Galaxy-Barcelona Postgame Quotes

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the team’s performance
I thought, in the second half, we played better, yet I give them credit for a very good second goal. Overall, it is a good night for a team that had the opportunity to step on the field with one of the greatest club teams in the world, and understand a little bit more about the things that we talk about that sometimes you can’t quite comprehend but when you get caught in the middle of it, finally, you see that speed of play with some of those players of quality, it’s a great learn, so I thought a number of our guys did well tonight, and David Beckham’s goal was fantastic. They are a great team, without intent to make much out of this game besides the fact it’s a fabulous exhibition for the people that came out tonight, I think a great experience for our team, and certainly we wish Barcelona the very best, the best fabulous team, and I am sure they gonna be right in the thick of things in La Liga as well as in Champions League this year.

On his overall thoughts on the game:
“Overall it was a good night. Fro our team to have the opportunity to step onto the field with one of the great club teams in the world, and understand a little bit more about the things we talk about, but when you get caught in the middle of it, finally, you see that speed of play with some of those players of quality it’s a great learning experience.”

On the positives from the game:
“I thought a number of our guys did well tonight. David Beckham’s goal was fantastic. Landon came into the game 20-25 minutes in (and became) dangerous, and certainly had a couple of good opportunities. But we don’t intend to make much out of this game, besides that is a fabulous exhibition for the people that came out tonight. I think it was a great experience for our team and we certainly wish Barcelona the very best, they have a fabulous team and I’m sure they are going to be right in the thick of things in La Liga as well as Champions League this year.”

On A.J. DELAGARZA’s second half performance
A.J. DeLaGarza might have been our best player of the night. I was very impressed with the confidence he came out. He obviously played against some outstanding players, and obviously Henry was a handful for him in the second half, but for a young kid, in his first year of professional soccer, and play with the kind of confidence he had I thought it was fantastic. I was really pleased that our two young defenders, Gonzalez and DeLaGarza really took advantage of the opportunity, and it was a good experience for them.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER TODD DUNIVANT
On the game
We defended pretty well, [Barcelona] did not have ton of chances, but obviously they had the ball most of the time, and they are an incredible skillful team, good passing team, and keep the ball really well. We are lucky to get a result that is not that bad, so it was a good game for us.

On the result
When you play Barcelona like that, play against those types of players, this type of team, the best team of the World, we gained a lot out of it. Score aside, it was a great game and a very high level for us to play on, and if we carry that on the league play, that is only going to be a benefit for us.

On David Beckham’s freekick
[David] is a world class at [freekicks], I don’t think there is anyone better in the world at it than him. If he keeps hitting freekicks like that, we are going to be a tough team to beat.


LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER STEFANI MIGLIORANZI
On playing against players like Thierry Henry
What a player huh? He is tremendous, sometimes in the game I was paying more attention on the way he played than on doing my job.

On the attendance record
It was amazing. It is very important for the American soccer, and it’s nice to know that Galaxy is part of this process. It was definitely a great event.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER GREGG BERHALTER
On playing against FC Barcelona
Obviously, it’s a class team, it is the best team of the world, and any time you get to compete against a team like that, it is special, and I think tonight with the fans alone, with the opponents, it was a great game, a fun game to play.


On the team’s performance in the last games
We’ve been talking about how it is a process; I don’t want to say that we are there yet because we are not. We still have ways to go, and keep making strides, but we have a good group of guys, and the guys seem to stick together, we seem to be able to play for each other, and know how each other moves, so it’s going well.

LA Galaxy forward Landon Donovan
On the team’s performance tonight:
“It was a good experience a lot of the guys didn’t realize how good a team like that is. How fast they move the ball how they are always in the correct positions a lot of guys learned a lot from this game.”

On DeLaGarza defending against Thierry Henry:
“Yeah it is good learning experience. Not the easiest match up but he did a good job. In a couple of weeks now he has played against Ronaldinho and Henry and he has done pretty well.”

On the scheduling of the game:
“It comes at a good time it is on a weekend that we don’t have a game and it is not midweek game. We are clearly going to be a fitter team from running a lot tonight. Hopefully we learned a lot from it.”

Toughest part of tonight game:
“The toughest part was chasing them around the field for ninety minutes. They are very good, they move the ball a lot and we end up doing a lot of running so that is hard.”

On Thierry Henry:
“He is big, fast, he is athletic, he is good on the ball technically he is good and he is good in front of the goal and as a forward that is ideal.”

LA Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez
On his performance tonight:
“I was a little nervous in the first half and I came out big in the second half and I really showed myself. I am really happy with my performance and this is just an amazing experience.”

On the play of A.J. DeLaGarza:
“A.J. did a fantastic job. I don’t think he could have done any better, but I wish I could have been over there to help him more but I was busy with (Eidur) Gudjohnsen”

LA Galaxy defender A.J. DeLaGarza
On his thoughts of tonight’s game:
“It is a great opportunity for myself playing against some of the best players in the world, A couple of weeks ago against Milan I didn’t play that well, but I came out here today with confidence and went in to win some tackles, won some tackles and I think I did well enough to stay in there. I think I did well.

On the play of Omar Gonzalez:
“I thought he did well, obviously he was dominant in the air and he was good not letting people get passed him or around him. It is good for his confidence as well going into the second half of the season.”

On tonight’s atmosphere:
“When we first got hear there were already 20,000 people in the stands screaming I mean when there are 93,000 that is crazy you can’t hear yourself talk or screaming to the player that is ten yards ahead of you. It was a great atmosphere and a great game.”

Barcelona Head Coach Jose “Pep” Guardiola
On the game:
“This was a great test for us and I had a great impression of the opponent. It was a good game, I was very satisfied to see the players on the field given that we are coming off a vacation.”

On the play of the Galaxy:
“They are strong players, physically strong, so for us it was difficult on one-on-one (situations). Beckham’s foot is always impressive, and Donovan is so fast that he created some problems in the second half, but I am impressed and I’m glad to see that soccer in the States is getting better. I hope it keeps going like this.”

FC Barcelona defender Carlos Puyol:
On his thoughts of the Galaxy:
“It is a good team that is well organized and has a lot of quality players. We suffered to get the victory.”

On Barcelona’s pre-season:
“The team has played two pre-season games and little by little we are building momentum. I think the team is playing well but it is still early.”