We Got the Cup

Bruce Arena's first piece of silverware arrived tonight with the 1-0 win over Chivas USA that gave the Galaxy the Honda SuperClasico crown.

Here's what the guys had to say after the win...

LA GALAXY HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA…
Overall thoughts on the match…
That was a hard earned three points. Chivas played well. They came at us real hard. They were really aggressive the first half, but in the second half, we played better. It was a great goal by David Beckham, and a well earned victory. It’s nice to win at home, if you can call this a home game. Our opponent played well tonight. They deserve a lot of credit coming back from their game earlier in the week. Once again our team continues to make progress, we are getting better. We have to win games like this. This was a tough game. I think our concentration and discipline over 90 minutes was real good. I’m pleased with the win. Every point is critical.

On Landon Donovan playing in the midfield…
I think he likes being able to face opponents and not playing with his back to the goal. He gets more involved in the game when he is playing in the midfield than he does up top as a striker. Obviously, he’s work rate and pace are special, and in those positions you can take advantage of that. I thought in the first half [Jonathan] Borstein played him well. In the second half, we started him out on the left. We had success with that. Landon’s been great this year. He’s really grown as a player. The things he does in the locker room and off the field are special as well. He’s having a great season, and we hope it continues. And we wish him the very best for the next ten days with the U.S. National Team.

On David Beckham’s role…
He’s a very experienced and talented player. He has to find different places on the field to be effective. Tonight, [Jesse] Marsch and [Paulo] Nagamura did a good job trying to get around David when he was sitting in a central position. I prefer him going wide or going high instead of coming back to get the ball, and we saw a lot more of that in the second half.

On the improvement of the Galaxy’s defensive compared to last season…
It’s what we are trying to do with this team. To make it a real team you have to win games 1-0. This 4-3 stuff, this 5-4 stuff, I think its nice. I was a part of a 5-4 game when I was with the New York Red Bulls, was maybe one of the worse games I’ve ever been a part of. It was a horrible performance defensively by both teams. For some reason, I read it was one the best games in MLS history, but it was a horror show in terms of defending. We have to learn to play in games like this and we have.

LA GALAXY FORWARD LANDON DONOVAN
On the win…
It’s huge. The breathing from Chivas and the breathing room from the rest of the League is really important. We’ve played more games that everyone and we are off next weekend. Now they are going to start catching up, so it’s nice to have a little bit of cushion. It’s still going to be tight.

On the importance of that last few games…
The last three or four have been really crucial. Just because of whom we’ve been playing. Chicago is right with us, DC who is a team we are trying to keep away from the playoffs. Tonight was huge because Chivas has a few games in hand from us. We did a good job.

On switching to the left side during the second half…
Borstein’s a good player. He does a good job. He knows my strengthens and weaknesses, and did a good job not letting me go at him. And, it helped when I was able to switch sides. I like both sides with [Marcelo] Saragosa playing with a yellow card it was going to be hard for him. I wanted to put him under pressure. Eddie [Lewis] did a good job on the side controlling those two—a lot better than I did. I was able to make it a lot more difficult for Chivas.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER DAVID BECKHAM
On his scoring his first goal of the season.…
It’s always nice to score a goal, but it’s always nice to win a game, especially when it’s against your rivals.
I anticipated the ball bouncing and going through where it did. And obviously it did on a wet night and a wet pitch, I had to hit it down because it was bouncing awkwardly. Sometimes they can end up in the back row, luckily this time it ended it the back of the net. It wasn’t the prettiest thing, but three points is three points.

On the team’s performance…
They kind of controlled the game in the first half. Our passing was terrible. We just kept giving the ball away, but sometimes that happens and you just have to persist. In the second half, we picked it up a bit. We knew if we could get the ball to Landon and get the ball through midfield, we would be able to create chances. We started passing a little better and creating chances.

LA GALAXY GOALKEEPER DONOVAN RICKETTS
On achieving his third consecutive shutout:
It’s always good to keep a clean sheet, it gives the team confidence, and it gives us a foundation. So, it is always good.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER TODD DUNIVANT
On the game
The pressure was on us in this game, it was important to get the points today, and we did the job. The bigger picture is the important thing in this situation…winning the trophy, winning two out of three games, and not conceding any losses, is a great result. That’s good and it sets us up for the playoffs, and that’s really our goal at this point, and it really put us in a good position now.

On Donovan Ricketts’ third consecutive shutout:
The biggest key of our turnaround is the team focus on defense, and now we have three shutouts in a row. It’s always a working progress. And again, tonight, Donovan [Ricketts] made big saves whenever we need him, and for the most part we kept them out off our ending, and limited their chances, and I think that was the key of our success.

LA GALAXY MIDFIELDER CHRIS BIRCHALL
On David Beckham’s goal…
As soon as it dropped out, and you saw David step up to hit it, I think everyone thought he would at least get in on target and he did. I don’t think it was the cleanest connection, and he’llprobably admit it. But, I don’t think he is bothered by it at all. He’s got another goal, and especially at this time, when he is getting a hit of criticism. I think it’s good for him that he is playing and getting goals, and hopefully, the England Manager can see it.

LA GALAXY FORWARD JOVAN KIROVSKI
On the game…
It was a good game. There was a lot of passion in the game. You can see both teams wanted to win, but we were a little cautious because we didn’t want to give anything up. It was a typical derby game.

LA GALAXY DEFENDER GREGG BERHALTER
On playing physical aspect of the game…
I think this game is always difficult because of all the emotions, and then add where we are in season and where both teams are on the table. It was a pretty physical game. As the game went on, we didn’t give up a lot. We were able to get a really, really big game win for us.

Finally, for those who did not see this in the pregame, check out Leo Griffin's video from last week's training in D.C. where David took a challenge from Alan Gordon and showed the same pinpoint accuracy that he did with tonight's goal, except this time it was putting a ball into the press box from field level.

Check it out.