Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 1, Chivas USA 1
Sunday, June 8, 2014
MLS Regular Season
StubHub Center – Carson, Calif.
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the team’s performance:
“It’s not a good a result for us. I give Chivas credit. We squandered a few chances. Obviously, conceded a goal isn’t the smartest way to play this game. There were chances for us to get a few more goals. At the end of the day, that’s the game. We didn’t connect, but give them credit. They played very hard. They had good concentration for 90 plus minutes. I think our team didn’t come out and play well the first 15 minutes or so.”
On Robbie Rogers’ performance:
“He played pretty well. Defensively he didn’t have to do a whole lot. I think got forward in the attack. He got used to playing the position. It’s hard to mimic a real game in training. This is his first real game at 90 minutes at that position. I think overall he did well.”
On Gyasi Zardes’ performance:
“Good goal. We had some chances before that. It was good to see Gyasi get a goal. I think for the most part he did alright tonight.”
On A.J. DeLaGarza playing in the central defense:
“He plays all different spots in the back. We are just prepared for that. Obviously, we’ve had a few injures and missing a few players. He’s always an option for us.”
On the tie:
“Let’s face it. They did a good job. They dropped and played pretty deep to keep everything in front of them. They had good numbers behind the ball. The execution of the last pass or the shots, some reluctance at times to shoot the ball, and the crossing at times was not good or should have been there and wasn’t there for us. All those little things that make a difference against a team that is going to defend with numbers. A draw for them is a victory. They aren’t going to come out of that shell unless you execute a little bit better. And, we didn’t.”
On Chandler Hoffman:
“He got a good opportunity at the end of the game. And, that’s a real positive. That’s the job of a forward coming in at the end of the game to try and get a chance, and hopefully, get a goal and position the team to get the win.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On the overall team’s performance:
“I think we expected to win the game. I think we played well enough to probably win the game, but again, at the end we didn’t put enough pressure and create quite enough chances. Give them credit, they played, I think, the best game they played all year. You got to give them credit as well.”
On the reasons Galaxy tied:
“There are few things. Any team at this level, and they put 10 or 11 players behind the ball, it’s going to be difficult. We didn’t do a good enough job moving and creating space, and final cross and shot let us down a little bit. That’s always possible. Obviously missing Robbie [Keane] hurts. So, a lot of those factors played into it, and that’s the way it goes.”
On the team’s performance in the first half:
“We didn’t start well, we knew that they weren’t going to keep up that pace over 90 minutes, but they did probably what they wanted to do. They wanted to come out with a lot of energy, if they could sneak a goal, then sneak a goal. I give them credit for the goal. And then it was on us to do a better job putting them under pressure. I think over 90 minutes, we didn’t do quite enough of that.”
On the struggles to get the goal:
“It’s not easy as you said when they have those kind of number behind the ball it’s always going to be difficult. You need something different, something creative, where you’ve got to have a really good service in front of the goal. I think all those things let us down a little bit and when we had the chances in front of the goal, we didn’t make the most of it…So, all that combined, we couldn’t get the goal.”
On Dan Kennedy’s performance:
“He did great. He is, in my opinion, one of the best goalies in the league. I thought he was excellent tonight.”
On heading into the break with a tie:
“We are disappointed. I think if we have won this game, we would have felt pretty good about where we are at but…We’ve have sort of choppy start to the season where we played well in certain games and we have gotten the results, and we have few games that we haven’t played well. So tonight, we can’t really look in the mirror and say we deserved to win the game. We can take few days now to rest and recover, but we’ve got to be ready when we go to San Jose in few weeks.”
On team’s concentration during the game:
“It’s more about concentrating over 90 minutes. We have long stretches of pretty much every game where we control, we dominate, but we are either not punishing the teams or we are letting our concentration go for a few minutes. The league has gone better and better, and there are players on every team that can hurt you. And that’s what happens when you let your guard down.”
On Gyasi Zardes’ goal:
“It was a great goal. We talked about putting a lot of service in front of the goal. I think with a little better service we could have gotten more chances like that. But [it was a] good goal for Gyasi [Zardes].”
On his own performances after rejoining the team:
“I think I played pretty well. Tonight I wasn’t as sharp as I wanted to be. The last two games I felt pretty good. But it’s getting towards the season where it’s the dog day of the summer start so you try to put in good consistent performances. And I think for the most part, we’ve done that, but we’ve got to be putting more points on the board.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER ROBBIE ROGERS
On the result of the game:
"We wanted to get a win, it sort of feels like a loss because we are playing at home and we are a good team, we have had some good games at home. It's kind of a bummer."
On the start of the game:
"The start wasn't good. I don't know if it was the energy or we just weren't organized, but we are playing at home, there is no excuse for that."
On his attitude going into the break:
"I am not discouraged at all; I am excited to play more games, hopefully. I played left back in MLS once before, so I am excited to hopefully play more games at that position and get used to that. I am looking forward to moving forward with this team, we have a great group of guys, a lot of depth.”
LA GALAXY DEFENDER A.J. DELAGARZA
On the result of the game:
"It feels like a loss, it’s another game where we lost two points. The beginning of the game put us in a bad position. Guys playing different positions, it is always different when you are in a real game, playing against different opposition who are playing in a different formation than we thought they would. We adjusted and moved some guys around and I thought we started to play better. I think they had two shots, maybe, that I remember the whole game. [Carlos] Bocanegra's corner and the goal, and they were both pretty early in the game. After that I think we kind of settled down, and like I said we moved a couple guys around and were able to adjust and play better."
On his attitude going into the break:
"I think we have three or four games in hand on a couple teams. Hopefully we can take this break and use it smartly, come back after it and get after it."
On playing center back:
"It's a little different, it has been a while. At this point I don't have a preference between center or left back, I have played both quite a bit, I am comfortable at both. Going back and forth is a little difficult, but I have been there, this is my sixth year."
LA GALAXY FORWARD GYASI ZARDES
On the scoring the goal:
"I saw the cross and it was a short defender who was playing me and I knew I could just get over him and to get it on frame was the target. I didn't know I had a defender on the other side, I just saw the one defender who I jumped over. It feels wonderful getting a goal, you know. You practice and work at it and just to put the ball in the back of the net, it feels wonderful."
On other scoring chances during the game:
"There is always room for improvement, no matter how many goals I score I am always looking to improve as a player. Like I say, I am always a student of the game, trying to learn from my teammates."
On the result of the game:
"Sometimes not winning feels like a loss against Chivas. All we can do is look forward, we can't look back. We are going to work extremely hard when we come back from break and just try to take it to them next time we play them. The goal is to win every other game.
On playing with Samuel:
"I speak Spanish to him, and he understands it. I am not the best at Portuguese, but he still understands it. We are always saying to switch and stuff, we get each other. If I get the ball and try to find him, or vice versa if I know he is going up for a header I know to get in behind him. It's about building that chemistry together, I think this was our first time playing up top with each other, but I know we are going to build some chemistry."
CHIVAS USA HEAD COACH WILMER CABRERA
Thoughts on the game:
“It was a tough game, no doubt. We faced a very good team. LA Galaxy is one of the top teams in this league. But we came out with a good mentality. And with that good mentality and possibilities to play even with them, the players showed character. We created some options and we had the possibility to score on them, so that was important for us, and that gave us a boost to continue playing. Obviously this is going to help us to continue building on what we are trying to do. It’s just one point, and we’re not happy until we get three points. And we know that there is room to improve in our game, especially in our possession, but this is a good start. And from the last game that we played against LA Galaxy here, it was a totally different game. And that’s what you are expecting from the players and they know that.”
On the new-look formation:
“We wanted to give Eric Avila a little bit more freedom to attack. He’s an attacking player more than a defender. He’s been doing an excellent job as a right back but we are sacrificing him more than we are taking advantage of his skills and possibilities. Donny [Toía] is doing very well, he is a young kid, a rookie, who is playing very well for us and he took the responsibility to play as a right back. Which, he did very well today and that gives freedom to Eric to go to the middle and be a little bit more of the Eric Avila that we know.”
On the importance of the result heading into the league break:
“We’re going to a break with our team in MLS, but we don’t have a break with the US Open Cup, so we have to continue playing. As I said last weekend, the good thing about us is that when we play away, we’re good. And today we played away, and it was good. It was the team that we know and the team that we need to see more often. Still, we’re not happy because we just tied, it’s not a win, it’s a tie, so we only get one point.”
On Martin Rivero’s performance and importance on the team:
“Martin is improving. I think for all of us it’s not a secret that he’s improving. He’s getting his shape and he’s helping us a lot. He works hard. He is not a typical number 10, because Martin is not a number 10, he is a two box player who has a lot of dynamic, a lot of hard work, he has technique and he has good ideas going forward so that is important for us, and obviously for him to get his confidence and to get his rhythm back to play the whole season.”
CHIVAS USA GOALKEEPER DAN KENNEDY
Thoughts on setting the club record for all-time appearances:
“I felt good coming to the stadium today, just about the team. I felt like we were going to get a response after the last week that we had that was a bit tough. The effort from everyone on the field was just great to get that result that we worked hard for and on top of that to be the leading appearance player for this club is something special to me. ”
Thoughts on the SuperClásico rematch:
“I thought it was a really good game and hopefully the fans were entertained. Of course we would have liked to have snuck out a win, but we’ll take the point on the road. For us it’s a reward for the work we’ve been putting in.”
Thoughts on formation changes:
“I’m sure it surprised [the Galaxy]. We were working on it. [Eric Avila] has such great qualities that he can do some damage in midfield and he can get up to field and be a threat and be dangerous. I’m sure it was good for [Avila] to get back in midfield and [Donald Toia] did a great job, just dealt with it like a veteran. It’s his first year on this team, he did a great job tonight. [Leandro Barrera] is fast and that’s always dangerous when you get a couple of through-balls and Leandro can get in there and stir it up.”
On his incredible save sequence in first half:
“Sometimes you get everything right. It was good to be able to keep that out of the net and keep the game in hand. It was really just as quick as can be. I saw the ball come out and did see white jerseys, so I just got up as quick as I could.”
CHIVAS USA MIDFIELDER ERIC AVILA
On getting the start at his customary midfield spot:
“It felt good. I was just so mind-set on the defense part, it was a little adjustment just to get back into the middle and get the rhythm, but other than that it felt good. Obviously it was a tough game to play and to get back into the middle with a good team like that. But it felt good and I was excited to play in the midfield.”
On the new look to the formation:
“I think we went more a little bit attacking-wise. I think in the last couple of games we just had [Erick Torres] up [top] and we weren’t really helping him out as much as we would like to. I think we changed a little bit where we can take the tension a little bit away from [Torres] and have some runs on top. But I think we kind of caught them off guard, I want to say, and we went and attacked.”
Thoughts on getting a point before the league break:
“With a team like that and the way that we were doing, I think that point for us is a big moving step forward. It gave us a lot of confidence and we have an Open Cup game next but the thing is for us, we just needed that point, we needed a win. It just felt really good in the locker room.”
Thoughts on Leandro Barrera’s performance at forward:
“I think he’s a great player, he’s fast and he just bugs people. That’s exactly what we need and I think just getting the tension off [Torres] helps.”
Thoughts on Dan Kennedy’s save sequence in the first half:
“I saw him come inside and I knew he was going to shoot it. He hit it well and Dan made an unbelievable save like he always does. He kept us in the game. And that rebound, again, I felt like it was going to go in, and Dan came out of nowhere. And I think that gave us a little wake-up call. We slowed down a little bit and we had to pick it up.”
