LA GALAXY INTERIM HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On the team not giving a good enough second half performance as the first half:
“You’re right. Your eyes are good on that one. We did not. We were little complacent. Our passing became shorter, and a little bit negative at times. But we still had chances, I think Emmanuel [Boateng] had a wonderful chance at 2-1, which would have made it 3-1. Then the third goal puts the game out of reach. I think we put a lot into it. You love to see the same energy come out in the second half, but we didn’t. We didn’t do that.”
On the second half defensive performance:
“We possessed the ball great in the first half. And they didn’t really get a kick. The only time they got a kick was when they broke off on set pieces. We stopped possessing the ball, and when we did, it was too close to our goal. We were binding pressure at times, but we needed better movement off the ball. We lost our shape a little bit. They went a little bit higher, but I still think with our passing, our movement, if we would’ve been a bit sharper, we would’ve opened up a little bit better.”
On emotion of the game:
“A bit empty right now. Even at the half I knew the game wasn’t over. We needed to keep on playing, because they have some players playing forward that can hurt you. And, like I said, our possession the first half kept them away from our goal, and then our lack of possession the second half brought them a little bit closer to our goal. You wish you could kind of take a timeout out every now and again and get the guys together. But, obviously you can do that in this game. But, we still had chances at the end. We still had a lot of chance to score some goals. We were throwing everything forward. The guys gave it everything they had. It’s an empty feeling right now for sure.”
On the future with the LA Galaxy:
“That’s a question for another day. I just went from feeling empty to trying to be philosophical about my short period of time as the interim head coach. So, it’s a tough one to answer. That stuff for me is not even at the back of my mind right now. My feelings are with the team, the front office, and the fans. It’s a great club, as we know. As I walked in here, Brendan [Hannan] said that LAFC finished in third, and it makes it just a little bit more hurtful. But, like I said, I can’t fault the players at all; It’s been a good group to be around.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER ROMAIN ALESSANDRINI
On the foul committed in the box that led to the penalty kick call:
“I was late because I tried to kick the ball but he touched the ball before me so it’s a big mistake. I’m very sorry about that because Houston came back after that and it was tough for everybody. I’m not happy about that but I have to move forward.”
On the missed chances:
“After the first half I think we had to continue. But the second half, I don’t know why we played a different way and that’s why Houston came back. I think we missed a lot of things the second half, and we missed why we were there, why we fight and get into the playoffs. I think we forgot the basics; fight for each other, talk to each other, run for each other, and that’s why Houston came back in the game and why we lost this game. But we have no excuse because when we see the season, we don’t deserve it. But when we see the last two months, maybe, because we fought a lot to come back and it’s a lot of frustration.”
On whether he’s in a state of shock:
“Yeah, of course. Because it’s a big mistake but it is what it is. After trying to give the best I can to come back in the game and make some good cross and finish the play but it’s difficult for me tonight. I just want to say sorry to the fans, sorry to the team. But I think in the second half we did a bad game and that’s why we lost this game too.”
On the team’s energy in the second half:
“We gave so much in the last two months, we left a lot of energy in every game to win and it’s the end of the season so your body is feeling a little bit tired. The time we played, with this weather it was difficult too, but it’s not an excuse. We have to be better, and we had to win this game and that’s it.”
On the team getting too ahead of themselves and too confident with the 2-0 lead:
“Maybe. We thought maybe it was easy. I think we forgot why we were there. The first half we played good, we fought for each other and that’s why we scored two goals. And the second half, it was a different team. We just have to blame ourselves. Now we just have to move forward. It’s hard to say that for the fans because a club like LA Galaxy has to make the Playoffs every year, and two years in a row without Playoffs is tough.”
On this game being a little version of the season:
“It’s soccer. You can’t control everything. Sometimes it’s hard. When you’re alone like a tennis player it’s different, in soccer you have to play as a team. Sometimes when you don’t give what you have to give as a team something happens like tonight. There was a lot of frustration because we gave a lot the last two months, but when you see the season I think we finished well. Even the last 45 minutes. We have to move forward. It is what it is and unfortunately we don’t make the Playoffs, but we gave everything to come back in the game, to come back into the Playoffs. I think we made the fans proud the last two months, and we are sorry about the last 45 minutes.”
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH WILMER CABRERA
On today's game:
"I think we started off well creating chances but again set pieces. We made a mistake and they punished us. We talked about how LA Galaxy are dangerous attacking but we knew we had the possibilities to create problem for them because defensively they take a lot of risks and they gave us possibilities. Despite the 2-0 we felt like we like we could have chances and in the second half we went in with more desire to face the game with good mentality and at the end we possibilities to score goals that changes everything for us. When you score the first one they get a little bit nervous and when we tied them that was really tough for them but when we scored the third it was unexpected but we believed and hopefully we can take this win for the next season, for the next year our competition in CONCACAF and also with Major League Soccer because it is important for us to start building something better because it is a game but we didn't qualify to the playoffs so we are sad about that."
On what he told the team at halftime:
"It wasn't that they were all over us, we had good possession and we created chances but we needed to be more focused and avoid more mistakes. I told the guys we are going to have chances but we just need to put our chances away so it was important."
HOUSTON DYNAMO DEFENDER DEMARCUS BEASLEY
On the team's performance:
"Very proud, obviously I always go by the saying 'You're only as good as your last game.' It's a tale of two halves, first half they dominated and we came out very slow, very passive kind of felt like we didn't want to play in the first half from everybody, from me personally as well. The whole mood wasn't right and I put that on my shoulders. How we prepare for every game we didn't come out and show the preparation we had done all week so that is definitely on my shoulder I take responsibility for that for out start this game but like I said we ended well, we got the 3 points. It is unfortunate that we are not going to make it to the playoffs but it is a good taste in our mouths going into the vacation. Hopefully the boys next year will respond and keep moving with this result."
HOUSTON DYNAMO FORWARD MAURO MANOTAS
[Translated from Spanish]
On getting the win:
"We came into this game looking to get a win. Nice field, beautiful stadium, great game everyone was going to watch this game and thank God we got the win. I got two goals but the most important thing is that the team won and we are going to keep moving forward."
On the team's performance:
"We wanted to finish happy. The team was finally due for a good result on the road. What better way to do it than in Los Angeles against this great opponent? Thank God we were able to do it and now we can celebrate a little bit."
