LA GALAXY HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On the win:
“We wanted to get a victory, so getting three points is the most important thing. I know sometimes it looked a little parlous in the back there, but that doesn’t matter to me. We also had enough opportunity at the other end to score another four or five. So, It’s still about finishing those chances, making good use of them. I was happy with our team effort, our willingness to battle for each other and play for each other I thought was outstanding.”
On Romain Alessandrini’s injury and Ola Kamara’s performance:
“On Romain [Alessandrini] first, we really don’t know at this stage. With Ola [Kamara] obviously he scored the goal which is something we want him to do, but I don’t know if the one where he gets played in by Sebastian [Lleget] he’s offside, but you can see how he’s constantly a threat to get behind the opponents defense, and he also combined well and laid some people on.”
On the impact of Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Valeri:
“I thought [Diego] Valeri did very well. Obviously, he’s a fantastic player, [Diego] Valeri, but I thought [Diego] Valeri’s influence on this game was not as great as other games where you’ve seen [Diego] Valeri play. I thought [David] Guzman had a bigger influence, because the ball wasn’t going to [Diego] Valeri, they were playing more through [Sebastian] Blanco and more through [David]Guzman, I think whenever you can force them not to build their whole game through Diego Valeri I think it’s a benefit, and obviously kitchen had a lot to do with that.”
On Emanuel Boateng’s performance:
“Ema [Boateng] was dangerous, he’s fantastic, his speed. We’ve been asking him to use his speed more to take people on, to make runs with and without the ball to get behind, and I think today he showed that. Now the final stage for Ema [Boateng] is to finish what he starts. So, if he could finish what he starts, he probably wouldn’t be playing for us anymore, he’d be playing in Europe. But you know, we need him to do that. His willingness to come back and help defend, he made a couple of good defensive plays, but its also his willingness to now run without the ball, I think his game has taken another jump. It’s good.”
On getting Sebastian Lleget into the game:
“Well with Romain [Alessandrini] going down we brought in [Chris] Pontius first. Then we just brought in [Sebastian] Lleget, because we felt some of our guys were getting tired. We felt Gio [Dos Santos] and Ema [Boateng] had put in a lot of miles so we wanted to get them off a little bit, and with the last sub we wanted to secure it defensively, so we probably wouldn’t of made that sub that early for Romain[Alessandrini].”
On having Sebastian Lleget back on the field:
“Fantastic. He almost got a goal. He’s probably a yard or two away from getting goal at the back post. He should’ve had an assist on the ball he slips through to [Ola] Kamara, I was standing in line with it, so to me it looked onside, but I’m not as good as our assistant referees, who are outstanding by the way.”
On the Galaxy’s Defensive performance:
“I thought our defensive work was good. I thought [David] Bingham was solid in goal, I thought [Michael] Ciani and Jorgen [Skjelvik] were good together, that was fantastic. We didn’t manage the game well I thought in the last 15 minutes or so, that’s the time point in the game where maybe you go into the corners a bit more, you go wider a little bit, and we were almost too anxious to try and get the third. Yeah, you want to get the third and put them away, but you also want to make the right decisions. Ashley [Cole] was good at his side, he stayed, but Rolf [Feltscher] ended up pushing up at times where he made it difficult.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER EMMANUEL BOATENG
On how it feels to start the season with three points:
“It was great. It’s a great feeling. For what it’s worth, we probably didn’t play as well in the second half, but a win is a win and we’re happy to get that. We’re going to build and get ready for the next one.”
On his own performance:
“I thought I played well all the way until the final third. I created some chances, but maybe put one or two away. I’m beating myself about it, but I’m glad we still got a win out of it. I’ll just make sure I’m sharper about it.”
On having Ola Kamara on his team:
“He’s been good for us in preseason the whole time. He’s always trying to find the pockets. Everywhere the ball bounces, he’s trying to get there. He’s quick and he’s a great player for us and I’m looking forward to more moments like that.”
On the team’s connection with Kamara:
“He’s a great striker. He’s always looking to run in behind or be an option when we have the ball so he makes it easy. You can take a guy on because everybody thinks you’re going to give it to him. Or if you read it the other way you just find him. So I’m looking forward to more good performances like that from him.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD OLA KAMARA
On his first goal:
“It was a fantastic feeling of course. It was a big buildup to this game and we really needed the three points to show that here is a difficult place to beat us and we’re probably going to win a lot of games here. I think we made a statement and the three points were very important.”
On the team’s performance:
“I think we played well. We had 10 big chances, or 5,6 or 7 big chances that we could have maybe gone up to 3 or 4-0. But I think we have to work on keeping the possession. But getting three points was the major key for us.”
On what it felt like to play at StubHub Center in front of a sold-out crowd:
“The crowd was amazing, it was such a good feeling. The whole game they hyped up us up. It felt good.”
On the play of Perry Kitchen:
“A good fight from him, but the whole team too. We were fighting the whole game and I think everybody could see that. We really wanted the three points.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER ASHLEY COLE
On what it means to start the season off with three points:
“It’s nice. I think we worked hard in preseason. It’s always nice to win. I think we grinded it out at the end, which is a good thing. We played well in the first half, in the second half we were a little bit sloppy. But we fought, we gave everything and we came away with a win. We’re not going to get too carried away, it’s the first game of the season, but it’s three points on the board.”
On Ola Kamara’s performance and fit within the team:
“We see him and training and we see the offense work hard on how they connect and I think in the first half, we should have been two or three up at the least. But the understanding is there and during the season it’s only going to get better.”
On the backline’s performance and containment of Fanendo Adi:
“You know he’s always going to make runs in behind. Michael [Ciani] stayed on him and didn’t let him turn. I think the two centerbacks have a good understanding and it’s a work in progress. You see how Jorgen plays, he’s strong and he likes that physical battle. And he can play as well so I think they handled him well and limited their team to a few chances apart from the end, but all around we’re happy with the display.
MEDIOCAMPISTA DEL LA GALAXY JONATHAN DOS SANTOS
Sobre el partido:
“Fue un partido intenso, yo creo que el equipo hizo un gran trabajo desde el primer minuto. Portland en la segunda parte tuvo un poquito más el balón. Pero bueno al final lo más importante son los tres puntos y la confianza que nos da”.
Sobre las complicaciones que se dieron durante el partido:
“Al final las ocasiones hay que matarlas. Cada ocasión que tienes hay que matarlas porque al final pasa lo que pasa. Hasta el último minuto estuvimos sufriendo por decirlo de alguna manera. Aunque ellos tampoco tuvieron ocasiones claras. Pero bueno, como que te vienen los fantasmas de la temporada pasada. Como te digo, gracias a Dios que al final sacamos los tres puntos”.
Sobre el porqué cambio el equipo tanto del primer tiempo al segundo:
“Son circunstancias del partido. Al final yo creo que el equipo intentó hacerlo igual que la primera parte, pero ellos también presionar un poco más, sabían que no tenían ya nada que perder. Iban con el marcador por debajo. Y al final nosotros también nos precipitamos un poco. Intentamos cada vez que teníamos el balón salir a la contra muy rápido en vez de aguantar más el balón”.
Sobre la diferencia de hacer pretemporada con el equipo a comparación a ver llegado con el equipo a mitad de temporada el año pasado:
“Mucha diferencia. Yo llegué la temporada pasada como dices, sin casi tener pretemporada. Llegué directo. Recuerdo que tuve un entrenamiento con el equipo y el fin de semana ya jugué 20 minutos y al final lo más importante para un jugador es mantener esa base que es la pretemporada. Gracias a Dios que la pude hacer, me siento bien físicamente, con ritmo, pero lo bueno que vamos empezando todavía. Esperemos seguir con este nivel”.
Sobre el ambiente del estadio:
“Increíble. La verdad que se extrañaba el hecho de volver al estadio, de que empezara la liga, de ver a tu gente, de como se hace todo el show por decir antes de los partidos. La gente como te anima, vayas ganando, perdiendo, empatando, jugando mal, jugando bien, siempre te están animando y la verdad que se extrañaba”.
Sobre cómo es que ha cambiado el equipo con las nuevas contrataciones:
“Sobre todo yo creo que la confianza. El hecho de tener más el balón. Vinieron jugadores de jerarquía, de grandísima calidad y al final creo que se ha visto. En el partido la defensa estuvo muy bien. En general el equipo también estuvo muy bien. Los jugadores nuevos yo creo que han hecho un debut increíble en liga con nosotros y bueno la verdad que siempre los hemos intentado ayudar desde el primer minuto que llegaron”.
Sobre la importancia de esta victoria:
“Si era una de las cosas más importantes, aparte en casa, empezar con el pie derecho en casa es muy importante y como tú dices, el hecho de esa confianza de empezar bien quitándote los fantasmas de la temporada pasada. Yo creo que es lo más importante y ojalá vaya igual de bien la temporada”.
PORTLAND TIMBERS HEAD COACH GIOVANNI SAVARESE
On tonight's game:
“Definitely not the result that we were looking for for our first match. We knew it was going to be a tough match here with a different Galaxy. I thought that in the first half we did a lot of good things. I don't think they were that dangerous until the moment they were able to score the goal and I think we collapsed a little bit during the end of the first half. We came with different energy in the second half. I thought we created chances, we became dangerous I think we dominated the play in their half of the field but the counters were difficult because then all of a sudden we had to make sure we were in good areas for them not to find space. They had a couple, we had a couple of chances at the end. Like I said not the result that we wanted.”
On what he told the team at half time:
“If we believe in ourselves a little bit more and if we move the ball faster we are going to find space. We did that, we started finding spaces and that is when the goal came and unfortunately right after that we became a little too anxious to get the second goal and that is when we started creating more spaces for the other team to counter.”
On the team's performance:
(Translated from Spanish)
“I think the team is good physically but unfortunately they fought so hard to get back into the game that they tired themselves out. One or two players had heavy legs at the end but I was happy with the effort that guys put in but unfortunately not the result that we wanted.”
PORTLAND TIMBERS GOALKEEPER JAKE GLEESON
On the team's performance:
“Obviously it wasn't the performance we wanted from the get go. I thought we came out in the second half and played a lot better and took the game to them and created a lot of chances for us to get even. It is pretty hard when your team is down at half time to come back in and bridge that gap. I think there were times we lost concentration and lost our marks and played a little more hesitant and tight than we wanted to. It was a little disappointing but you live and you learn. It's a long season.”
On what changed in the second half:
“I think we just got on the ball a lot more. Guys wanted to get on the ball and we played the way we wanted to play. When we started to play that way, we showed our skill and showed that we can play, so now we just have to that from minute 1, not minute 45.”
PORTLAND TIMBERS FORWARD FANENDO ADI
On the team's performance:
“I think the first half was a little bit up and down but in the second half we showed character. It was a tough place to come and play. It is a good field, good players, good team and we presented ourselves in a good way especially in the second half we came out very aggressive but it was quite unfortunate the goals they got because we could see that two of the goals were fouls but the referees had different opinions about that. We take the good things out of the game today and we move on. I think the performance in general was something we are going to build on.”
On what they did different in the second half:
“I don't think anything specifically really changed, it is just the mentality. The coach said in the locker room that we just had to believe and if we believe we can come back into the game and that is how we just went about being aggressive, being more active and moving the ball quicker. I think those are the only things that changed but like I said it is just something we are going to build on.”
