Birthday Boy Lewis Scores to Give LA 1-1 Draw (With Quotes)

LA Galaxy 1, Columbus Crew 1
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The Home Depot Center – Carson, Calif.

Scoring Summary:
CLB - Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Unassisted) 70’
LA – Eddie Lewis (Unassisted) 91+

Misconduct Summary:
LA – Eddie Lewis (Yellow Card) 32’
LA – Bryan Jordan (Yellow Card) 46’
CLB – Robbie Rogers (Yellow Card) 58’
CLB – Alejandro Moreno (Yellow Card) 61’
CLB – Danny O’Rourke (Yellow Card) 86’
CLB – Danny O’Rourke (Red Card/2nd Yellow) 89’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts, Sean Franklin (Tony Sanneh 46’), Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Eddie Lewis, Dema Kovalenko, Stefani Miglioranzi (Jovan Kirovski 80’), Mike Magee, Landon Donovan©, Alan Gordon (Chris Klein 70’), Bryan Jordan.

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, A.J. DeLaGarza, Josh Tudela, Kyle Patterson.
Columbus Crew: Andy Gruenebaum, Frankie Hejduk©, Chad Marshall, Danny O’Rourke (Sent Off 89’), Gino Padula, Brian Carroll, Emmanuel Ekpo (Duncan Oughton 86’), Eddie Gaven, Robbie Rogers (Pat Noonan 87’), Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Eric Brunner 90’), Alejandro Moreno.

Subs Not Used: Chris Sharpe, Jed Zayner, Kevin Burns, Steven Lenhart.

Notes:
· With the draw, the Galaxy are now 1-1-7 on the season, leaving them tied with Real Salt Lake for fifth place in the Western Conference with 10 points. Both teams are now two points behind third place Houston and Colorado who each have 12 points and five points ahead of FC Dallas and San Jose who are tied in seventh place with five points each.
· Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena made four changes to his lineup from the 1-1 draw at Seattle last weekend. Eddie Lewis and Bryan Jordan were brought into the starting lineup, replacing Todd Dunivant and Jovan Kirovski. Kirovski began the game on the bench while Dunivant was rested for the match and not in the 18-man squad.
· The Galaxy were also without Edson Buddle who aggravated a quad strain in training earlier in the week, as well as Yohance Marshall, who is on the club’s Disabled List and not eligible for selection. Marshall is not eligible to return to action until at least the home game against Kansas City in May 30.
· Defender Julian Valentin was also not in the lineup after being loaned to the Cleveland City Stars of the USL First Division earlier in the week. Valentin is scheduled to remain on loan for a month.
· With the draw, the Galaxy’s unbeaten streak extends to seven games, tying the mark for the fourth longest in club history. LA is 1-0-6 during the run.
· After appearing in seven of the Galaxy’s first eight games as a substitute, Bryan Jordan made his first start of the season for LA. Jordan played the full 90 minutes up front and on the right side of midfield.
· Donovan Ricketts made three saves for the Galaxy and remains undefeated as an MLS goalkeeper, improving his record to 1-0-6.
· Eddie Lewis’ goal was his first of the season and second since joining the Galaxy in August 2008. The goal came on Lewis’ 35th birthday.
· With the goal, the Galaxy have now scored seven goals in the final 15 minutes of a game and three in second half stoppage time.
· Omar Gonzalez started and played the full 90 minutes in central defense, making him the first Galaxy rookie ever to start each of the club’s first nine games on the season. He is also one of two Galaxy players, along with Landon Donovan, to have played the full 90 minutes in all nine of the club’s games this season.
· With the draw, the Crew are now 2-0-4 in their last six games against LA at The Home Depot Center.
· Sean Franklin left the game at halftime with a hamstring strain and will be evaluated on Monday.
· The attendance for today’s game was 16,649.
· The Galaxy are back in action on Saturday when they head to Frisco, Texas to take on FC Dallas at Pizza Hut Park. That game kicks off at 5:30 p.m. (PT) and can be seen live on FS West.
· For more about this afternoon’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

LA GALAXY HEADCOACH BRUCE ARENA
On getting a point:
Under the circumstances, we are certainly happy about the point. We really wasted the 45 minutes in the first half. I think the second half was better. Obviously a great finish by Eddie Lewis at the end of the game to get us a point.

On the Galaxy’s performance during the second half:
I don’t think we showed a lot of energy, and I thought we were out-competed on most positions on the field. Playing at noon in the heat is an excuse if you want to use it as an excuse. We certainly used it as an excuse. We responded a lot better in the second half. Our field tends to play a little slow and slippery, and that is certainly not an excuse, but for whatever reason I thought Columbus won most of the battles in the first half, with a few exceptions. In the second half, I think we turned that around.

On Columbus’ goal:
I think if Tony has an IQ of over 40, he understands the mistake he made. I didn’t want to dwell on it today. We will certainly talk about it. It was a mistake by a player. He thanked the team at the end for bailing him out. He knew he made a mistake. Schelotto made an excellent play too. He’s a heady player. I said to my team during the week—I think this is his best year in the league. I think he’s simply been outstanding. Ironically, they are a team that’s not getting a lot of points at this point either. I think he’s been absolutely terrific. I think he’s had an excellent year.

On the highlights of the game:
I think [Mike] Magee was good today. He was our best player from start to finish. He wanted the ball in tough spots. He was confident with the ball at his feet. I think [Donovan] Ricketts continues to be an outstanding goalkeeper. Ricketts had to make two big saves in this game. I think one in the first half and one right before we scored. I’m really pleased with him. He’s been outstanding. I think that Eddie Lewis did a good job coming in for Todd Dunivant today. I think our central midfield is getting a little bit better. We need to find a better combination of players to get our attack a little bit better. We’ve gotten better each and every game I think. We are getting close to where we want to be, but we have to get over the hump and win some games.

LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On how the team played:
We should have played better. As bad as we played in the first half, it was still 0-0. We played pretty well coming out in the second half, and made a mistake and then we were down a goal. Our reaction as always this year was really good. And, we had a chance to maybe win it.

On coming back from behind:
We don’t want that to be our M.O. all year. If it is, we are going to struggle because you can only do that so many times. Maybe if we were a little bit better in from of the goal we could have gotten the lead in the second half. Then obviously we can’t make that mistake.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER EDDIE LEWIS
On his goal:
It was a good strike. It sat up nicely. I just remember the whole team being inside the box. I took the time, and I think that the biggest challenge was making sure I didn’t get overanxious and really just let it flow and cut it clean. With some balls, as soon as they leave your feet, you just know straight way. It was nice. It was nice to get back into it. But we are still in the same road until we really are pressed the way we play. We don’t play adventurous enough. It takes a while, and then we go down a goal, and then we get ourselves back in the game. We have to somehow transform that mentality from the kickoff. We’ll see. We are trying to get better.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER GREGG BERHALTER
On the team’s performance:
The way we played in the first half, we are disappointed. We expect more from ourselves. We were pleased how we came back in the second half and had a better performance.


LA GALAXY FORWARD BRYAN JORDAN
On playing in the heat:
I felt good. Being from down here, I’m used to the heat. A lot of our boys are, and I thought we showed we are a good team. We came back and got a tie out of it. Our team really knows that we could have gotten a win.

COLUMBUS CREW HEAD COACH ROBERT WARZYCHA
On Columbus’ performance:
I think we played better in the first half. We had some chances, especially in the first 20 minutes. We moved the ball pretty well from side to side, so the first half was pretty good. I think in the second half, LA stepped up a little bit. They made some changes, and they took over the play. But we were still dangerous. We created a couple of chances, especially the free kick that didn’t go in. I don’t think that red card was necessary for us. I think we could have done better. Then the great strike by Eddie Lewis. We thought we were going to get three points, but with a point we have to be happy. If someone was to give us a point before a game, we would probably take in, but then again we are disappointed after the game.

On the officiating:
No, I’m saying the red card wasn’t necessary because Landon [Donovan] was going towards the corner, the flag. We should have stayed on our feet, and let him have the ball. What was he going to do with the ball? Probably play it back. And we would deal with that. We gave the referee a chance to call a foul and he did.

COLUMBUS CREW DEFENDER CHAD MARSHALL
On getting a point:
It’s tough. We were clearly the better team throughout the 90 minutes. It was tough to give up one late and lose three points. We will figure it out this week in practice and get back for the next game.

COLUMBUS CREW DEFENDER FRANKIE HEJDUK
On today’s match:
We fought a lot; unfortunately we gave up another late goal. It’s hard to take, but at the end of the day we didn’t lose on the road. A point isn’t a bad result.