Galaxy Cruise to 4-0 Win at Seattle (With Quotes)

LA Galaxy 4, Seattle Sounders FC 0
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Qwest Field — Seattle, Wash.

Scoring Summary:
LA – Jovan Kirovski 1 (Michael Stephens 3, Landon Donovan 7) 22’
LA – Omar Gonzalez 1 (Landon Donovan 8) 52’
LA – Todd Dunivant 1 (Landon Donovan 9) 57’
LA – Landon Donovan 1 (Edson Buddle 2) 67’

Misconduct Summary:
SEA – Jhon Kennedy Hurtado (Yellow Card) 38’
SEA – Leo Gonzalez (Yellow Card) 48+
SEA – Tyrone Marshall (Yellow Card) 62’
LA – Tristan Bowen (Yellow Card) 64’

Lineups:
LA Galaxy: Donovan Ricketts; Todd Dunivant, Gregg Berhalter, Omar Gonzalez, Bryan Jordan; Chris Birchall, Jovan Kirovski, Michael Stephens, Chris Klein (Tristan Bowen 63’); Landon Donovan© (Clint Mathis 71’), Edson Buddle (Alex Cazumba 75’).

Subs Not Used: Josh Saunders, Juninho, Mike Magee, Alan Gordon.

Seattle Sounders FC: Kasey Keller; Leo Gonzalez, Tyrone Marshall, Jhon Kennedy Hurtado, James Riley; Osvaldo Alonso (Nathan Sturgis 37’), Peter Vagenas, Brad Evans (Sanna Nyassi 70’); Freddie Ljungberg, Steve Zakuani, Fredy Montero.

Subs Not Used: Terry Boss, Patrick Ianni, Tyson Wahl, Roger Levesque.

Notes:
• With the win, the Galaxy are now 7-0-1 on the season, giving them 22 points. They remain alone in first place in the Western Conference and are now 12 points ahead of second place Chivas USA, Colorado and Houston.
• LA is now seven points ahead of the Eastern Conference leading New York Red Bulls for the best record in MLS. The Red Bulls are 5-1-0 for 15 points.
• The Galaxy did not get their 19th point of the 2009 season until a 1-0 win over Chivas USA on July 11.
• Bruce Arena made three changes to the team that defeated Colorado 1-0 on Wednesday night, bringing in Bryan Jordan, Jovan Kirovski and Chris Klein for their first starts of the season. They replaced A.J. DeLaGarza, who missed the game because of back spasms, Juninho and Alan Gordon.
• In addition to DeLaGarza, the Galaxy were without Sean Franklin, Dema Kovalenko, Leonardo and Eddie Lewis.
• Mike Magee was back in the 18-man squad for the first time since April 24 but did not play. He had missed the last two games with a hip injury.
• All four players who scored for the Galaxy recorded their first goal of the season.
• Landon Donovan set a new career-high with three assists in the game. He also scored a goal, snapping a seven game scoreless streak.
• Jovan Kirovski scored his first goal of the season in the 22nd minute, beating Kasey Keller for his first goal since August 8, 2009.
• The Galaxy scored the game’s first goal for the seventh time this season. LA is 7-0-0 in those games.
• The Galaxy led at halftime 1-0 for their sixth halftime lead in eight games this season. They are 6-0-0 in those games.
• Omar Gonzlaez’s goal in the 52nd minute was the second of his MLS career and his first since April 4, 2009.
• Todd Dunivant’s goal in the 57th minute was the fifth of his MLS career. He last scored on June 28, 2009 in a 1-0 win over Houston. His teams are now 4-0-1 when he scores a goal and have outscored their opponents 15-3 in those games.
• Landon Donovan rounded out the scoring with his first goal of the season in the 67th minute.
• Donovan did not score until his eighth game of the season, the longest it has ever-taken him to score at the start of the season.
• Edson Buddle assisted on Donovan’s goal after Donovan had assisted on six of Buddle’s nine goals.
• Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts made a season-high seven saves in the game for LA to keep his sixth shutout in eight games this season. Ricketts has allowed just two goals in 720 minutes for a league-best 0.25 goals against average.
• The win was the Galaxy’s first-ever win against Seattle in MLS competition after going 0-1-1 against them last season.
• Tristan Bowen was booked in the 64th minute, just one minute after entering the game. That was the first yellow card of his MLS career.
• The attendance for today’s game was 36,273.
• The Galaxy are back in action next Saturday night when they take on Toronto FC at The Home Depot Center. The game kicks off at 7:30 p.m. and can be seen live on FOX Sports West. AM 570 and ESPN Deportes Radio 1330 AM will broadcast the game live on the radio in English and Spanish respectively, starting with their pregame shows at 7 p.m.
• For more about today’s game, please visit www.lagalaxy.com.

Bruce Arena - Galaxy Head Coach

(On his team having a good game against Seattle . . .) "The first half was pretty even. We got an important goal. The second half our team played really well."

(On the Sounders plan to stop Edson Buddle . . .) "Edson Buddle had a great game, I thought. He doesn't need to score goals all the time as a forward. He helps create goals and scoring opportunities. He held onto the ball well tonight. Landon [Donovan] and Edson played really well tonight by any way you evaluate performances."

(On Landon Donovan and Edson Buddle playing together for the U.S. National Team...) "That is not my choice. I have a different job than that."

(On his team playing better than today . . .) "This is one of those games where everything goes your way. Hopefully we are going to play better games and we will get better. We have to get better. We are only eight games and there is a lot of season left to play."

(On his team's defense . . .) "We played very well at that end of the field. [Donovan] Ricketts is outstanding."

Landon Donovan - Galaxy Forward

(On the team improving as the season progresses . . .) "We can play better. If we were playing better later in the game we could have scored five or six goals. You never want to take your foot off the gas. If it's the other way, teams can make mistakes."

(On when the team was able to take control of the match . . .) "We know we were the better team and we wanted to be aggressive and not let them dictate the game. They had the ball in the first half and our back line did a great job. When we had chances to score, we were ruthless."

(On teams focusing on stopping Edson Buddle...) "Our team is really good. A lot of attention is being placed on him and everyone else is doing a lot of things right to put him in that position. Today, he did a lot of things to get other people in the right position."

(On Edson Buddle proving himself to gain a spot on the U.S. National Team . . .) "Yes, absolutely."

Edson Buddle - Galaxy Forward

(On creating opportunities for his teammates to score . . .) "I knew it was going to be a physical match for myself and us. We were aware of the Sounders tendencies and it was up to me to find the runners coming through."

(On having his teammates take the lead and score . . .) "I never plan it that way. It just so happened this year I have been able to get on the score sheet early. It just so happened that guys were able to score and we had a good result here in Seattle."

(On being nervous about possible call up to the National Team . . .) "Not really. My focus is on playing here on Monday."

Sigi Schmid - Sounders FC Head Coach

(General Comments . . .) "Got beat and got beat solidly. Not the kind of game you want to ever repeat again."

(On allowing four goals . . .) "The first goal you don't expect a keeper like Keller to have that happen, but sometimes it does. The second goal was a good goal. Our marking could have been better but I thought we were tight and he put it in the corner. The third goal was inexcusable. It skipped past two guys. You have to not hope that someone else will do what you're supposed to. On the fourth goal we were ducks in a shooting gallery."

(On moving forward from this loss . . .) "It's not time to panic but it's time for some people to wake up and for character to step forward. When you're down two, three or four to nothing, you have to step up. Some guys we've asked to step up and it hasn't happened so changes are forthcoming. You have to play with energy. We let them control the game. We had to speed it up and no one on our side made that happen. We got hammered on the field and they should feel hammered in the locker room. They need to go inside and find their reaction and their inner core."

(On offside calls . . .) "A couple times we got called because guys were lazy coming back. A couple offsides weren't offsides - bad calls by the linesmen. A couple of them the ball was played too late. I thought we were inches off breaking them down in the first half. Then we came out and gave up the second goal seven minutes into the second half and a horrendous third goal. It's embarrassing."

(On lack of offense . . .) "Close to creating things but not creating things. We need guys that will give up their body in the box. We don't need six playmakers. We need guys who can score. We need more movement, harder running."

(On loss of Osvaldo Alonso to injury . . .) "I thought [Nathan] Sturgis did fine. I don't think that having Ozzy would have had an impact on the second or third goal."

(On team's effort . . .) "They have to believe in themselves and learn how to transfer that belief into effort. Not pleased with the effort when we were three goals down. Have to show character and say if we're going down, go down swinging and get a couple goals. Some had that attitude and some phoned it in."

(On worst loss as Sounders FC head coach . . .) "It is the toughest loss. Remind me to never wear a sport jacket again. It was the first time I've worn one and it will be the last time. When I was with the Galaxy, we took a few shellackings along the way. Sometimes something like this is good because when you get your rear end handed to you, people are a little more attentive to what you're telling them."

(On competition for spots . . .) "We compete for spots every week. I've given some guys a longer leash than others. That leash just tore today."

Kasey Keller - Sounders FC Goalkeeper

(General comments . . .) "I made a mistake and we went a goal down and we weren't able to recover from that. It's one of the tough things about goalkeeping. I thought we were doing OK. We had a goal that was called offside and it wasn't so that added to the frustration."

(On team's effort in second half . . .) "I didn't think that heads were down. Guys were disappointed, sure, but I didn't get the vibe that we were going to come out and perform the way we did."

(On Galaxy's first goal . . .) "It swirled on me, but the ball swirls every time it comes at you so there's no excuse. It moved and I didn't react in time."

(On moving forward from this loss . . .) "I hope we wake up and get better. There are some good characters on this team and I don't see any reason why we can't bounce back. I remember a year in the Premiere League when Man U lost 5-0 and came back and won the title. So it's not the end of the world."

Freddie Ljungberg - Sounders FC Midfielder/Forward

(On mistakes . . .) "We've made mistakes and we continue to make mistakes. They were constantly under attack and we made mistakes. That's something that we have to stop doing. In soccer, most goals are made on mistakes. So that's something we have to cut out to win games."

(On team's effort . . .) "In any team that will happen when the game gets that embarrassing. If it's within one point, people will still fight. But more than that, it's hard to stay engaged."

Miguel Montaño - Sounders FC Forward

(On how he played . . .) "I feel really good. I went into the field with a lot of enthusiasm. I think it was noted. I feel really good. I try really hard. It was my first game in MLS and with the Sounders and I felt very good about it. I tried to do my best but of course the result didn't come with us so I hope that for next game we will do better. That was disappointing for me."

(On entering game down three goals . . .) "Yes, I knew that we were down but I still entered the field with a lot of enthusiasm and we needed a goal - attack, attack, attack. I was doing my best to do that. Now we know that we need to do it better. We need the wins and we are going to try for that."

(On earning more playing time . . .) "It's not just about the game that we had today. I know that I have to keep working day-by-day to keep earning my position and I 'm going to keep working in that direction."