Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 5, New England Revolution 1
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
MLS Regular Season
StubHub Center – Carson, Calif.
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the team’s mistakes:
“I think in the first half when New England had a player sent off, our guys relaxed and I thought our last 15 minutes in the first half were poor.”
On Robbie Keane:
“He’s picked it up over the last two or three weeks. Robbie is going to score goals and strikers at time get into a bit of a slump, they go scoreless a while, but there is never a doubt in our minds that Robbie will produce goals for us. Whether it’s directly from him, or assisting, we know he is going to be in and around the goal and be dangerous. So it was just a matter of time he hit the back of the net again.”
On the team’s defense:
“Just working with those players since preseason, getting them organized and getting them enough games. So tonight, obviously the first half we start with A.J. [DeLaGarza] at left back and match up Leonardo and Tommy [Meyer], which we probably haven’t done a whole lot. With Dan getting sent off, it was a good exercise playing with three in the back, so I thought that was good. They’ve reacted in a positive way all year. As you know, we’ve lost Omar [Gonzalez] for a while, Todd Dunivant really most of the season, James Riley. Yet when a player’s name is called, they step up so I’m really pleased with the group. Kofi [Opare] was ready to go tonight as well. We’ve got good depth in our back line, and I think as we get into the second half of the season, I think it’s going to pay dividends for our group.”
On Kenney Walker:
“Good job, Kenney [Walker] has played a fair amount for us over the last couple of months and did a good job. I thought he got a little tired in the second half and made the change. I thought Marcelo Sarvas was brilliant in his 20 minutes; did exactly what we needed him to do.”
On Gyasi Zardes:
“He’s grown as a player, more confident. We put him in a difficult position in the second half, having to play out on the right and I thought he was excellent. He played on both sides of the ball so we’re real pleased with him. He is getting a lot more confident, and he has been a really good player over the last couple of months.
LA GALAXY FORWARD ROBBIE KEANE:
On whether the team is poised to make a run after extending their unbeaten streak:
“In the last few games that is certainly the case, but I don’t think that we’ve been playing great to be honest with you. We’ve been scraping by games, but tonight was certainly our most convincing performance for a long time.”
On Gyasi Zardes as a forward:
“As long as he continues to score goals and understand how to be a striker and play with someone else. It’s not just about running in behind, it’s about playing with people and linking in behind. When you play in front up together, it’s about partnership so he has to understand that when I have the ball, it’s about running off and knowing where he’s going to go. Most of the time, I’ll find him or at least I’ll try to find him. I always tell him, ‘ just get behind [the defense] and I’ll find you.’”
LA GALAXY FORWARD GYASI ZARDES
On partnership with Keane:
“I definitely have been listening to Robbie [Keane]. He’s constantly talking to me, even throughout the game. He’s giving me little tips on what he’s going to do, and he told me to pay attention to the first ball once you’re running through. We worked on it in practice and we did it in the game. When Robbie [Keane] gets the ball at his feet, I know he’ll find me.”
On first goal scored:
“A ball comes in to Robbie [Keane], I peel off of a guy and go straight directly to goal, and I’ve just really been a student, just trying to learn as much as I can. I’m just going to try to keep growing as a player.”
On if he’s surprised with success he is having:
“I’m not surprised because my teammates are doing all the work and playing me in. I’m really just getting a feel for the game. I feel real comfortable at the moment and I know if I keep practicing hard, I’ll keep bringing these results.”
On how much fun he is having:
“It’s extremely fun, but I’m just motivated to achieve more and work hard. We want MLS Cup back here in LA and we’re working together as a team to do that.”
On how tonight’s match sets up for KC match:
“Like I always say, we take it day by day and game by game. We’re just going to work hard this week and start preparing for Kansas City. It’s going to be a tough opponent.”
On developing positive reputation around the League:
“I don’t pay attention to that. I stay humble and stay in my own lane… It’s on them; for me, I’m going to keep working hard and stay humble, keep my head and keep grinding it out because it’s a battle here.”
On having this success for hometown club:
“I feel honored because not too long ago, I was that same kid in the stands yelling at Sean Franklin, yelling at [Landon] Donovan. I was telling some of the guys the other day that my first autographed ball was from Kevin Hartman, and I used to keep that ball under my bed. It’s just crazy, so I try to take as much time as I can to sign autographs or take a picture with them because it meant a lot to me when I came here and watched those guys, so I’m hoping to do the same for them when they grow up and be professional soccer players or even better.”
On Jurgen Klinsmann being in attendance and USMNT possibilities:
“I know if I perform on the field, then that’s the future. But who knows what the future holds; I’m just going to keep working hard and if I keep scoring goals, hopefully I get a call up.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER LANDON DONOVAN
On the 5-1 victory:
“Goals change games. We had number of games where we played well, we keep saying, but not scoring goals. And tonight, obviously Robbie’s first goal was terrific and Gyasi Zardes had a great chance before his second goal. When you score goals like that, it makes the game a lot easier. It was nice to see it in the second half. It was very professional the way we played and everybody did their part and we countered them with venom. It’s great to score five goals.”
On Robbie Keane ending his goal drought:
“We were all really happy for him. It wears on him when he doesn’t score. He’s scored so many goals in his life, so when he doesn’t score, it’s tough. He has been doing a lot of good things the last few games. He has done a lot of things that helped us win. Now it was good to see him get rewarded. He fully deserves it.”
On Gyasi Zardes’ recent performance:
“He is becoming a real player. If the teams want to put focus on another player on our team, then he is going to punish them. Eventually the team has got to pick their poison and we are just going to let him keep playing well and let him do his thing.”
On the team getting back on track:
“We are getting there. But we are not quite there yet. We still I have, I believe, the best defender in the league coming back. We haven’t played with him for a long time now. That’s a big plus. All of our defenders have been excellent this year. So, from a defensive stand point, I think we have been as good as any team in the league. When we are moving well and we are fluid and attacking well, that makes us really hard to beat. If we connect those pieces together, then we are going to be hard to beat.”
LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER STEFAN ISHIZKI
On being the second-free kick since David Beckham was on roster:
“That’s what I’ve kind of built my career on, my right foot a little bit. I have always been taking corners and free kicks. I’ve had a couple injuries the past couple of years that kept me from practicing free kicks and now I feel fit and I feel good. I’ve been making a lot of free kicks in practice, so that gives you the confidence you need when you step up in games.”
On setting up second goal
“It was good of the ref. I think the captain stopped a little because he thought he was going to get the free-kick called, but I kept playing and it was a good thing.”
On having rest coming into today’s game
“I think Bruce has done it well. I still felt good and of course I wanted to play last game, but he told me he’s rotating and couple of guys needed to rest and I felt really fresh today, so it was good. A couple guys probably had a little heavy legs from Saturday [vs. RSL], but I felt good that I could contribute a lot.
On this setting up for KC game
We know it’s going to be a tough game. We know they never quit; they played with 10 men for a lot of the game today and still they won it 2-1, so they have a lot of confidence, but so do we. So we know we will play a really good team and hopefully we can get out of there with a couple points.”
On multiple goal scoring game
“I think we’ve been waiting on one of these games to really score a lot of goals. We felt a little bit unlucky at times, but at the end of the day, if it doesn’t go in you’ve not done well enough. So it was a good feeling today to get a couple in.”
On whether or not it was a statement win
“I think we played well. I think we kind of lost momentum when they got their 2-1 goal and we got the red card, but in the second half we really pulled it together and everyone did really well.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH JAY HEAPS
On his overall thoughts of the game:
"It is a disappointing game all the way around. You give up two goals, and the first one you just tip your hat, but the second and third goal to me are the two that really broke our back, and you can't do that, it is just not good enough. We as a staff have to get better, we as a group have to get better; we have a quick turnaround so we have to move on."
On changing up the look in the second half:
"Well you know, we practice it, and thought it was a good time to try a 4-4-2 with a diamond shape. With the personnel we had, we thought there were times in the game early on, where we had chances in the run of play, and our forwards did a good job battling, but defensively if you are going to leak goals it doesn't matter what formation you are in."
On the mood of the team at half-time:
"At half-time we really felt like we were going to come out and make a difference, you know we really had some chances there before half and that is why I said that third goal, to me, is just an awful goal to give up, that is the goal that we had to respond too, but couldn't. Credit Los Angeles, they brought their scoring shoes today and scored their chances."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER KELYN ROWE
On his overall thoughts on the game:
"Well, obviously it is not what we wanted. You want to go on the road with these two road games, here in Los Angeles today and then in Dallas, and we want to find as many points as we can, we didn't find any tonight, so we have to find some Saturday."
On the mood of the team at half-time:
"Yea there was a little momentum swing at the end of the first half, and we came in here thinking we can put some tactics together of where we want to play and how we want to play with 10 men, 10 on 10, and we looked to go find another goal, because we needed to, like I said we want to find points on the road and find that goal, but unfortunately they found the first one."
On how the game changed playing 10 versus 10:
"You don't want to get spread up because it is a big field, and they had some good attacks going forward, and with counter attacks, you saw that as the game went on. We wanted to stay compact and have the ability to break them when we needed to and find chances in the box. We tried to find that first goal coming out of the second half and it didn't happen, and from there you are chasing the game again, further and further, and pushing numbers. Obviously when you push numbers you are susceptible to the counter, and they took advantage of that and put five on us."
