LA GALAXY – Post game reactions:
HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
Overall thoughts on the result:
“It was a good win for our team tonight. Obviously, we played well in the second half. [Robbie] Keane and [Landon] Donovan were very good and overall it was a good effort by our team.”
On what changed from the first half to the second:
“You know, the game slowed down a little bit. I think it helped bring Robbie [Keane] into the game. Robbie was a little bit off on his touch in the first half, but I think despite the fact that we went down a goal our players played with confidence; they passed better. For whatever reason, the first half our passing was a little bit sloppy. So, I think the second half we continued to show energy and our passing was better.”
On the play of Jaime Penedo in his first start:
“I thought he had a good game. You know he wasn’t tested a whole lot, but was solid.”
On the play of Omar Gonzalez:
“Good, I thought he had a good game. First 15 minutes he was a little sloppy with the ball, but I thought as the game went on he was rock solid with Leonardo defensively and really had a very good second half and obviously the third goal was an important goal for us.”
On his team’s performance this season:
“Yeah, I thought the exhibitions we played helped us. I thought we played very well in Dallas. It’s unfortunate that whole situation in Dallas, and even in Colorado our team played pretty well. We’ve been playing pretty well for a while and tonight we certainly dug a little bit of a hole but showed a lot of character to come back. I think results are going to come and obviously scoring some goals is important.”
LA GALAXY FW ROBBIE KEANE
On his second career MLS hat trick:
“Yeah, it’s always nice to score goals but the most important thing is the three points. And after going a goal behind we showed a lot of character to come back and get four goals in the end because you have to win the game.”
On what changed during the second half:
“To be honest I think it was them scoring, it gave us a kick in the backside. We did OK the first half, no one was playing really well but I think with them scoring early it kind of helped us. They scored, we picked up our game and then we got ourselves ready to go back and we didn’t look back from there.”
On Omar Gonzalez’s goal:
“It was important to get that third goal to kind of ease the gap. Look what happened, a last minute goal so looking up it was a good performance today, four goals and I think overall we deserved it.”
On whether or not this was the most consistent game of the season:
“I don’t know. We still conceded two goals so that’s certainly something we’ll have to look at. In terms of attacking quickly and the way we did last season, counterattacks, is very, very good.”
LA GALAXY DF OMAR GONZALEZ
On the Galaxy’s stellar second half:
“I think the first half was great by us too but we couldn’t finish our chances and I think Salt Lake getting that first goal just really woke us up. After our goal I thought we were pretty sharp in the final third, 4-2 is a great score line especially playing the west leaders and we are now slowly creeping up.”
On scoring on set pieces:
“I’ve been waiting for a set piece, and maybe a week ago I said hopefully some more will be coming, and tonight I got one which I’m really happy about. I think that I could have got two more, but I’m happy with the one and hopefully I can just build off that.”
On scoring a goal just days after signing his new contract:
“It feels great. Scoring after signing my contract was great and I just want to help this team win and do whatever I can to help this team win whether it’s scoring goals or just keeping the zero. Tonight, we didn’t keep the zero but I helped on the other end so I just want to contribute anyway that I can.”
LA GALAXY FW LANDON DONAVAN
On tonight’s performance:
“We’ve had a number of games this season where we’ve dominated in a lot of ways, we’ve put 20-plus shots on the scorecard and we’ve had a number of chances to score goals, and some nights we’ve scored three or four and some nights we don’t. I thought defensively this was a really good night for us, even though we gave up two goals. It was a complete performance, even until the last minute. We were pressing, even when they pressured, we didn’t rest at all when we were up 2-1, 3-1, 4-1, we kept going and wanted to put up a fifth. And I was just real proud of the way we played.”
On the intensity level against a club like Salt Lake:
“They’re a good team. For us it’s fun, because most teams come here and put 10 guys behind the ball, so, we appreciate that. When we go there we try to do the same so that these games always look good and I think that’s why these games are always entertaining.”
On Robbie Keane’s performance tonight:
“Robbie was Robbie. He can do that on any given night, which is crazy to say but if we give him the ball in the right spots he’s going to make those plays. He was terrific. His first goal really put us back in and that was all on him— he did a great job of shielding the guy and then cutting and the finish was fantastic. That’s absolutely world class and there are not many players in the world that would have pulled off a play like that.
