CARSON, Calif. – LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena spoke to reporters after the Galaxy’s 1-1 draw with the Colorado Rapids.
Arena's comments are below:
An update on Brian Rowe:
“He took some stitches. Staples, I should say.”
On what he thought of Emmanuel Boateng’s performance:
“He played well. I think our entire team had a good night tonight. Story of the game was we didn’t finish our chances. It was a game where we could have scored certainly two goals…maybe three or four. We played well. I think Tim Howard came up with a few big saves. He saved the one early on Gyasi Zardes. Then the chance we had with AJ DeLaGarza, you know, we’d like to think we can get it on goal. But we created some chances, I’m not certain how many they had, but they certainly buried the one they had. Give them credit for that. We just have got to finish off those chances. You know a team like Colorado, they’re a very good defensive team. They defend with eight, nine, 10 players the entire game. They’re not easy to break down so when you get a chance you’ve got to finish it off. And certainly, falling behind to that team is not a formula for winning. So I give our guys credit for getting a goal and certainly for pushing to get a second goal. But I think for me, on the night, we played well. We’re at fault for not finishing our chances and that’s that.”
On if he feels unlucky with the result:
“No, not unlucky. We’re maybe an inch away on Jelle Van Damme’s chance in the first half. Tim Howard made a real good save on Gyasi’s shot I thought. I thought maybe if AJ gets it off a little quicker and it’s on frame it’s a goal, but you know, that’s soccer. Don’t tell me that we had more shots, more possession and all that garbage. It’s 1-1. Just another lesson for you children out there that the score is the only statistic in this game that means anything.”
On what the chances are for Robbie Keane to play next week:
“Very good. If I’m not mistaken – and again, don’t take this as gospel – but I think he’s eligible to play tomorrow. There’s a concussion protocol that I think we missed by a day. And I don’t know what it is and how it’s run and all that stuff, but I would simply say this: I should have no say in that matter. The players should have no say in that matter. That’s the job of the medical staff of our team and our league and we’re following that protocol. And if I’m not mistaken, I think he’s eligible to play tomorrow. He trained on Thursday and Friday, but he wasn’t yet through the required protocol.”
On making sense of how often the team has to come back to win or draw:
“What makes sense is the other team scored first, that’s why. We had our chances to score early in the game. We didn’t. If we make a couple of those chances in the first half, we’re not trailing in the game. That’s the sense I make out of it.”
On if this is an improvement from Wednesday night’s match:
“On Wednesday night we played well. For lack of a better word, we played our second team against a so-called ‘best team in the league’ and we were five minutes away from winning. We had no control of the schedule. We had to play Sunday, Wednesday, then Saturday. You can’t do that with 11 players. We were five minutes away from winning on Wednesday and again, that’s our responsibility. But it’s a different set of players, so I don’t know how you’d do it.”
On his thoughts on Steven Gerrard and Giovani dos Santos and how their responsibilities changed with the positions they were in tonight:
“Obviously Steven drops back a little bit to help Nigel de Jong. Gio moves inside playing underneath the striker. I don’t think for Gio it changes a whole lot, for Stevie it does a little bit.
On Steven Gerrard and Giovani dos Santos’ performances:
“OK. Again, tough game for any team when the other team has such a strong defensive presence. So given that, I think there was some decent chances created. But we didn’t do well with our chances.”
On if Brian Rowe will have to go through the same protocol as Robbie Keane:
“I don’t know. I have a Bachelor’s of Science. It doesn’t qualify me for a whole lot. I don’t know what the diagnosis is of the player. So how can I answer that? I’m a bit of an idiot so I wouldn’t be able to tell you that right now. Even if I knew what the protocol was, I probably wouldn’t do well. I got a D+ in chemistry at Cornell. Biology I took pass/fail and surprisingly passed it, but that’s the extent of my understanding of science and medicine. I’m kind of like Larry – Larry’s laughing over there. Larry and I were in the same class. Larry was the custodian in the class. He was in the back of the room.”
