LA Galaxy Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 2, Chicago Fire 2
Saturday, May 6, 2017
2017 MLS Regular Season
StubHub Center – Los Angeles, Calif.
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH CURT ONALFO
On the team’s response in the second half:
“We became a team tonight. That’s the Galaxy team that you’ll see moving forward. I think it was a galvanizing moment for our group. We’ve been through a lot already and it was a pretty darn good second half. I told them at half-time that I felt like if we just got one goal, the second would come and we’d have an opportunity to turn this into possibly three points but at a minimum we’re walking out of here with one. And that’s what we did.”
On his decision to substitute Dave Romney for Jelle Van Damme in the first half:
“I expect our players to be right from minute one. I’m the leader of the team and if guys aren’t…I’m the leader of the team and I have to make substitutions to get our group to where it needs to be. I brought in Dave and he did a solid job and we didn’t concede anymore and it ended up creating a lot of chances.”
On João Pedro’s performance:
“João Pedro continues to adapt to the league and get better. I thought he worked extremely hard and won a lot of balls and passed well. I thought he had a very good performance. You could see he fatigued a little at the end because he put so much into it.”
On what was off about Jelle Van Damme’s performance:
“We conceded two goals early on and I wanted to make sure that didn’t happen moving forward.”
On an update for Jermaine Jones:
“We don’t yet have one. We know it’s his knee and he’ll get some imaging done to see where it is.”
On Giovani dos Santos scoring and how important it is for him:
“It’s important. I think you saw Ema being dangerous, you saw Romain being dangerous, Gio being dangerous, Gyasi being dangerous and those are four very good attacking players. It was good for him to put the ball in the back of the net and I think he’s just going to continue to get better.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD GIOVANI DOS SANTOS
On if he feels back in form:
“As I said, I’ve been working really hard. We are working hard. The important thing for me is how we played in the second half.”
On how it feels to get on the scoresheet:
“Obviously it’s a good feeling. But as I said, I always try to do my best on the pitch and the confidence obviously after today is going to be better. So I just hope to be playing the same way.”
On the team’s response in the second half:
“I think we fought. We talked about it at halftime: we’re the Galaxy. We fight for our prestige as a player and especially at home. So I think the way we thought was very good.”
On how the team came together Saturday night:
“I think it was the first game in the whole season that we looked like a team. We fought together as a team so we just have to keep working that way and build it up and hopefully things change in the next games.”
On what went wrong in the first half:
“I think sometimes in football there are moments that you have bad luck and whatever you want to call it. But I think in the second half you just have to go and give it your all and I think we did. We have to keep going in the same way. We’re the Galaxy and we have to play well.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER DANIEL STERES
On the performance of Dave Romney:
“He was working in there trying to talk as much as he could and trying to talk with me and Ashley and the guys up front. He knew he had a job that he had to do and he got in and tried to do that. He won almost every ball that came his way. He locked guys down when they came in his area and he was just pretty calm back there. It’s not easy to do coming in as a defender in the first half.”
On the substitution of Dave Romney for Jelle Van Damme:
“It’s the coach’s decision. He’s the one making the subs and making the decisions. I don’t know if it sparks energy because you don’t want to see your captain go off whether it’s for a bad game or anything else.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER BAGGIO HUSIDIC
On the importance of getting a point:
“Anytime you’re down 2-0 at home and get the point is important. They were definitely the better team in the first half, but we definitely showed character in the second. To be fair, I think we may have deserved a third or fourth goal. We were unlucky in a few scenarios. It shows if you’re part of the Galaxy you can’t have a bad first half, because when teams come here to play it’s a big game for them.”
On Romain Alessandrini’s performance:
“When Romain gets hot and gets his confidence, he’s an incredible player. We need him to be like that in all games. We need him to be a leader out there. When we get him the ball he’s a guy that can create something. He’s a gifted player. You look at his resume, and there’s a reason he’s been there. He’s got a quality left foot and he sees the game a little different than the rest of us average guys. We have to keep letting him do his thing.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD GYASI ZARDES
On the second half:
“You can see by the second half, we looked like a whole different team. We were out there fighting for each other. We were just pressing them. This is our home field, our home stadium, and I think we showed a lot of character in that second half. I think the mentality changed. Once we came in here in the locker room at halftime, we had a different mind set going out there for the second half. That’s the mind set we’re going to start having.”
On what was it like in halftime locker room
“[Curt Onalfo] always talks to us, but it was on us to just go out there and take over the game. He was positive at halftime and he’s always very motivating. This team really showed a lot of character. You don’t have to yell to get through to us. We’re men. We know what’s at stake. It’s only right for our fans to try and get a win out here.”
On how to explain the team’s last few games:
“I haven’t been thinking about the last few. I’ve just been thinking about the Chicago game. This second half, we’re trying to build on that. That team you saw in the second half? That’s the team we’re trying to build on and move forward.”
On the team:
“We’ve been bad in a lot of games this season. We’ve not been together, we’ve not been moving right as a team. It’s a new team and we’re still kind of getting to know each other, but in the second half we came together, didn’t give up, kept that fighting spirit. I think this is the minimum you should require from your teammates, a work ethic, and I think we showed that.
On whether a flip switched in the second half:
“I think the players that come into the game are trying to prove they’re good enough to play, and they give it their all. We know we have this mentality. I think in the second half it kind of clicked. If we start like that in games I think we can get out of the trouble we’re in.”
Regarding the response from a younger team:
“They’re proving to the coaches and the fans they’re good enough to play for the Galaxy. Of course you’re going to miss guys like Jelle and Jermaine, but the young guys that came on – Dave Romney, Emmanuel Boateng – were magnificent. I think they worked their socks off. We did kind of come together as a team today in the second half. The first half was unacceptable.”
Regarding the upcoming road games:
“You just have to watch this game. This is the minimum requirement. We have to work hard, we have to start moving up the table and getting three points. What a way to hopefully start it against New York, right? It’s going to be difficult, but we have to have this mentality, never give up and work hard for each other.”
CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH VELJKO PAUNOVIC
On the team’s performance:
“Well for us it feels like a loss. We believe that the first half was great. We also think that the injuries that happened actually helped them because it stopped our pace and our rhythm of the game that we boasted from the start. And from that moment in the start of the second substitution, we lost and we couldn’t find the rhythm again. In the second half, I think we came a little too casual, in one of our strengths which is our defensive set pieces. We conceded two goals too easy. Too easy. And very, very similar. No reaction is something that concerns me, but on the other side, I think after the Galaxy’s goals the team reacted and we had good opportunities to score. Overall, I think a tie is….for both teams you get something, but for us we are not happy because we could have one this game.”
On what he wanted to see from his team in the second half:
“We have to kill the game. There is progression. We got a point on the road. We were the better team in the first half in my opinion and that’s something I like to see after the game in Toronto and the game in New York and now in LA. There is a huge progression. But with opportunities like this, we have to convert with three points. Today was very close.”
On what positives he takes away from the match:
“I think our shape and defensive, style and approach to the game is getting better. Possession was much better also, in the first half. Also the execution of our game plan. We have learn to adapt the adjustments that the opponents makes, and from there that’s what one team has to do to get better. Adjust, adapt…you have to be very smart and very quick to get what’s going on and make adjustments.”
On Bastian Schweinsteiger’s performance and leadership:
“He’s doing well. He’s trying to influence the guys and he’s doing that. Sometimes you have to get everybody on the same page and it’s difficult. We wanted to play long balls, but in the second half we wanted to start simple and play behind their back, but we just couldn’t get there. The mindset with which we came out in the second half wasn’t good. We thought the game was over and we addressed that in the locker room.”
CHICAGO FIRE MIDFIELDER BASTIAN SCHWEINSTEIGER
On the result:
“When you’re 2-0 up and you control the game, and at the end you play to a draw, it feels like a loss.”
On Galaxy’s second-half comeback:
“Maybe we thought the game was done. We spoke about it on half-time. That was not the case. We didn’t find the free man, we rushed, we lost the ball too easy, then you lose a little bit of the control of the game. “
On the LA Galaxy:
“They have actually good players, and their individuals were strong, and if you think about Boateng, Giovani; they have players that can win a one against one. They are definitely not a bad team.”
On life in Chicago, and playing in MLS:
“Life in Chicago is great. Playing in MLS is interesting. Not satisfied 100%, because we lost too many easy points. We give them away. Otherwise we would have a better position in the standings. So I’m not satisfied with this, and also, sometimes in a game we can make it easier if you find the right player. In the first half we did quite well, but we have to show that in the 90 minutes.”
On reaching his best level of play:
“Yeah, it’s getting better. Of course it’s much easier when the team plays well. You play 11 against 11. Not one against one. So I try to help as much as I can in the team, and I hope that we will improve our games more and more from week to week. It’s just sad that we couldn’t win today, because a few points would be great for us.”
On his playing position:
“If you know my career, then you know exactly which position I was playing, but it just depends on our team. Which players we are playing. There I try to help as much as I can. Today started more on the offensive position, then later on I tried to play from behind. So yeah. When we have the ball to find the right player, the free player, and we have to work on it more and more. The first half was good. It was alright, but we have to show 90 minutes. Not 45. We have to improve. It’s a point. Actually in New York we could won the match as well, so today we should’ve won the match. It’s a little bit sad. We just had 1 point instead of 6 points.”
CHICAGO FIRE MIDFIELDER JUNINHO
On being back in LA:
“It was special. When I was in the player tunnel, a lot of memories came to my head for sure. It was a very emotional moment, walking out to the field and seeing all those fans again, the crowd, the supporters, the whole environment for me was very special.”
On whether he spoke to anyone from LA before the game:
“At the end of the game, where I could shake hands with everybody, my old teammates. It was special to see them too. Now maybe I’ll try to see some more guys and shake more hands. I was glad to be back.”
On having to go to a different locker room at StubHub Center:
“It was weird. I was telling my teammates, it’s going to be weird coming to the visiting locker room, with warm ups in the other side of the field, so it was a little weird but it’s part of it.”
[Translated from Spanish]
On the game:
“I think we controlled the game better in the first half, we did a good job controlling the game, we scored the goals but they knew they had to come out and win at home in front of their fans. I think they did that and we weren’t able to hold on to the lead.”
On what happened to Chicago in the second half:
“That happens when a team is playing at home, with the support of their home crowd. Unfortunately, we let in two goals from set pieces but now we just have to work hard and take it game by game.”
On having Bastian Schweinsteiger as a teammate:
“It’s a pleasure to play alongside a world class player. I have had the opportunity to play with others as well, but it’s really a pleasure to play with him. He’s a player with a lot of experience, on and off the field, he’s positive and knows a lot about soccer so we hope to continue to work together and get results on the field.”
