QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 3-0 LA GALAXY
SEPTEMBER 19, 2015; RIO TINTO STADIUM
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On what Salt Lake did well to expose LA
“It’s tough to really pinpoint it. You have to play a very good game to have a chance with them. I thought we did that. I thought that we made a lot of smart decisions with the ball. There were times where we gave our way cheaply to the midfield. Overall, I thought our guys played a really smart game and made good choices. They didn’t fall in love with the homerun ball, which can lead to the game getting stretched out. I thought our guys did a great job.”
On starting Devon Sandoval three times in one week
“Certain players can handle it and he is one of them. He is a horse. He has done a great job this year on taking care of his body, doing what it takes to recover. I thought that he deserved it. He scored a very nice goal in Houston, was making a lot of nice runs and I thought that the chemistry between the front line was there. In Santa Tecla, what wasn’t the prettiest game but he worked extremely hard and did a lot of other good things that we needed him to do. I just thought that he deserved it and I am really happy for him.”
On scoring early goals
“We talk about punishing teams when we can and there have been times throughout the year that we have had opportunities and haven’t. You can see how when you get the first one, get that second one, what it does to the opposition. They really start to come out of their shell. There is a lot of space to play, and that’s what happened tonight. LA threw the kitchen sink at us in the second half. We dealt with it and then we were good with the ball on the other end and it was a good night for us.”
On the play of Juan Manuel Martinez
“He is very technical. He can pass with either foot, inside and outside. I think when players like Javi, Joao, Kyle, Luke, all of these guys get on the ball, there is a confidence. The movement off the ball is more confident, because they know that they have an opportunity of getting it on the other side. I really like that the guys showed up in different spots. I would still like, when we are in different spots, our reaction defensively, at times, we were a little out of shape. Kyle and our back line and Luke did a great job. I thought our outside backs and backline were fantastic tonight.”
On the work rate of the forwards without the ball
“We didn’t want to allow LA to get into any type of rhythm. With the quality that they have, if you are sitting back and sitting off, even if you are jam-packed on top of the 18, they are still going to find the right ball. We wanted to press higher up the field and not allow them to start to get into a rhythm. I thought for the most part we did a really good job.”
On starting Jordan Allen at right back
“The staff got together and talked about it. Jordan had played a fantastic game in Houston. Abdoulie had played a very good game, hard fought game on turf where there was a little bit of cramping. So there were a lot of things that went into it. I thought Tony did a great job over on the left. We have a lot of soccer players on the field, with the right mentality and it was nice to watch.”
On tempering expectations of going into another match next weekend at San Jose
“I really don’t want to temper anything right now. I want us to keep this feeling going. The guys know that we can’t take our foot off the gas in any of these games, whether it is Champions League or regular season. I want to keep this going. I want to make sure that our bodies are right. I want to make sure our defensive mentality is right going into games and give them the confidence they had tonight, that we can score on teams.”
On if tonight was the best the team has looked all year
“There was a lot of good. There were some areas that I thought, during the game, got a little bit stretched out. I understand that that is going to happen throughout a game, but we don’t want to get into rolling the dice. I don’t feel we need to roll the dice to score goals. We can do it our way and don’t have to throw caution to the wind.”
Defender Tony Beltran
On facing a full-strength Galaxy
“When I saw their lineup, when Jeff (Cassar) wrote that on the board, I was happy. I want them to come here with a full squad because I want to beat them with a full squad. So, credit to the boys in front of us. They were fantastic tonight. It was really fun to watch creatively in the attacking half. It was a complete performance tonight against a very good team.”
On gaining momentum
“In the last three games, you get four points on the road and then a win tonight, that’s what we need. We need to be rolling here towards the end if we’re going to make a push. It’s important to continue to build on every performance and try and get better because we’re coming down to the wire here.”
On Juan Manuel Martinez
“Juan is the real deal. He’s quality, through-and-through. The thing that has impressed me the most is two-fold. Number one that he’s adapted so quickly to MLS play. Number two his workrate is incredible. His desire, his passion, his determination to win. You can see that in his play. He’s been absolutely fantastic, massive for us. I think it also takes pressure off of guys like Plata and Javier because they have someone else up there who is so creative and so determined and is capable. It’s really fun to watch those guys combine and I think it’s going to be a huge threat. Our offensive half is going to make a statement in the league.”
On the best performance
“Absolutely. I think we had a near-complete game in Houston, but this is against a better opponent and this is a bigger statement.”
Forward Devon Sandoval
On playing so well in the 4-3-3
“I think it’s a combination of a lot of things. Having Juan definitely helps. Playing with Juan, Javi and Joao makes my job really simple and I can focus on what I need to focus on and I think it shows the last three games.”
On starting three games in a week
“I feel good. I trained for this in the offseason and got my body ready for this. So I feel good and I’ll be ready for Thursday’s game.”
On the first goal
“I was just telling myself to keep it down and hit it at that back post and it went in.”
On big games coming up
“This is what we live for is big games. Eveyr game now is big. We’re excited. Just keep it rolling, keep improving. We’ve got to win.”
LA Galaxy
Head Coach Bruce Arena
On the game
“We played a better first half than the score indicates, but we just punished ourselves. Putting ourselves in that position, conceding a goal in the first three or four minutes, is not a form with success on the road.”
On LA’s defense
“The second half doesn’t concern me as much as our poor play defending a corner kick and obviously we need better judgment in conceding the penalty. Then we had our chances, give them credit, their goalkeeper made some saves as well in the first half. So we go down 2-0 and need to come out in the second half and get a goal back. Conceding the third goal, the game was basically over.”
On scoreboard watching
“I couldn’t care less about the other games right now. It’s not important.”
On LA’s scoreless streak of three games
“We probably have to get other players in. We’ll score a goal by the end of the season, I’m sure of it.”
Defender A.J. DeLaGarza
On RSL’s first goal
“We’re not marking for one on the first goal. The second goal we gave up the PK … it just started off bad and you can’t do that on the road. We’ve got four games left and we were in a position today to move back into first place and we’ve got to take advantage of it. We’ve got four games left to get the Supporters’ Shield and start winning some games going into the playoffs.”
On the Western Conference race
“It’s a tough Western Conference. You can see the ninth-place team can have a day like they did today where everything was kind of going for them. Their flicks, their passing, their goalkeeping … it was all on today. It’s a very tough team.”
On RSL’s attack
“I think they like to put numbers on their left side of the field. Sometimes Gyasi (Zardes) and I were 3v2 or 4v2. We just couldn’t get around the ball with those types of numbers. We talked about it at halftime that we need to get more guys over there. We did that and then we leave the outside back with their best header and a guy who scores another header goal.”
On rebounding from the performance against Dallas
“We know how dangerous Dallas is. We’re at home and we’ve got to bring some energy that we don’t bring on the road for whatever reason. We’ve only got four games left, so something’s got to start cooking.”
