MLS Playoffs Conference Semifinals leg 2 –
LA Galaxy 5-0 Real Salt Lake.
Reactions from the pitch:
LA Galaxy coach – Bruce Arena:
On tonight’s performance: “We played well. We had a good week of training. Our expectations were that we are going to win this game. Obviously, the result is a little surprising, but I totally anticipated that we would win this game.”
On Landon Donovan retiring: “I think it’s the right time for him to retire. He’s ready to go. He’s given it everything he has. He wants to finish this year on a high note and then get on with other things in his life.”
On the Western Conference championship: “I think whoever we are playing in the next games – they are going to be pretty defensive. We know that and we just need to play better. We need to be sharper on the ball. Do a better job opening teams up. We have to continue to move forward.”
On Leonardo’s play: “Leonardo has played very well for us. He makes a good combination with Omar [Gonzalez] and A.J. [DeLaGarza] plays very well on the right side of the field. I thought the timing was right to try that group in the back.”
On the rationale behind playing Stefan Ishizaki: “Weeks ago, when this whole series was established I knew I was going to play Stefan [Ishizaki] in the second game.”
On the team’s performance in their 5-0 win: “We played well .We had three goals out of the midfield out of [Marcelo] Sarvas and Landon [Donovan]. Defensively we were pretty solid. I think they had one really quality chance off that corner kick. I don’t think there were too many out of the run of play. The entire team defended well on the night.”
Midfielder Landon Donovan:
On tonight’s match: “We played very well, and our energy early set the tone. I said last week for a majority of the first half in Salt Lake, they were really camped in their own end so we expected that they would come out and be pretty conservative here; and they were. We did a lot of work this week on breaking down the team with those ten guys behind the ball. So I thought our spacing was really good, our movement was excellent, our possession passing was excellent, and then our final pass was really good. I think that combined with really good energy made for a really good night.”
On LA Galaxy’s midfield: “Stefan [Ishizaki] played well. Between him and Baggio [Husidic], they’ve been excellent all year. When one starts, the other comes in and does well, and when the other starts, the other comes in and does well. Tonight Stefan played well, and we’re very fortunate to have a guy like Baggio around too. It’s good to have a lot of options and it’s going to help us going forward.”
On the team and tonight’s performance: “We were talking about not scoring a lot of goals in the last few games, and there was a lot of reasons for that. But when our team is together and we know we have this to play for, then we’re going to play well. Now are we always going to score five goals against a team like that, no. But to be honest, we could have scored eight or nine tonight, and I thought we were really good. We know we can play well at home. Between Seattle and Dallas, they gave us a lot of problems during the season so we’ll watch the game very closely tomorrow. We’ll be sure to get proper rest this week and we’ll be ready to go.”
Coach RSL Jeff Cassar
On tonight’s game: “We lost our shape and discipline. Getting stretched out and we ran across a team that was fantastic on the evening. We could never regain control of the ball. There was just too much time and space for LA on this evening.”
On the Real Salt Lake’s performance: “Our possession wasn’t there tonight. We were giving the ball away tonight too often and too early and it was just setting them off. Against LA if you are not good with the ball they are going to make you pay and we paid today and we paid a lot.”
On the difference between the first leg and the second leg of the Western Conference Semifinal: “Their movement tonight was fantastic. Landon [Donovan] was everywhere. They were a little bit stagnant at our place. Their movement wasn’t quite what it was tonight and we weren’t ready for that and I am not sure why.”
