LA Galaxy vs CD Aguila Post-Game Coverage

Enjoy these photos, courtesy of German Alegria (Muchas gracias compadre!), and then scroll to the bottom for some postmatch reaction from Bruce and Co.

Bruce Arena
On the game:
“I thought that it was a sloppy performance by our team tonight. I don’t think that we did good with our passing, we didn’t take any of our chances, our crossing of the ball on the night was poor. Give our opponent credit, they did what they wanted to do, a classic road mentality. The few chances that we created in the first half, we really should have put one of those away to really open the game up.”

On where the team is heading into Saturday:
“I think that we’re doing fine. You don’t overreact to these things. I think that this was a good game to get in the stadium, especially for the young players, a bunch of nervous players tonight with their first experience in the stadium so that was good to get that experience and hopefully that helps moving forward.”

On the play of his defense:
“The defense wasn’t really tested but overall our center backs had a good game.”

Landon Donovan
On where the team is heading into the season:
“The only thing is that I wish we were a little healthier in a few spots. Tonight, it would have been helpful to throw another forward on but we didn’t have that luxury. But hopefully getting Alan back, Jovan back and healthy will give us some options.”

On the play of the three Brazilians:
“I’ve been very impressed with all three. I think that once they get over the language barrier they are going to be even better, but they are definitely going to contribute this year.”

On this team compared to last year:
“Miles ahead. Aside from tonight, we’re going to create a lot of chances and we did tonight. The biggest thing is that we know each other, we know how to play. The only fault at this point is that maybe we were a little naïve today and when we have a chance to beat a team that is not on our level, we have to beat them.”

Edson Buddle
On the game:
“Overall I felt pretty good. It was a good game, a good warmup for the regular season next week.”

On Aguila’s style:
“The way they play is similar to what we can expect to see in the Champions League and maybe even next week, with New England on the road, they might play that way as well, so it was a good test.”

Tristan Bowen
On the Game:
“It was a bit tough. They came with five in the midfield so that took a little bit of time to figure that out and where to go. Overall I think that we could have done a lot better, it was just a different look.”

On playing the role of creator this season:
“With LD up there you expect him to finish, though there are times he’s going to miss. All I have to do is get the ball into good spots and our forwards will do their jobs.”

On playing out on the wing compared to up front:
“It’s a little bit different. You don’t have the pressure of scoring goals but there are things that come with being a midfielder and you have to make sure you get good service into the box and pick out runners.”

Todd Dunivant
On the team’s growth since last season:
“Last year that was the focus, our defense, and we still have that core. It’s been a good preseason for that now we just have to continue to work and get better going forward and get some crosses in, tonight we struggled in that department. But we’ll get that rust out, we’ll work on that this week and come back ready for New England.

On the team’s struggles against Aguila:
“We weren’t as sharp as we normally are. The crossing wasn’t good, I missed a couple and we just didn’t have that sharpness and crispness to move the ball. We’re going to see that in the Champions League, teams coming in here to get a result and sitting back, so we’re going to have to be crisper, sharper and really attack them when we have the chance. We didn’t do that very well tonight but we’re not hitting any panic buttons, we’ve had a great preseason and we’ll build on that going into the season.”

Dema Kovalenko
On the game:
“It feels good to play a game, it feels good that the season is going to start finally and it feels good that the CBA is out of the way and we can concentrate on the season. We have the same team pretty much, so we know what we have to do, we just have to come out and do it. Today was okay but we have to be better. We created chances, now we have to take them.”

On Aguila as a final tuneup:
“It was good. We were not sharp enough passing-wise, but it’s okay. It was a game and we didn’t lose. We created some good moments, but we were not sharp enough. We will work on that during the week and get better.”