Here is the official quote sheet form tonight's game...
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SATURDAY, August 8, 2009 – LOS ANGELES GALAXY 2, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 1
LOS ANGELES GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the team’s overall performance…
“I think this is a well-earned victory and I thought for 90 minutes we were the better team tonight. Very good performance in every part of the field tonight. From our backline, our frontrunners through our midfield, it was a real solid performance and we’re showing growth and maturity, too, and it’s good to see.”
On the importance of scoring the first goal…
“Well, as in any game, especially against a team like New England, who is generally a low-scoring team and a team that doesn’t give up too many goals, getting the first goal and making them have to chase the game and open themselves up a little was important in this game. And I thought although we gave up a goal at the end of the game, our second half was very good. I thought our team defended well, we created chances, got the ball forward, and we were smart in trying to manage this game in the right way. So overall, a very good performance by our team.”
LOS ANGELES GALAXY MIDFIELDER DAVID BECKHAM
On the result…
“A good win, an important win. Not won here in 10 years, so we’re very happy.”
On the Galaxy going unbeaten in the last six games…
“It’s important that we just carry on this roll. We’re in a good position now, so it’s just important that we continue.”
On going to England for the friendly…
“Looking forward to it. It’s always nice to meet back up with the players.”
LOS ANGELES GALAXY FORWARD JOVAN KIROVSKI
On his goal…
“The ball came in - I think Eddie (Lewis) played a ball in. Alan (Gordon) did great to fight for the ball and it just dropped out to me and I got a touch on it and hit it. Fortunately it went in.”
On the six-game unbeaten streak…
“It feels great. The team has worked very hard. We’re really organized and we’re looking forward. We’re looking to the next game.”
On the result…
“Another tough place to play, (and a) great result. I don’t think we’ve won here in 10 years, so it’s a big win for us and we’re looking to the next game.”
LOS ANGELES GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On his goal…
“I’ve been encouraged, and I’ve been trying to shoot more and be more aggressive, and it certainly worked out tonight … it bounced up in the air and my initial thought was shot. My second thought was maybe bring it down and I thought maybe take a swing at it. At that point, I’m just trying to make real good contact and I hit it perfect … it was something out of nothing on that play, but we certainly deserved a goal. We were playing well up to that point and if it didn’t come then, it was going to come at some point.”
On his goals for the season…
“My personal goals are team goals, and that’s to get in the playoffs. And after that, we’ll figure it out after that. But we’re on our way.
On the team’s look at playoffs…
“New England was a team that has still has a couple games in hand ,and this was a big game to push clear of them. And what we’re trying to do is separate ourselves from the rest and tonight we did a good job - a big step towards that.”
NOTE: New England assistant coach Paul Mariner served as Revolution head coach this evening while head coach Steve Nicol served the first of his two-game suspension.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION ASSISTANT COACH PAUL MARINER
On the team’s struggle being offside tonight…
“Because we were pushing. You’ve got to remember, Shalrie (Joseph) hasn’t exactly played as a striker too often, but he had valiant efforts tonight. We almost got an equalizer, but not quite.”
On whether he was disappointed with the start…
“I thought the first half in particular, we were very bright. Even when we got a goal down, I thought we were still pushing. When Landon (Donovan) scores what could be the goal of the season, you always look at what you could have done better. We cleared the ball, but when you’re up against skill like that, you really have to applaud it. [Donovan] was fantastic. (Matt) Reis had no chance. We were very bright at halftime, the boys were very positive. We had to make the change because Edgaras is (Jankauskas’) carrying a couple of injuries. We didn’t want to blow him out of the water so we had to take care of him a little bit. Overall, we were very pleased first half.”
On what he told the team at halftime…
“Well we changed it. We had to put Shalrie (Joseph) up top and take Edgaras (Jankauskas) out. With Sainey(Nyassi) out there, we thought we could get some pace going on the other side and try and threaten their fullbacks a little bit. We just wanted to play the game in their half. We didn’t want to give them too much defensively. We wanted to get the ball out, clear the ball out. Then you give a goal up – a poor goal from our point of view – in the 50th minute. The thing is, the boys played fantastically well tonight, but we just didn’t get a break when we needed it. I’m sure when we look at the DVD, we’ll be a little bit sad about the goals that we gave away. You can’t give a team like that a two goal start. They’ve got quality all over the field: Landon (Donovan) is a constant threat and [Beckham] with his passing.”
On sending the fullbacks forward more than usual…
“Well as you all know, it’s best if you cross the ball from as deep as possible to the byline. We’ve got tons of pace outside and we thought we could run the ball outside and have Kevin (Alston) going in the four. When we were playing the four, we thought we could get to the byline and get balls in to Shalrie (Joseph) to attack, with Kheli (Dube) and Jeff (Larentowicz) coming in late. We thought we pressed the game pretty well and are pretty delighted with the players efforts. We just needed a little bit of luck in front of the goal, but we really didn’t have it. Like I said, you can’t give a team LA that a two-goal start.”
On starting Ralston on the right side…
“Production. We feel that he is the master of the assist. You give Stevie Ralston time and space on the ball and he’ll hurt you. We thought that he could get balls in the box for Edgaras (Jankauskas). To certain degree, it happened, and then there were his set pieces … We changed it, we put [Ralston] in the middle and Sainey (Nyassi) outside for some pace and then went to the 3-5-2 late on after about 65 minutes when we felt we had to push even more. When we put Pat (Phelan) on and pushed [Ralston] even further up the field. We could have gotten the equalizer, but we didn’t, so the players are bitterly disappointed as we are.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER STEVE RALSTON
On getting the uncommon start at right wing...
“(The coaches) told me yesterday I could be playing any of three positions, so just to be ready. When I got in here right before the game, they told me I was playing out wide right. It’s fine, it’s been a while, but I played 12 years out there, and I kind of enjoyed it, too. I liked being out there again.
On switching to the 3-5-2 alignment when down one goal...
“At that point in the game, they are trying to protect the lead, and they’re just getting behind the ball, so we are going to have a lot of the ball and putting them under pressure. We have to be able to score first; I don’t think we’ve scored first in a long time. We are always coming from behind, and we can’t afford to do that against good teams. You’re not going to always be able to come back, and it cost us tonight.”
On how he approached his successful penalty kick...
“I tried to skip the stutter step and see if he would go early, and he didn’t. So if he is going to stay, it’s going to more difficult for him to get to the corner. Luckily, I was able to get it wide enough.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER KENNY MANSALLY
On the slow starts the attack has had …
“Our team, in the first half, we had a lack of communication, so we conceded an early goal. You could see in the second half we all came all out and at least we got one goal. We were a little unlucky, but we need to do better.”
On the foul that led to the penalty kick...
“I almost beat him, so he could see it was going to be a one-on-one with the goalie, so he just grabbed me. There was nothing he could do, so we got a PK, got a goal, and we had to keep going. We were just a little unlucky; I got a lot of shots on goal ...”
On not coming away with any points against Los Angeles...
“These guys, they have a lot of experienced and big players who have been around. We are disappointed we couldn’t get a point out of it, but maybe next time.”
On the benefits of not playing for 12 days...
“I think the bye week will give us some more legs because we have been playing game after game. We get four days off and that will help us to keep going.”
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