QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 1-1 LA GALAXY
STUBHUB CENTER; SEPTEMBER 30, 2017
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Mike Petke
On the match:
“Not to get sappy or anything, but this is why I'm in this sport. I love doing what I'm doing. This is why the players are in it. To win games and feel moments like this. You know, it felt like, I'll be the first to stand here tonight and say it, it felt like a win tonight with a tie. We were a man down for 75 minutes and for us to get the goal in stoppage time, shows we didn't give up. Our captain, who leads this team on a daily basis, unbelievable to get that. It shows what he means to this club and it shows who he is. For Nick Rimando to keep us in this game...down a man...for the amount of shots he faced and the difficult saves he had to make. It was a joy to watch and it’s why I love doing what I do.”
On how the red card to Marcelo Silva changed their gameplan:
“Everything we worked on all week leading up to the Galaxy game gets thrown out the window at that point. 15 minutes into the game. It’s a shame. We had to go plan B, sometimes plan C, which is ugly. We knew opportunities would come. It was about staying in the game, not to give up that second goal. It's amazing. You work five days in a row, specifically with video and stuff about how we are going to play and in 15 minutes you crumble it up and throw it out. Let's dull this game and counter on them...and that's what it took.”
On if the Galaxy coming out strong surprised them:
“It didn't surprise us in the least bit. We worked on that all week. We watched the last five, six games of the Galaxy. They have been the best over that course in the first 15 to 25 minutes, every game. Even Toronto at home. They hit the cross bar, they had them on their heels. We knew that we would have to be behind it a little bit. We obviously weathered that. Our goal was to give up nothing in the first 15-20 minutes. We knew that the game would open up. Like I said, the game plan goes out the window because we are down a man. Then they have all the ball and all the possession. I said all along: Galaxy, I don't care what their record is. I don't care that they didn't make the playoffs. They are a quality players and are a good team. Sigi [Schmid] will get them together.”
On what it took to get the draw:
“I don't like to sit back, but there moments when you have to. When you are down a man, you have to. You have to get into a good formation and deny as much as possible, and hit them on a break. I feel that we did that as good as we could have asked for because we work on that sometimes. In practice, we go through one goal up scenarios, one goal down scenarios. Not a ton, but we work on it. At least they are paying attention.”
Midfielder Kyle Beckerman
On the team’s performance:
“I just can’t say enough about the team performance. I think everybody just left everything out there. I think everyone thought we were still going to win the game even though we went down a man. The fight was just there, nonstop. I thought we had a couple of chances where we were going to tie it up early, and maybe go on to win it. We just kept at it and kept at it, and I’m just so happy to get a point and keep moving on to the next one.”
On his team’s form:
“Guys have a lot of character on this team. It starts right from Mike, and it just goes right up into the team. We’re just keeping at it. We’re trying to improve every game. Every day in practice we’re trying to get better, we’re trying to work as hard as we can, and when the game comes, we’re ready to perform and play some good soccer. Things come up, you’re going to go down a man sometimes, and that’s what shows the real character of the team. And tonight that was one of those days where we’re just going to have to dig it out, role up the sleeves, and get something out of it, and we went to the last whistle, and we’re just really happy to get something from it. And now, get on to the next one. We’re ready to battle it out until the end of the season.”
On his team’s overall season:
“In times in the beginning, we learned a lot about of ourselves. We had to go through some real lows, and see where that is. It’s not fun to be there. But we were there, and the only way we could get out was digging in and getting ourselves out of it. Nobody was going to give us any wins. Nobody was going to help us out. And, the testament to Mike and to the hard work that we’ve put in to get to where we’re at now, where we have a chance to get into these playoffs again.”
Defender Marcelo Silva
On the game:
“We knew that it wasn’t going to be an easy game. They have really good players. We have great dynamics. I always say, when we can’t win, at least we can tie against a team that had a different expectation.”
On his ejection from the game:
“I think that it could’ve been solved with a yellow card. It was a foul with rough play, but I didn’t kick him or anything. But it happened, he expelled me and that’s it. These are things that happen. The positive thing from this game is that we got a tie and a good point to add.”
LA Galaxy
Head Coach Sigi Schmid
On the match:
“We should have scored eight goals. Even when it was even at the beginning we had three good chances to score goals. You need to finish your chances early on. We weren’t giving much away, but when you don’t finish those obvious opportunities, the other team keeps growing in confidence. They think that they still have a chance and it keeps them in the game. But today, I don’t know how many breakaways we missed…four or five.”
On how that kind of draw feels considering the season:
“It feels worse. Because we should have won the game running away. We were the better team. We played some decent soccer. At times, guys were stepping up. Some guys are not stepping up. Those are things that are going on, but we also have to manage the game. I didn’t think it was a foul at the end of the game. I thought Romain [Alessandrini] was on the ball first. I thought [Joao] Plata kicked him and it wasn’t that Romain kicked him. I thought it was a horrendous call. But on the same token, we had two corners in the last seven minutes of the game and we’re trying to hit corners into the box and score the second goal instead of killing some time. If we could have killed some time, maybe the foul never happens and 15-30 seconds are gone. But, again, that’s where the guys on the field…somebody needs to say “let’s play it short and let’s do this.”
On Clement Diop’s performance:
“I thought [Clement] Diop was OK. He made some saves. The one save he made to his left was a very good save. I thought his kicking, except for when out of bounds, his kicking helps us and I thought he was pretty solid today.”
On players playing for their jobs:
“The players get assessed everyday at practice and they get assessed at every game. There’s always some players who are great practice players and don’t do so great in games. Some guys don’t practice so well, but play well in games and some guys are good at both and bad at both. All of that is something that we’re looking at and we’ve got to mold a new team here. There’s a number of areas that we have to improve upon.”
On the performance of Jermaine Jones:
“He was good. When he sits in the hole for us, he really helps us. He wins the ball back and he was solid there. We wanted Jonathan [dos Santos] to sit a little deeper and stay in connection with him so that Bradford [Jamieson IV] could push on a little bit and I thought that worked well early on. If we can get four or five games together, that would help in terms of that understanding.”
Midfielder Romain Alessandrini
On if it was the most frustrating game yet for the Galaxy:
“Yes. Obviously we are frustrated. When you create a lot of chances like that you have to score. I’m frustrated because I had to score tonight. But at the end of the day, I think it was hard to concede a goal in the last minute, the last second. I didn’t think it was a foul, but the referee said yes. You know how we want to finish the season strong. It’s very hard for us with this result, but now we have to keep our heads up. One at home and one on the road, but we have to make sure to prepare for the next season. I know it’s difficult for the fans, for the club and for us, but we have to work hard. We have to stay together and this night might be the worst game because we should have scored four or five goals.”
On the improvement of Bradford Jamieson IV:
“BJ is a great player, but I think he needs confidence. He is a young player so I think he needs a lot of training and a lot of games with the players. We have a lot of experience so we can bring BJ to the top because he has a lot of qualities. He’s fast, he has technique. He’s a very good player so I think next season, he’ll play a lot of game.”
On the effectives of Jermaine Jones’ tonight:
“We created a lot of chances tonight. Sometimes we were unlucky I think. Me first with my first shot on the post. My second one with the cross from Giovani [dos Santos]. I was alone so I can make that. But it’s soccer and sometimes you have to win 1-0 too, but we were unlucky and I think this whole season it was so hard.”
On how the team is playing right now compared to two months ago:
“I think so. We play good soccer, but tonight we were unlucky. We have to look forward, we have to keep our heads up and we have to work hard and maybe we can forget what happened in that last minute and be focused on what we have to do.”
Goalkeeper Clement Diop
On the result:
“I think we deserved to win tonight. Unfortunately, we didn’t. We need to move on and focus on the next game and hopefully get the three points.”
On his performance:
“I’m getting back in shape. Now I need to play and give my best for the team, do all I can. If I can, my performances will come with my attitude, on and off the field. Every time I need to be sharp and focused.”
On if the team is regaining confidence:
“Collectively, we are coming back slowly, but we are coming back. Now we need to focus on 2018, hopefully we’ll be fine.”
On the team’s late free kick:
“The ball bounced in front of me and I saved it the way I can. I saw the rebound and I touched it … I think it was unlucky and I don’t think they deserved the point tonight.”
