and we knew coming into LA that they were going to come at us. We were able to hit them early and the first half went as planned.”
On his performance tonight:
“It feels good to finally get in a game. I wasn't able to play in the CONCACAF, so to finally get on the field and score early was good. Obviously would have like for the final result to have been a little bit better for my debut, but definitely some good stuff. We can take a lot of positives from it, we just have to get better. I think Benny said that we have a lot of new pieces, a lot of moving pieces, so we will get better in time.”
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER CHRIS ROLFE
On the Galaxy's second half performance: “They came out firing. I think Mike Magee gave them a different dynamic. We defended a lot in the first half; that wears on you. We got a little tired and they beat us on set pieces.”
On the team's first half performance: “We were happy when we came in at halftime. We knew it was going to be harder in the second half, but we didn't expect that. I thought we had a good 45 minutes. We defended quite a bit, but we handled it pretty well. We figured it would look like that a little bit. They overloaded the wings, but I like I said I thought we handled it pretty well so at halftime we were pretty optimistic.”
