LA Galaxy 3, New England Revolution 2
Saturday, July 14, 2018 – 4:30 p.m. PT
2018 MLS Regular Season
Gillette Stadium – Foxborough, Mass.
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On the end of the match:
Schmid: “It was definitely a wild finish. I mean early in the season, we had so many of those things go against us, over the time of a season it sort of evens up a little bit. I don’t think it was our best game overall at times. I thought we squandered some things, but we came up with some good defensive plays in the second half. Ashley Cole’s save off the line, [David] Bingham made the save to his right off [Juan] Agudelo. Those were big for us and it gave us an opportunity to win the game at the end.”
On the team’s recent run of good form:
Schmid: “We’re starting to learn how to play with each other, that’s the important thing. I mean obviously, we missed Zlatan [Ibrahimović] today, because our game has been cut to him a little bit and he’s obviously had a big impact when you look at his goals. The guys are understanding how to play with him, so we had to adjust a little bit today. Overall, the understanding within the team has been good and today we ended up making a couple of changes in the second half formation-wise – where guys were playing – and the guys adjusted really well to that.”
On why Zlatan Ibrahimović didn’t play:
Schmid: “Because of the turf. He’ll play on turf when it’s in the playoffs, but in the regular season, he’s probably not going to play on the turf.”
On Sheanon Williams’ contribution to the match:
Schmid: “Obviously we signed him mid-season, he became available to us. He’s a veteran guy. He’s been around the league. Today, we were able to bring him in, he was able to play as a marker for us at the very beginning, then play as a right back, and he’s got that versatility where he can play both positions. We like his athleticism and the things he brings.”
On the two goals in stoppage time:
Schmid: “Obviously, the first one was a set piece. We had felt there was some space at the back post and were able to take advantage of that on the set piece. [Dave] Romney finished it well. The second goal, it was probably where we were almost saying, ‘Okay, that’s good, you know, we’ll be happy with a tie.’ Then the second goal came out of nowhere, it caught them maybe when they made the two-two, can’t say what they were thinking, but maybe they were thinking, ‘Hey, let’s get after it again, let’s win this game, we had the game.’ They were just a little bit open for a moment in the back and we were able to take advantage of it. They’re a dangerous team. I think the improvements that New England has made and how they’re playing under Brad [Friedel] has been very good.”
On the toughness of the team:
Schmid: “Our fight’s been there. We haven’t given up on each other even through the tough times at the beginning of the year, and now we’re starting to get rewarded for it. We also lost a pretty great man to our organization about a week ago, Ken Ravizza, who worked with us as a sports psychologist and is a guy the guys really liked. Tonight’s game we sort of dedicated to him and I know he would have been very happy to see us continue to work and not give up.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER DAVID ROMNEY
On what happened in the final minutes:
Romney: “You’re just pushing forward. We’re sending guys forward. Ema [Boateng] and Sheanon [Williams] got a good combination on the far side and it got a corner for us, and then Romain [Alessandrini] just whipped a really good ball to the back post, and that was my spot to be and the ball came straight to me and just finished it.”
On what type of boost the win gives the team:
Romney: “It was huge. We were just excited to tie it up. We should have tied it up earlier. They were a man down since like the 20th minute. We didn’t fight well enough in order to finish them off earlier in the game and we ended up being down. So, we were just excited to get a goal back and then it kind of just spurred stuff on. Thankfully, Chris [Pontius] got another goal to win it.”
On how important this result is on the road:
Romney: “It’s huge. Just keep the momentum going. I think you said after the game that we are 5-1-3 in our last 9 games, so averaging two points a game. If we keep that pace up, we’re easily going to be in the playoffs and that’s definitely our goal.”
On what impact the physicality had on the game:
Romney: “It’s a weird surface. The turf is kind of weird. It was a little windy. It kind of resorted to kick ball. It wasn’t the prettiest of games on both sides, and then the game got chippy, and that doesn’t help with people trying to play. In games where it gets chippy and it gets direct, weird things happen and you can kind of score weird goals, and thankfully we were on the right side of it at the very end.”
On the communication between backline and midfield:
Romney: “We still have a lot to work on. We’d like to get a shutout every game, we know it's not possible. We gave away two kind of soft goals in my opinion. The first one was just a 1-2. [Diego] Fagundez kind of got around on my side and then missed communication between me and Chris [Pontius]. The second one, we just got to track guys on ball serves. It’s stuff we’re working on, hopefully we clear it up throughout the rest of the season, but always good to get a result even when you don’t play well.”
On how big this win is for the team:
Romney: “It’s big, it’s big. We kind of just went through a big stretch of games, where we played three games in one week, and then we dropped those two games late where we had those two-goal leads, so it’s nice to kind of have stuff break our way this time. Hopefully, we can just keep building on it and keep these results going.”
LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER DAVID BINGHAM
On what he saw transpire in the final minutes:
Bingham: “I think you just saw the commitment from all the guys on the field tonight. Played until the final whistle and we put two past them in the last minute.”
On if the Galaxy went back to playing like the 'old Galaxy' tonight:
Bingham: “Yeah, it’s a step in the right direction. We can’t look past things that we didn’t do well enough tonight, because they’re still there, even though we got the three points, which is the most important thing. So, we have some things to work on, but, the effort tonight, I think is something you can definitely build off of going forward.”
On the character the team showed in the final minutes:
Bingham: “It’s huge for us. I think it’s something that last year, maybe the team didn’t have as much. And if you want to go to the playoffs and make a run, you have to have it. There’s going to be games where you have to win ugly and this is one of those nights. Big props to all the guys who went out there and busted their tails off for the whole time -- you saw the end result tonight.”
On using this result as motivation going forward:
Bingham: “I don’t know, we weren’t good enough in some aspects tonight and we know that. So, we can’t get too high and you can’t get too low. We need to go back and we need to watch some film and get better in certain areas. But the effort and the fight from everyone tonight is something to be proud of and move forward with.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH BRAD FRIEDEL
On the result tonight and how to put it into perspective:
Coach Friedel: “I think the first thing that I’ll say, I’m very, very proud of my players and the effort that they put in tonight. Going down a man and playing the way we did, I think Sigi [Schmid] said it best right after the game, ‘we didn’t deserve that.' I don’t think they deserved the win. We did and to come undone on three goals in the manner that we did, is heartbreaking. It’s sickening. But the players know that they put in a valiant effort. The players know that we were the better side. The players also know we gave up three soft goals—and that’s sports. I really can’t say too many negative things other than about the three goals and the fact that we lost, because the players put in such a monumental effort. I think it would be wrong of me to come up and have a go at them, because the effort was tremendous.”
On the importance of Luis Caicedo and the ground he covered:
Coach Friedel: “He’s been very important in every game. I thought Wilfried Zahibo was also excellent today in the center of midfield. I thought Juan Agudelo, on the right-hand side particularly, was very, very good. We had a lot of good performers. What I really liked about it, is when we went down to 10 men, there was not an ounce of panic. There wasn’t an ounce of frustration. There wasn’t an ounce of anything. It was just normal. Work, as normal, I should say. Again, we were causing them a lot of problems and we could’ve been three-one up. We could’ve been four-one up. I think if anyone watched the game up to the 90th minute and then you tell them the final score, I don’t think anyone would believe it. There’s going to be some positives we can take out of it, but we know that we’re in the industry where we need to win and I’m as upset as anyone that we lost tonight.”
On whether the amount of space the Revolution were able to utilize was surprising:
Coach Friedel: “Not at all. They played an incredible amount of long balls. They’re a very uncharacteristic Los Angeles Galaxy team as far as what’s previously been. And when [Zlatan] Ibrahimović plays, they play even more long balls. They have big gaps in the middle of the midfield. We knew that, but, at the same time, they also have players that are very good in the attacking third that can hurt you. So, were we surprised that the game was open and we had space? Absolutely not. I thought we passed the ball pretty well today and we created quite a few opportunities, but we knew, by now in the season, you can scout the opponents enough. We knew pretty much what to expect.”
On the end of the match:
Coach Friedel: “If you look at the goals, you’re going to look at individual mistakes, not a collective scenario. I’m not up here to pick on any one player who makes mistakes in games. That’s part and parcel of it. So, it’ll be up to us as a staff and the teammates to pick the individuals up who made the individual mistakes. Next week, it could be someone else, or hopefully it’s someone from Minnesota who makes the individual errors. What you saw tonight is not really characteristic of a team breaking down or falling apart. It was a case of losing concentration in individual moments and that’s something that, yes, we want to eradicate. Yes, you don’t want players to make it, but it’s also part and parcel of the game.”
On Juan Agudelo’s performance:
Coach Friedel: “He was very good. I and the staff were very, very pleased with his contribution. We thought we got every last ounce of energy out of him. I thought he caused Ashley Cole a tremendous amount of problems. I don’t think they really had a solution for him, to be honest with you. I also thought he changed the point of attack, which we knew would be on in the game, very, very well. And he was close to a goal as well on Claude’s [Dielna] free kick and a couple other occasions. We were very happy with his performance.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD JUAN AGUDELO
On the team having put in a lot of energy into the night, only to walk away without any points:
Agudelo: “To me, it was one of the worst losses that I’ve suffered at this stadium, to have so many people come out. I think the most important thing was the resilience and the fact that we faced a lot of adversity going down a man, just the way the guys pulled through that. I saw a guy to my left, I saw a guy go to my right sprinting, I had to sprint, and for us to lose like that, I just hope that we don’t forget that part of the game.”
On how he breaks down the last minute and a half where the game changed so quickly:
Agudelo: “Just watching from the side as I came off, I was just hoping that we would clear everything out, and we didn’t. I think that’s just plain and simple. We didn’t mark up in a couple occasions.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER DIEGO FAGUNDEZ
On the game slipping away late:
Fagundez: “I don’t even know how to express myself right now. It’s a tough one to take, it’s a tough one to swallow, especially when you know your team worked hard [for] 90 minutes and then you let something like that slip. It’s just one that we’re going to have to really look at the video and really focus [to] make sure it doesn’t happen again.”
On how the team reacted to going down to 10 men:
Fagundez: “Once you go down a man, you put double the work in. With this group of guys, it doesn’t matter if you’re one man down, two men down—you know you’re going to have a great game with us and I think that’s what everybody said. We put the energy in there, we put our work in there, but at the end, still not good enough from us.”
On getting ready for Minnesota with a quick turnaround:
Fagundez: “I think we’re all fit already. So, we have to make sure we are taking care of our bodies, but we know it’s a quick turnaround so everybody has to be ready. Make sure that we’re watching film, learning from our mistakes, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. These points that we’re losing here are the ones that may haunt us at the end. Now, we have to go away from home and make sure we get results.”
On taking away positives from the performance before the score reversal:
Fagundez: “There’s going to be positive stuff. We worked hard for 90 minutes, but at the end of the day we let something slip away. That’s what [Brad Friedel] said at half time, make sure something doesn’t slip away on our mistakes and I think that’s what we did today.”
