LA GALAXY HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On his team’s result tonight:
“I don’t think we played really well tonight. We scored a goal in the first half, but it was a little bit against the run of play. On their first goal, I thought Acosta hit a good shot, so you have to take that into account, but on the second goal, we got back-doored and the defensive positioning wasn’t good. We seemed a little sluggish tonight and we weren’t as sharp as we needed to be.”
On what his team can take away from this game:
“We have to make sure it’s just a bump in the road. We’ve had a good stretch, but all of those things come to end at some time, so we have to stand up. We know what we did wrong, we have to look at that and make sure we come out ready to play next week against Minnesota.”
LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER DAVID BINGHAM
On his team’s current form:
“There has been a theme over the last couple weeks, where we’ve gotten good results and worked hard, but there are little things throughout the game that teams are punishing us for and we haven’t been able to turn it around yet. We have to be able to close guys down and put pressure on the ball. If you don’t do that guys are going to punish you and that’s what they did tonight and they deserve the points for it.”
On what his team has to do to get better moving forward:
“I have to keep the ball out of the net. If you don’t keep the ball out of the net you don’t give your team a chance to win. We are giving up too many shots, some of the most shots in the league and that’s not acceptable. We have the quality where that shouldn’t happen and we need to figure it out with the post-season coming up sooner than later.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER DANIEL STERES
On getting back in the starting lineup tonight:
“It was good to be back on the field fighting again with that eleven. It’s not the result we wanted. This is a tough place to come play especially since I’ve been out for a lot of games, but I feel like my fitness was okay. We are just not happy right now.”
On playing in altitude:
“It was tough in the first half. A lot of guys were huffing and puffing. There were times when we caught our breath and I thought we had the better of the game. In the end, I don’t know if it was guys being tired or if we’re giving them too much space, but it lead to two goals.”
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH ANTHONY HUDSON
On the keys to ending the Galaxy's 9-game winning-streak:
“A thing we've had all season that we saw tonight is having to create our own belief. When we actually back ourselves and play positive and aggressive and most importantly as a team, when we're like that - we give ourselves belief and that’s what we got tonight. We started the game very well, we controlled the game and then we shot ourselves in the foot with the goal. Overall, we just need more belief, that’s a big part of it.”
On Kellyn Acosta being a positive influence on the team:
“Sam Nicholson and Giles Barnes have given us a lift in the locker room. Unfortunately, he had a little issue with his ankle, but his mere presence around the place. Kellyn [Acosta] is the future of the club. Those signings have helped us improve the squad, still a work in progress. Everyone's working incredibly well and they've definitely played a part.”
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER KELLYN ACOSTA
On tonight’s match:
“A game of ups and downs, I think we had a lot of highs, especially in the first half, despite going down one goal, I thought we showcased some quality football. I thought we kept the ball a little bit better than we did in D.C. I think the gaffer was proud of us despite the goal, going down 1-0 in a game where we dominated is definitely frustrating, but overall I thought the team showed great resilience. Coming in the second half we had a great attitude, we pushed hard to fight back, we had the first goal with myself and then finished the game off with Sam [Nicholson] with a brilliant, brilliant take and the guys battled for ninety-plus minutes and it showed and we were rewarded for it.”
On what changed in the second half:
“It was definitely building on momentum. The game had some spurts where it kind of died down and we were trying to find the game and to have that first goal right away, it kind of slowed things down for us and kind of created that unbalance. I think they were kind of sitting back in a sense, they were hard to pick-off especially in the first half, we weren’t clinical on our chances in the second half, we had some take that we got close. Marlon [Hairston] had a chance I think he hopes he had back, the cut-in and near-post slot, and my goal, and then Sam’s [Nicholson] goal, and Eddie [Castillo] had some chances cutting in and creating some things, overall we created the opportunities, but we have to be more and more clinical. We’re happy with the result and we’re going to build on this.”
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER SAM NICHOLSON
On the differences tonight versus other games this season:
“We were being more patient with the ball. We kept more possession than we normally do and games in the past we have gone a little bit longer trying to get the ball in control. Tonight we've done that as a first resort rather than a last resort.”
On the 4-4-2 diamond and his role in this formation:
“It definitely suits us. It's a bit of a change playing up front, I've played up front as a kid, played a few games professionally in my old club in Scotland. I really enjoy it. I missed playing up front. The team has adapted to it really well.”
