LA Galaxy Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 1, Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2
Saturday, Feb. 24, 2017 – 7 p.m. PT
2018 Preseason Exhibition Match
StubHub Center – Los Angeles, Calif.
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On confirming Ashley Cole’s role as team captain:
“Yeah, Ashley’s [Cole] our captain.”
On the possibility of today’s starting lin-up being the starting lineup for the regular season:
“We’ll obviously go over it, we’ll think about it. I don’t know if this is the line up that you’ll see next week. You’ll have to see next week.”
On Jonathan dos Santos’ absence and João Pedro’s Injury:
“Jonathan [dos Santos]… we just didn’t dress him out of precaution. We expect him to be ready to go next week. João Pedro felt a strain a little bit, so we’ll know more tomorrow.”
On the performance of the team:
“Hopefully we’ll get all this out of the way now, and when the real season begins, those things will start going in the back of the net. I think a couple of times we overpassed in the 18-yard box, we had chances to shoot. Sometimes we got a little too cute, as [Ola] Kamara did on the one where he tried to chip him. He’s shown that he can hit the ball hard and put it past goalkeepers, as he did in the San Jose game. I can’t be displeased with how we played. I thought defensively we were much better today. I didn’t think we gave up a ton. In fact, we had the assist on their goal, their second goal. Defensively we were better, our recovery was better, so I was happy with that. Offensively, again, we created chances, one day those chances will fall.”
On LA Galaxy midfielder Servando Carrasco’s performance:
“I thought Servando [Carrasco] did well. He came in, obviously difficult circumstances, where he didn’t have a chance to warm up. But, I felt he was a smart enough player, he could get himself warm and play and not pull anything, which he did. I thought he came up and he played well.”
On the team’s overall preseason:
“We got a lot out of preseason, in what we wanted in terms of obviously putting the new guys into positions. I think our fitness level is good. You saw us go for 90 minutes we were still pushing it at the end. But, there’s still that little bit of cohesion, that understanding. There was a play at the end of the game where [Ola] Kamara makes a run to the near post and he opens up the space behind him for [Chris] Pontius, but [Chris] Pontius doesn’t react and Romain [Alessandrini] plays the ball into that space. So, Romain [Alessandrini] is obviously disappointed, because he thought, here’s a good ball, and I talked to Chris [Pontius] about it, and that’s the little bit of just getting to know each other. That’s just going to take time. You’re not going to create that in two or three games. I thought today our understanding of each other positionally, defensively, I thought was much better. I can’t complain with the chances we’re creating.”
On goals coming from multiple players in recent games:
“It’s always good when you get your goals from different places. There’s one corner kick, where if [Michael] Ciani doesn’t slip, that’s possibly a goal as well. Our opportunities are there.”
On deciding who executes the penalty kicks:
“They know who. It’s [Romain] Alessandrini and Giovanni [Dos Santos]. They decide among themselves, in terms of on the field, sometimes maybe he took a knock, it depends on how you feel, I think Romain [Alessandrini] got stepped on at a training a couple of days ago, that’s why he didn’t hit some of the corners.”
On LA Galaxy midfielder Joao Pedro’s overall preseason performance:
“He’s had some knee issues that he complained about earlier, so for me I thought in the last few days he had trained a little bit better, so when we decided not to play Jonathan [Dos Santos] today, I figured it was a good opportunity for [Joao] Pedro to get in there. Players think that we make decisions as coaches, but they make the decisions with what they do. So, it’s an opportunity for him to play.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD OLA KAMARA
On how close he is to getting his green card:
“I’m going back to Stockholm on Sunday. I’ll be back on Wednesday.”
On his confidence in the team as an attacking group:
“I think it’s good that we got a little bit frustrated today. Maybe it’s good that we come in and work a little bit extra hard now. I think we’re creating a lot of chances. We created a lot against San Jose and we created a lot today too. Me being more clinical is something that maybe tipped the result the other way because I didn’t score on two or three of the chances. If I did score those, I think we would have won this game.”
On his confidence heading into the season:
“I’m getting chances all the time so this is a good thing, but I have to work on the sharpness. But we’re working on getting the chemistry now and I’m getting a lot of chances and that’s good for a striker. If I was going into the season and I wasn’t getting a lot of chances, then I would be very stressed. But right now, I’m feeling chemistry and I’m getting chances.”
On the defense’s progress throughout the preseason:
“Of course they had the penalty, but in the first half they (Vancouver) created nothing. And in the second half they created one goal chance. So the two chances is actually good, but they just can’t end in goals. But I think the defense, even though we conceded two goals, did a good job today.”
LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER DAVID BINGHAM
On the defensive group’s development this offseason:
“I think throughout the preseason we made some pretty big jumps being together and getting on the same page. There’s obviously a few small things that we want to clear up and we’re going to be able to do that going forward. You want to win every game but for the most part, we come out injury free and healthy and feeling good so that’s a positive.”
On what he’d like the team to improve on heading into the season:
“It’s just little things. There’s not a time you look back and you can say “I played a perfect game.” It’s impossible. You try to be perfect, but it’s almost impossible. If everyone can clean up 1-2 things throughout the game we’re going to be extremely hard to beat. And that just comes with playing with each other. You can see it when we play, we’re playing good soccer. We look forward to March 4.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER SERVANDO CARRASCO
On his performance today:
“I just tried to do my job. My job was more of a box-to-box one and I’m trying to make that adjustment…try to double-pivot with Perry. It’s a bit of an adjustment for me. I think it was solid.”
On if he’s most comfortable playing the No. 6 role:
“Definitely more comfortable playing that fifth defender and shielding the back four. I think in this game you have to be versatile. I think that’s a role that I’ve played before – that box-to-box role – I think it’s just a matter of making that adjustment as quickly as possible.”
On how hard it is to make an impression on a team with so much midfield depth:
“I think I’ve been in this league and this game long enough to know to not try to make an impression. I just try to do my job. I try and do my job to the best of my ability. I just try and be solid, try and come in and train well and when my number is called today, just be ready.”
