LA Galaxy 2, Colorado Rapids 2
Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2018 – 7:30 p.m. PT
2018 MLS Regular Season
StubHub Center – Los Angeles, Calif.
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
His thoughts on the match:
“We had the lead twice so we need to hold on the lead. We can talk tactics if we want, but when there’s one player forward and he’s playing against four defenders and he drops off and gets the ball in a pocket...I don’t know what the tactics are there. Do we need six back there? The tactics are that someone has to get up his rear end. It’s just that final thing for us. It hasn’t clicked. I thought they were better than us tonight in the first half. In the second half we switched to a 4-4-2. I thought we got into the game a little bit better as a result of that and we got a couple of goals but so did they.”
On what Sebastian Lletget gave the team in the No. 10 spot tonight:
“He scored a couple of goals in the last two games. He’s still searching for his fitness. At this stage, he’s a quality player and there’s more. He’s given it to us in bits and pieces and I need it a little bit more on a consistent basis, but that’s not just him. That’s others as well. Certainly I’m happy for him getting those goals.”
On the team giving up leads:
“It’s not good. It’s not good defensively. It deals a little bit with mentality and it deals with our organization. It deals with our communication on the field. On the first goal, the ball gets cleared out and we don’t step out. We walk out. Again, we can talk tactics and we can continue to work on that, but that’s not tactics, that’s effort. We need more from them. We have the defenders that we have. We weren’t able in the transfer window to add anybody. We weren’t able to add anyone in the transfer window because we didn’t have the room and the finances to do it, and we didn’t have the roster space to do it. So it’s difficult. These guys have to step up and we’ve got to figure it out. We’re not going to get to playoffs by going one point at a time.”
On Jonathan dos Santos, Michael Ciani, Giovani dos Santos and Romain Alessandrini:
“[Romain] Alessandrini’s knee is fine structurally, just a little bruise in there that we’ve got to take care of so we’ll need time for him to get back. I don’t know exactly when the timeline is. Giovani [dos Santos] has a strain. A grade two strain so it’s going to take a while to get back. Jonathan [dos Santos] felt his groin, I don’t know the extent of that at this stage. Michael Ciani has been nursing his hamstring and he’s been getting through, and it just tightened up again and we felt like if he made a play in the second half he could pull it and that would take him out for a long time.
LA GALAXY DEFENDER ASHLEY COLE
On his goal:
“I tried to make a run down the line and I didn’t get it. And then I ran inside. But I took a good touch on the pass and it opened up for me and a nice finish.”
On how the Galaxy fell flat after the goal:
“We came into the game looking to get the three points. And then we go 1-0 up and in 10 minutes we concede a sloppy goal again. So yeah it’s disappointing. I think we are allowed to come in disappointed because we know that we have to pick up points now. If we would have won our last three games, we would have been first or second. So yeah, we’re disappointed after today’s draw.”
On the Galaxy being unable to get a win at home:
“Collectively maybe we’re not giving our all fighting for every ball and every tackle. Sometimes it shows in the way we concede goals. We’re all over the place at times. It’s disappointing.
On dealing with injuries in the past two matches:
“They are big players for us. We miss the quality that they bring. But it’s a big squad and the players that come in now have to work, because who knows. I’m not saying they’re going to keep their place, but we don’t know how long the injuries will be. So they’ve got to stay fit and produce for the team because we need them now. This is the crunch time of the season where we have to start winning games, especially at home.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER SEBASTIAN LLETGET
On how the result settles with the team:
“It’s déjà vu. We come in here and we’re like, “we just lived that the other day.” The same thing happened. We just can’t finish the game. I know it’s a tie, but at home it’s unacceptable.”
On his goal:
“Individually, I can look back on my game and be happy I was in good spots and finished some things off. But of course, I’m let down from a team perspective. It’s tough to take a tie like that, take two goals like that in that area. It’s unacceptable for everybody.”
On if the team is too soft at certain times in games:
“I definitely think so. I think if we were a bit more onto each other and just keeping on each other’s toes, I think we could be a bit sharper. Especially in times like that. I think it’s mentality. Of course, it starts in training, but it’s mentality. We need to get it right before playoffs.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIĆ
On the team’s run of games:
“I think the last two, three games have been very irritating. We can win these games. If you look at the table, the fixtures…if we take all the points that we should have taken, we are probably first or second in the whole league. It’s very irritating because we make basic things look very difficult. This should not happen. These mistakes happen where my son is training, but there you learn basic things. We just have to work hard and keep going because I feel a big confusion on the field.”
On what’s causing these results for LA Galaxy:
“I think there’s many things. Being soft is one, yes. The ball goes out, you need to pressure. Basic thing. Second goal should not go in. Basic things. Be on your toes and be ready when the ball comes. Basic things we make look difficult and it cannot happen. Everybody talks about the playoffs…the way we play now we don’t even deserve playoffs, so that is how the situation is.”
On not getting many chances in the last two games:
“Two games and not even one clear chance. I don’t know. I’m trying to run in the space and get the balls. The only things I’ve had are free kicks. Two of them hit a bird outside the stadium. One was a handball, the fourth hit the crossbar and those are the only chances I had. I don’t know what it is. It is what it is. I’m trying but I don’t get clear chances.”
On his state of mind at the moment:
“Very irritated. This is the moment when you show everybody that you want to be in the playoff. This is the game you kill. This opponent is not better than us, but they are better organized. They played better than us and they want to play. They are on their toes and they are in the field and playing. We are doing everything opposite.”
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH ANTHONY HUDSON
On the game:
“Obviously incredible pleased. I am just incredibly proud of the team. We’ve been working over the last five, six games and I think it was important when we came into this game tonight that we have to start backing ourselves and believing in what we’re doing. Showing confidence, and I think we did that tonight from start to finish I think we were the better team, we controlled the game. I’m pleased for the players because they needed that.”
On Edgar Castillo’s goal:
“I think he’s handful right now, he’s an exciting player, he’s an unbelievable character in the dressing room, he’s great to have around the team and obviously as you can see on the pitch not only is he a really really good defender, he’s just a real threat going forward. I think the more time he has with us around the players and in the team he’s just growing confidence and I’m pleased for him at the moment.”
On what the team did tactically to neutralize the Galaxy’s attack:
“I think the important thing for us is that we used had to focus on ourselves and back ourselves. We know that when we played them the first time, we sort of learned that if we can meet them high and stop their service into their better players and stronger players, that’s part of the solution and I think that worked for us tonight. Actually aside from the defending, I think part of their most dangerous players not causing us problems was actually having the ball, and I think we probably took away a lot of their threats because we controlled the ball.”
On the team’s complete performance:
“There’s a couple of things, we obviously played on Saturday, we needed some fresh legs in so that led to the changes. I don’t normally get asked a lot of questions after games about selection, which leaves people to sort of openly talk about certain players playing certain positions. The bottom line for me is, always, and we’ve gone through a very tough period in the season, is that we are rebuilding the team. What’s important comes down to selection like tonight, that we get the right experience on the pitch, we get the players that I believe and trust that will be able to handle the occasion and help change the Colorado Rapids going away from home and the mentality. The bottom line is we need as many big characters, strong characters, people that can go into a game and trust they are going to deliver a game plan.”
COLORADO RAPIDS FORWARD NIKI JACKSON
On coming into the game:
“I knew when I came in I didn’t have much time to do much, but I wanted to come in and make a difference. I told myself, if I get a chance I’m going to take it and shoot as many times as I get a chance to. I got the ball, I turned, faced up on them, found a little gap of space to take the shot and you never know what can happen. It ended up in the back of the net.”
On the attitude of the team:
“It just shows that we play for each other. The last few games there has been many late goals and it just shows that we are sticking to the game plan for the full 90 minutes, plus stoppage. It just shows out perseverance, how hard we want to work and how hard we want to get the points on the road, and at home. It just shows how hard our team is working and staying together.”
On the next match:
“What we do on the training pitch we stick to it; we stick to our game plan. As long as we tell ourselves to stick to the game plan, we are going to get a result no matter what. We did that and we came out with a point.”
COLORADO RAPIDS DEFENDER EDGAR CASTILLO
On the game tonight:
“I think we had a very good game. It started off really shaky but we came off with a point, and that’s a very good point on the road.”
On coming from behind twice:
“We fought the whole game and it’s a very good point on the road. The character was on the field, we all pushed for each other. We had the point and scored two goals.”
On the team and finding itself:
“I think we are, we are playing for each other and that’s what we need to do. We have to keep going like that.”
On only scoring nice goals:
“That’s what my teammates said, I just score really good goals. I mean, I just got the ball, hit it and it went in. All the goals I have are good goals, and it comes off my teammates, it’s not only me.”
On the strategy for tonight’s game:
“We knew up top for them is Zlatan [Ibrahimović] laying off the ball to the forwards and it was all him. I mean we had a very good game, we had a lot of possession. That helped us a lot and we got a very good point on the road.”
On the goal or the tackle in tonight’s game:
“I hit it wrong, I knew I had to get back and I think it was the tackle. If not, we would have been down three to two.”
On the next game:
“Our confidence is up and we got a very point. We are all pushing for each other a playing for each other and that shows on the field.”
