CHIVAS USA HEADCOACH – ROBIN FRASER:
Thoughts on game: “I thought the first half went very well for us, we started off positive. We did a good job of managing the tempo of the game. At times we possessed well and when we found moments to be dangerous, if not dangerous, we were pretty close to being dangerous. It was good to see us play with that sort of rhythm. In the second half we definitely weren’t as good with the ball and weren’t as forward thinking as we were in the first half and as a result we ended up defending a lot more.
Credit to the group, obviously to go down a man for the number of minutes we did, to deal with the daytime game, the group really hung in there. I’m very proud and happy for the win and the shutout.”
On Ryan Smith’s performance: “Ryan was certainly effective and dangerous a number of times. He hasn’t played a lot of minutes recently since the concussion in the reserve game, so getting him back to match fitness is certainly a work in progress. We knew that going in with himself and with Miller [Bolaños], guys who haven’t played a lot of minutes lately. But we felt like they were guys that were going to be dangerous for us and fortunately it worked out.”
Thoughts on the SuperClasico: “[Galaxy] has very good attacking players, no two ways about it. The goal is to deal with them and deal with them collectively as we have attempted to deal with everyone. If we work together and smart, hopefully we will limit their chances and we will do some things on the attacking end of the field in that game.”
CHIVAS USA GOALKEEPER – DAN KENNEDY:
Thoughts on game: “We needed to win this game – it was a big game for us. I actually thought it could’ve been two or three nothing, we’re happy.”
On sixth shutout of the season: “Shutouts are a good thing.”
On his selection to MLS All-Star team: “I’m ready and excited to face a team like Chelsea.”
CHIVAS USA MIDFIELDER – RYAN SMITH:
Thoughts on game: “We won at home, it was nice. It was a great team spirit today, I know we only scored one goal but the one goal was enough. Everyone is happy and it’s three points at the end of the day, we can’t complain with anything.”
On his assist: “For me it was brilliant because sometimes we play such great stuff at home and we don’t get rewarded for it and today, in the first half in particular, we played very well, we attacked very well. With the assist, it’s something that I do, we’ve struggled to score goals this year but I managed to pull off a good move and Miller got to the ball at the end of the save and scored, it was great.”
On the fourth consecutive unbeaten match: “It shows what we’ve been. We’ve been quite solid, aside from the Open Cup game, but we’re on the right path. We won today which is going to give us confidence for the next game.”
