Postgame Quote Sheet
LA Galaxy 3, Toronto FC 0
Saturday, Oct. 4 – 7:30 p.m. PT
MLS Regular Season
StubHub Center – Carson, Calif.
LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the game:
“Good three points. Not our best game tonight. The second half, Toronto played well. Probably a little bit more aggressive, won a bunch of second balls. Had us out of rhythm at times. What can I say; it was 2-0 at halftime. We kind of know the score. We could have been a little bit better but it’s still a good sign to pick up three points on a night where probably we are not at our best. I also give Toronto credit, they did pretty well tonight.”
On Robbie Keane:
“Great goals, two great goals. Specially the second one. Classic Robbie [Keane], and he’s taking off for Ireland and we wish him the very best.”
On James Riley’s return:
“I was hesitant about putting him in that early in the game and the thinking was he probably would have to come out in the second half at some point, but he hung in there so that’s terrific. He has worked really hard to come back from that surgery and that injury and to be able to give us 75 minutes or so tonight, in a night where we needed it, was big. That’s all part of the story with your teams, you have to call on everyone in your squad and James [Riley] stepped up and did his job tonight.”
On Robbie Rogers:
“We’ll check him. There was a possibility he could have continued. We just took him in.”
On Robbie Keane being MLS’ MVP this season:
“Listen, I think these things are difficult. And I hate, especially when it’s your player, it sounds like a little bit of home cooking for sure. In my view, he deserves to be Most Valuable Player in the league and there are a lot of other players in the league that have had very good performances this year but I think you step back and you look at it. I can’t see why people couldn’t conclude that Robbie [Keane] is the Most Valuable Player in the league.”
On the Galaxy defense:
“They played well. Second half [Toronto] got a bunch of dangerous crosses and our guys did a good job getting inside players and clearing balls. On the night it was pretty solid performance. Leonardo has played very solid for us as of late. He had a good showing tonight. And Omar [Gonzalez] and A.J. [DeLaGarza] have been brilliant over the last four to six weeks. It’s a good performance by our guys. Obviously they need to continue that over the next, hopefully, couple of months of the season.”
On U.S. Soccer farewell game for Landon Donovan:
“If he’s happy, I’m happy. That’s really for Landon to discuss. I think it’s a wonderful gesture by U.S. Soccer. Landon has earned that opportunity. I hope it turns out to be a great experience.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On what his record-breaking assist meant to him:
“To be honest, it wasn’t on my radar until the last month or so. It wasn’t overly realistic in my mind, but when the team plays like this it was just natural, and it seems like every time we get a chance, guys are either close to scoring or they’re scoring, so for me it’s been easy. My job is just to put the ball in a good spot. And with players like we have, it makes it easy.”
On Robbie Keane’s form:
“He’s been terrific and we’re really fortunate to have him on our team. I said last week that there is not a player in this league who scores the goals that he scores, and [his second goal] was a difficult one, too… It was clean, it was clinical. It’s our job to keep getting him the ball when he is playing like this and we’re going to keep trying to do that.”
On the team’s second half:
“The second half was subpar by our standards, but when you start the game that way and play that way in the first half; sometimes you buy yourself a chance to rest a little. I wasn’t particularly happy with the way we played in the second half, but at the same time, we’ve put in a lot of work, a lot of games and a lot of the same guys have played week after week so you can understand why guys are a little tired, but we’ve got to regroup and be better against Dallas this week. We can’t play that way in Dallas and expect to win.”
On the team’s chance to win the Supporters’ Shield:
“We’ve been terrific this summer. There’s no way to say it except that… We’ve done a great job. We haven’t necessarily been paying attention [to the standings] until the last few weeks, but now it’s very realistic to win the Supporters’ Shield and that’s absolutely our goal.”
On leading the Supporters’ Shield race for the first time:
“It’s great. Psychologically it’s important… We know that if we keep winning, then we can do the job.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ROBBIE KEANE
On the team’s first two goals:
“Yeah, it was good timing. As much as you like it to get goals back-to-back, quickly, it makes life a little easier. We dominated the game. The way we passed the ball around and our movement – it was fantastic at times. They were the better team in the second half. They were really causing us trouble. They had a lot of energy in the second half. That first half, we had a lot of energy. Naturally, when a team is down two-nil, they seem to push it. They seemed to have more energy. I think our job was done in the first half.”
On the team’s style of play:
“I think we are very confident in how we are playing at the moment. Certainly, being two goals up makes it that much easier. Being a goal down would clearly had a different spin on the game. Going a goal up—I don’t think there are many teams that can beat us. We are very, very confident in our possession of the ball.”
On being named the MLS MVP at the end of the season:
“It’s not my decision to make. I just do my job for the team—score goals and help create goals. It’s all I can do. I can’t worry about other teams. Trust me; the last thing on my mind is the MVP. My main focus right now is the team. That’s the most important thing.”
On Landon Donovan becoming MLS’ all-time assist leader:
“It’s an unbelievable achievement. To have the goal and assist record and not have to worry about it, it’s an incredible achievement. He certainly deserves it. He’s a player that can help the team.”
On Alan Gordon’s play:
“We keep saying it every time he comes on – when he comes on he scores. It just seems normal for him to come in and score a goal. It’s always good to have someone like that on your team. He works hard in training every day. He’s a big part of this team. He’s a big part of we are doing. If things aren’t going well for us, he’s a player that can come on and change things. His energy – the way he runs around. He’s a big man. Very, very good in the air. As you saw today, he’s really good with his feet also.”
On leaving for national team duty and who can take his spot during his absence:
“The good thing about having a squad is that when people are injured or leave for their national teams – it’s an opportunity for someone to step up and help this team maintain the performance we’ve shown the last few months or so. We got good players. I’m sure [Alan] Gordon will come in.”
On playing Seattle Sounders in the last two games of the regular season:
“It could certainly be the decider for the Supporters’ Shield. Hopefully by then we will be a few points ahead.”
On taking the lead in the standings ahead of the Sounders:
“Put it this way, I rather be first and get the game over and be three points ahead, than be playing tomorrow and chasing. I’m really happy with that. There is no question that it feels like we’ve been chasing for a while. We win and they win. Happy to be first. And, it feels like it’s definitely going to go down to the wire. No question.”
LA GALAXY FORWARD ALAN GORDON
On being the LA Galaxy’s most successful number 9:
“I’m just trying to do little things. It’s not like I broke a record, but with the team playing so well and the amount of talent around, it doesn’t stop. With Landon [Donovan] and Robbie [Keane], I think anybody would have chances.”
On his goal:
“It’s the first I’ve tried [scoring from that far]. It’s not my game. I wanted to get one chance so I took it.”
On being surprised to see his goal go in:
“No, it was exactly where I was aiming.”
On Robbie Keane leaving for national team duty:
“We are going to have to have a few guys step up this weekend. This weekend is a big game so hopefully we can come together and find some magic and play well together with missing important guys.”
On this being the best team Gordon has played for:
“I would say so.”
TORONTO FC HEAD COACH GREG VANNEY
On the game:
“The first ten minutes of the game I thought we were well organized, they were having difficulty getting in between us. But it was a little different set up the second half. The second half we were much more aggressive, we were in a little different shape both defensively and offensively and we were stepping out of our lines quicker to and press them a little bit higher. I actually thought through large stretches of the second half we dictated the game a little bit. We were controlling it, they were having a hard time getting their midfielders on the ball, they were having a hard time getting Robbie [Keane] touches. That was good, so I’m unhappy with the second half. We knew there were going to be challenges when we came. We also have our sights on the next four games which are the most important matches for us for the season.”
On Jermain Defoe:
“It was exactly what he needed. He needed thirty minutes, he needed to get his legs under him, he needed to get some touches, needed to catch the speed of play a little bit. So I don’t really need to rate him, it was exactly what we wanted to do, get him in the rhythm again and to keep building on his return.”
TORONTO FC FORWARD JERMAIN DEFOE
On his return:
“It felt good, no problems, and no soreness. It felt good to be back and get back on the pitch. Obviously it would’ve been better if we got a better result. But no pressure now, I feel good. Obviously there were parts in the second half where we played well, created some chances. And we just have to move on from today, there is an important game on Wednesday. I feel if I am going to take some positives out of the game, it’s probably the way we moved the ball the second half. But there are some big games coming up and we need to all stick together.”
On playing next match:
“I feel good, I’m happy about that. No pain, twisting and turning is fine so I’m really looking forward to that one. But obviously it was important to ease myself in slowly. It felt good in training and I’m looking forward to the game Wednesday.”
TORONTO FC DEFENDER STEVEN CALDWELL
On second half:
“It was a very difficult match, excellent saves. It was tough the first half, we couldn’t get close enough to stop the play, obviously they scored two goals. The second half was a lot better. We controlled large periods, we had to concentrate. We managed to defend a few incidents, but unfortunately we still got a defeat.”
On transition of the game:
“Obviously football has gone that way; it seems like that with most with the pros, especially in the MLS. Moving forward very quickly and it’s difficult to defend against. Something that we look to do, obviously we need to control the ball a little better, because it can be done if you spread out and don’t let them pass you up.”
On Nick Hagglund:
“It’s very difficult for him starting out the game and he is learning. He did very well tonight. Always very hard against good teams, you have to be patient and disciplined in your possession, also having lads up; by squeezing the line up at the right time so it’s a fine line between stepping into LA, and obviously being too deep. And I felt he did really well, he adjusted perfectly through the game and did the same the second half.”
