LA Galaxy 2, Club Motagua 0
CONCACAF Champions League – Group A – Week 1
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.
Scoring Summary:
LA – Adam Cristman 1 (A.J. DeLaGarza 1) 13’
LA – Landon Donovan 1 (David Beckham 1) 60’
Misconduct Summary:
MOT – Ivan Guerrero (Red Card) 70’
LA – Gregg Berhalter (Yellow Card) 90’
Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Josh Saunders; A.J. DeLaGarza, Omar Gonzalez, Gregg Berhalter, Todd Dunivant; Sean Franklin (Chris Birchall 84’), David Beckham (Michael Stephens 76’), Juninho, Mike Magee (Miguel Lopez 88’); Adam Cristman, Landon Donovan©.
Subs Not Used:Brian Perk, Frankie Hejduk, Dan Keat, Paolo Cardozo.
Club Motagua: Donaldo Morales; Junior Izaguirre, Johnny Leveron, Sergio Mendoza; Carlos Discua (Brayan Garcia 63’), Jorge Claros, Ivan Guerrero (Sent Off 70’), Amado Guevara©, Aly Arriola (Emilson Cruz 88’); Guillermo Ramirez (Esdras Padilla 76’), Jerry Bengston.
Subs Not Used: Kerpo DeLeon, David Molina, Luis Lopez.
Referee: Enrico Wijngaarde (SUR)
Referee’s Assistants Ramon Ricardo Louisville (SUR) and Garnet Page (JAM)
4th Official: Kevin Thomas (JAM)
Notes:
- With the win, the Galaxy are now 1-0-0 in Group A for three points. They are now tied for first place in the group, with LD Alajuelense, who beat Monarcas Morelia 1-0 in Costa Rica tonight.
- The Galaxy have now won each of their last two games in the CONCACAF Champions League, dating back to their 2-1 win on the road over the Puerto Rico in the second leg of their Preliminary Round series last year.
- Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena used the same starting lineup as he had in the 3-1 home win over FC Dallas on August 6.
- The only two changes to LA’s 18-man squad came on the bench with Frankie Hejduk and Dan Keat returning in place of Juan Pablo Angel and Bryan Jordan.
- The Galaxy were once again without Sean Alvarado, Chad Barrett, Jovan Kirovski, Leonardo and Donovan Ricketts, who all missed the game through injury.
- David Beckham, Adam Cristman and Miguel Lopez all made their CONCACAF Champions League debuts in the game with Beckham and Cristman each starting the game and Lopez coming on as a late second half substitute in place of Mike Magee.
- Cristman gave the Galaxy a 1-0 in the 13th minute, scoring his first goal of the competition.
- With the goal, Cristman has now scored in every competition that the Galaxy have played in this season. He has one goal in MLS play, one goal in the U.S. Open Cup, one now in the Champions League, two in the Reserve League and one in the friendly against Real Madrid. He also had three goals in the preseason.
- A.J. DeLaGarza was credited with the assist on the goal for his first assist in all competitions this year. That was also his first career assist in the Champions League.
- Landon Donovan doubled the Galaxy lead in the 60th minute, getting on the end of a David Beckham cross.
- The goal was Donovan’s second for LA in the CONCACAF play, having also scored against Saprissa in the 2005 Champions Cup Quarterfinals.
- The assist was David Beckham’s first in the Champions League, coming in his first-ever game in the competition.
- The Galaxy played with a man advantage for the final 20 minutes after Ivan Guerrero was sent off for a foul on Sean Franklin in the 70th minute.
- Gregg Berhalter was the only Galaxy player to be shown a card by referee Enrico Wijngaarde, collecting a yellow card in the 90th minute.
- The Galaxy outshot Motagua 20-13 and had nine shots on goal to the visitors’ six.
- Josh Saunders made six saves to keep his first-ever clean sheet in the Champions League.
- Prior to tonight’s win, the Galaxy last won a CONCACAF game (Champions League or Champions Cup) by more then one goal on August 12, 1997 when they beat Salvadoran side Luis Angel Firpo 2-0 in the Quarterfinals of the 1997 Champions Cup.
- The Galaxy won their first two games in the Champions League/Cup by multiple goals, but each of their next four wins in the tournament came by a single goal before tonight’s win.
- The attendance for tonight’s game was 8,196 at The Home Depot Center.
- The Galaxy return to action in the CONCACAF Champions League on Thursday, August 25 when they host LD Alajuelense of Costa Rica at The Home Depot Center. That game kicks off at 7 p.m. and will be shown live on FOX Soccer.
- The Galaxy return to MLS action on Saturday, August 20 when they host the San Jose Earthquakes at The Home Depot Center. That game will kick off at 7:30 p.m. and will be shown live on Prime Ticket starting with the Galaxy Live pregame show at 7 p.m.
- For more about tonight’s game, please check out all the news on www.lagalaxy.com.
Quotes:
LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena
On the game:
“I think it was a good win against a very good team. I think [if] we do a little bit better in the last 15 minutes we put ourselves in an even better position. This competition is going to be difficult. There are five more tough games in group play. I think our group is an outstanding group. Every game…every goal…every minute in this competition is going to require our utmost concentration. I think our team that has a number of inexperienced players at this level responded pretty well tonight.”
On the goals:
“We could have had, for sure, another goal. If there is anything to be critical of our team tonight was that there was another goal out there for us. Our first goal was a very good goal. I thought that in the early minutes of the game our opponent came at us very hard and played pretty well in the first 15 minutes. The goal, maybe, came a little bit against the run of play. I think after about 25 minutes our team played pretty well.”
Club Motagua Head Coach Ramon Maradiaga
On the result:
“It was a game of two halves. In the first half, the Galaxy dominated and controlled everything, in every aspect of the game. In the second half, we were a little bit more successful. Unfortunately, we had an error in trying to clear the ball that led to their second goal, which put them in a little bit more of an advantage.”
On the red card:
“From my point of view, it was a correct call. The player left his foot, clearly put his foot on the Galaxy player, so I’m not against the call.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder Landon Donovan
On the play of Motagua:
“They played the game pretty open. I, honestly, thought they would sit back a little more, a little more compacted, but they came and put us under a little bit of pressure. We did a pretty good job of getting out of it, and the first goal was great. The passing was good, and we exploited that space. As the game wore on, you tell we were the fresher team. We’ve had 10 days to prepare for this. They played Saturday and had to travel.”
On the importance of the win at home:
“It’s a mathematical equation really. You play six games, three at home—you got to win your three home games. Then you got to get one, two or three points on the road and that will put you through. The goal is to get points at home. We know that goal differential comes into play later and if there is anything to be critical of is that we weren’t a little better in front of the goal.”
LA Galaxy Midfielder David Beckham
On the result:
“Obviously, it was important that we won the game. We could have scored a few more goals. Overall, we wanted to win the game and get the first three points. And, that’s what was important, to win the game and get off to a good start, and we did that.”
On Motagua’s style of play:
“They are a team that passes the ball around well, and we were aware of that. And, if we sat back too much, which we did at times, I think that they were good enough to create chances. I think that if we would have taken more of our chances it would have made it a lot easier for us at the end of the night.”
On winning at home:
“It’s always the goal, especially when we play at home. I think it’s important that we always win our games at home and we go on from there. We said before the competition started, and this game started tonight, that it’s important to win our games at home and we do what we can on the road.”
LA Galaxy Forward Adam Cristman
On his goal:
“A.J. [DeLaGarza] got the ball. It was a good combination out wide. He played a good ball across in front of the goal and I was able to slide and get a foot on it.”
On staying healthy:
“It’s great, it’s fantastic. It been a long go for me with all the surgeries and everything else it’s good to feel healthy again and it’s been nice to be in this environment with Bruce [Arena] who allows me to take my time. Our squad is deep, we have a lot of good players so I am not rushed to get back out on the field like I have been in other clubs. All those factors have been really helpful and have allowed me to have a full recovery and to really build my strength so it’s paying off.”
On scoring in every competition he has played in this season:
“I’m a forward and that’s my job. It’s good to know that I am doing my job in every game and in every opportunity that I have and that I am getting it done.”
