LA Galaxy 0, Seattle Sounders FC 5
Saturday, Aug. 18, 2018 – 1 p.m. PT
2018 MLS Regular Season
CenturyLink Field – Seattle
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On the match:
“There’s not much you can say. It was an embarrassing game for us. We gifted them three goals. I thought the first three goals were gifts from us and even the last one was another gift. You just can’t do that against a good team and expect to get a result.”
On if this is a low point defensively:
“Obviously it’s not a good point, but we’re all in this together. For me, we have to look at if we’re in the right places and right positions. Our ability to sometimes anticipate or to keep possession – it’s not just defending. Like I said, when we give away some of the goals that we gave away today…it wasn’t like they put together great combination plays to beat us on the goals. It was pretty simple. It was one pass to them and a guy goes in on a breakaway. Another pass to them and the guy goes in on a breakaway. Another ball played through, our guy slips so the guy is in on goal. Those are not where your defense is getting torn apart and broken down. After we were down in the game, then your concentration lets off a little bit. It was just a game that we’ve got to put behind us. It was embarrassing. I apologize to our fans because they had to watch it. I’ve got to watch it again and again so they only had to watch it once.”
On having so many absent players:
“We play with the players who are here and we’re not going to talk about the other guys.”
On if positions are up for grabs after a result like this:
“There’s nothing we’re not going to look at. We’ll look at everything. This is an emotional moment right after the game so we just have to let calmer heads prevail, sleep on it, think about it and then make decisions.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER PERRY KITCHEN
On the game:
“Yeah, there are not really words for it. It is embarrassing for us, for the club. Certainly not the result we ever want to have here. We have to regroup. It is a derby week coming up. Credit to Seattle. They beat us all over the field. Unfortunately, we made some bad errors as well. Still, they had our number today.”
On Seattle's strategy and control of the middle of the field:
“Look, I think they score a goal in the first three minutes, four minutes. We are on the road, we are already chasing the game. I’m not sure what minute the second goal happens. When you are behind, it changes everything. It changes the way that you play, you have to push a little more. However you want to chalk it up, when you go down one-zero in three minutes, it is not ideal.”
On going into next week:
“Yeah, we need to be angry. We have eight games to go. We need to make the playoffs. I think if we win four we are in. Five for sure, I would say, just with the history of the points. Yeah. We need to be angry, we need to be up for it. We have a huge game on Friday against our cross-town rival. Yeah, we have to be much better than we were today.”
On missing some key players today:
“Yeah, of course. Those guys are, obviously a big part of the success of this team. However, we thought we could come in here and get a result, with a bit of a depleted roster, but yeah of course we miss those guys, those guys are hard to replace.”
On changes that need to happen defensively:
“Look it really is all mentality. It is not just the back three guys, five guys, whatever formation we are in, it is the whole team. It is a mindset. When we are not on the ball we are going to be in good positions, we are going to win the ball back together. I don’t think we have done that. Obviously with the score lines that we have been giving up. Yeah, it has to be a whole team effort and it will be, we have to get it right, we have eight games to go.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER SEBASTIAN LLETGET
On the game:
“It is just unacceptable. We are pretty down about it, as you would expect. You know, we definitely need to look at ourselves. I know we are missing guys, but there are no excuses. At the end of the day we should not let five goals in, you know, and it could have potentially been seven. We had our fair chances, but it just wasn’t enough. As soon as the game started we were already down a goal, basically, in the first two minutes. It is a terrible way to start a game, especially away, especially in Seattle.”
On the anger in the locker room:
“Yeah, we feel terrible. We feel terrible for our fans, especially at this point in the season. We at least want to get things right, we just haven't been able to do that. Certain things we want to get better and it just hasn't come our way.”
On changing mistakes at this point in the season:
“I mean we are not technically two games away from the playoffs yet. We still have games left. We have a big game on Friday. They're things that we obviously need to get better at. You know we have to start in training, as soon as we get back in LA. It is the only thing we could do as a team, we have to regroup. In a way we can’t forget about today, of course, you want to forget, but of course, we need to learn what we did wrong. As a group it needs to be much better, and we know that.”
On the upcoming game against LAFC and having to respond or a must win:
“Yeah. Especially against the new LA team. As you can see it is a rivalry. Absolutely. It is a must win for us. We are at home. We should have some guys back which should help. Especially after today we definitely need to win.”
SOUNDERS FC HEAD COACH BRIAN SCHMETZER
On playing against a weakened Galaxy team:
“Yeah, we understand the circumstances that are surrounding the Galaxy. So, that’s their issue. Sigi [Schmid] has to solve that. I’m sure he will, he’s a great coach. If you push that aside, what did we think of our performance? How did we feel about our players and what was going on out on the field? I thought well deserved two goals. We’ve talked about this – our team has started strong the first 20, 25 minutes of games here recently, and we left our foot off the gas a little bit. I think we let them back in. So, we made a couple of corrections at halftime, tried to get some adjustments made. And I think that team, again, that team did what they were supposed to do [and] did what they had to do to put the game out of reach. All the credit goes to them. They again came up with a performance. I’m not taking anything away from LA or taking anything away from our performance because I don’t really care. This is MLS. On any given day, that team that LA brought, they could’ve beat us. I mean, that’s the parity in MLS. So, we were pleased with the result, and it just pushes us three points closer to making sure that we’re in the playoffs.”
On Raúl Ruidíaz getting more involved this week:
“He likes scoring goals, I can tell you that. The 40 touches is a positive. We did work on that in training, specific patterns trying to get him more involved. So, we’ll continue to work on that. I threw [Will] Bruin on there in the second half again so that we could see – we’ll watch the tape – how they looked together. So, good for him for scoring. Probably could have had a couple of more. So, happy that he’s getting in the swing of things with this group of guys.”
On the consistency of the defense:
“You start with Stef [Frei], and that’s obviously the starting point. I always say this and I’ll continue to say this, Tommy [Dutra] does a really nice job with all of the goalkeepers. Stef, Bryan [Meredith], Calle [Brown]. Tommy’s had [Kasey] Keller, [Marcus] Hahnemann. Tommy is the constant in that particular goalkeeping position. Stef is, in my opinion, not undervalued, but he might not have the national reputation that he deserves. And then you start building up the spine and throughout the entire team. I mean, Chad [Marshall], Roman [Torres], Kim [Kee-hee], Ozzie [Alonso] and Gustav [Svensson] standing tall right in front of those center backs. Cristian [Roldan] has done that role. Kelvin’s [Leerdam] performance the last year has been really good, he’s coming on this year. The outside back situation on the left side, Nouhou is very steady defensively and Brad Smith, we got a little taste of him. Nico’s engine in that No. 10 position is not just good in the attacking side of things, but also good defensively because he covers so much ground he can close guys down. He makes it challenging for teams to create any sort of extended possession. So, I think it’s a team effort. And then the last one I’ll end with is Will has done a great job and Raúl has shown he can chase back a little bit. So, if the team believes that defense is important, that’s a good thing. We obviously have the creative players to score a few goals. So, if we can get the defending right, you don’t give up a goal, chances are you’re going to collect some points.”
On setting a club record for consecutive wins:
“Well, I’m very proud of the entire organization, I’ll say it like that. The team in that locker room obviously put the work in. It’s been a fairly consistent group. Harry [Shipp] did great. He scored a goal, he was rewarded today. The whole group of players – and I’m not just talking about the 18 on any given Sunday, I’m talking about the whole group of 30 guys – they all put it in. Garth [Lagerwey] does a good job, Chris [Henderson] does a good job. We’ve all been very proud of what we’ve accomplished at this club. So, for me, it’s just another statistic that you guys can discuss and digest. For us, it’s just a testament to the hard work that everybody in this organization does on a daily basis.”
On the crowd noise at CenturyLink Field:
“It’s an easy question for me to answer - our fans are the best. We have 40,000-plus every single game. We’ve maybe been overtaken by Atlanta by sheer numbers, but our atmosphere is one of the best in the league. And it will always continue to be that way because of the connection that these players have with the fans makes them cheer for the players, and the players actually respond to the atmosphere in the building. It’s definitely an advantage for us.”
SOUNDERS FC MIDFIELDER HARRY SHIPP
On his goal:
“We forced a turnover and once I saw it go to Gustav [Svensson], I was just praying he’d hit first time because I knew I was going to have some time and space. Luckily, I was able to finish it off.”
On scoring “easy” goals:
“I knew if I took a good first touch, I was going to have time to pick out my spot. We haven’t had a ton of super easy goals, so it was nice to kind of have the time and space to think about where I wanted to place it and place it accurately.”
On the team’s recent form:
“We’re still fighting for a playoff spot. So, I think for us, we’ve had a run of very good games. But I think we’re not going to view it like that. We’re not going to get complacent. I think the confidence is there. Also, we’re trying to fight for as high of a playoff seed as possible. I think for us, we’ve done a pretty good job the last two months.”
On whether the team was complacent early in the season:
“I think it’s hard. I think the offseasons being so short, like they were for this team the last couple of years, it’s a physical grind. I think with Champions League at the beginning of this year, ideally we would have liked to have had a better start. But I do think it’s hard only having three, four weeks off and having to come back and get ready for another long season.”
SOUNDERS MIDFIELDER OSVALDO ALONSO
On whether this was the best win of the year:
“By goals, yes. I think it’s hard to score four or five goals. We did a good job of putting the pressure on them until the final whistle.”
On the rivalry with LA Galaxy:
“Our goal today was to come here and win the game. It doesn’t matter who is in front of us, we want to win. Six wins in a row is big for us, and we know we have to keep going.”
On the team’s recent run of wins:
“Yeah, I think it’s a record for the club, six wins in a row. I’m very happy for the performance and very happy for the team. We have to focus on Portland now.”
On the defensive effort of the team:
“When you defend at the back, you have a chance to win. I think we focused on me and Gustav playing there, and so I was content to sit at the back. Now we have to focus and keep going. Keep scoring and keep zero back there.”
SOUNDERS MIDFIELDER NICOLÁS LODEIRO
On the team winning six in a row:
“I feel very good. I feel very happy because the team won. This is the most important thing for me: the team. We are playing very well.”
On his form:
“I’m feeling very happy when the team wins. When I assist and don’t score I feel so happy. But the most important thing is the points because we train for this game. This game is most difficult because we know they have a lot of injured players. But the most important thing for us as a team is to never lose focus. And the three points.”
