MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SUNDAY, JUNE 27, 2004 - LOS ANGELES GALAXY 1, CHICAGO FIRE 0
CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH DAVE SARACHAN:
On the result:
"Very frustrating. That game should have been 2-0 or 3-0 at halftime. Los Angeles came in to tie the game, to just get out of here with a tie and that was their approach. We knew that once we got the first goal, maybe we get two or three, so that was hard not getting the goals early."
On the play that resulted in Jovan Kirovski's goal:
"Right decision, bad play. The decision to get there before the forward was good and he didn't have a good clearance. Jovan [Kirovski], if he has that chance a bunch of times I don't know if he makes it, with his left foot, but he put it in. It's disappointing; Henry [Ring] made the right decision, just a bad play."
On the Fire's reaction to the loss:
"They're all trying to deal with this one. Its a tough one because [Los Angeles] was for the taking today. If we finish our chances, we bury them, and we didn't. Just very disappointing."
On the Fire goal that was called back:
"I didn't see it. I couldn't tell. Our guys didn't argue a lot. When I watched the reactions of our players that generally tells you that maybe it was the right call."
CHICAGO FIRE GOALKEEPER HENRY RING
On the Kirovski goal:
"It's a tough play. It was coming down from pretty high and I had to hit it one time out of the air. I was really trying to clear it, just trying to make good contact with it and that's what I did - right to them. I set it up nicely for him and he did well to put it away. As soon as he hit it, I was in trouble."
CHICAGO FIRE MIDFIELDER DAMARCUS BEASLEY
On the loss at home:
"It's tough to lose another one at home. It's our third one. We're not a very consistent team right now. Still, we're not doing the things we need to do to get the job done. We play a couple of games good and then we go and won't play well and don't score. Our defense is playing pretty well, they're not letting them score. But then we make one mistake and it cost us. That's how the game goes sometimes."
CHICAGO FIRE MIDFIELDER CHRIS ARMAS:
On the play of the Fire defense:
"I felt the defense played good, we didn't give up many chances. On a day when we lose, we created some good, clear chances, and they score on a great effort by Jovan (Kirovski). He had to hit that one perfect and he did. But our defense played fine."
LOS ANGELES GALAXY HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On the game:
"It was one of those games where we had to show a lot of character and we had to dig in. We've got a few injuries and have a few guys out and lost a few guys during the game. But I thought we showed a lot of character. Chicago's a very good team that put a lot of pressure on us. We defended well as a team and held on."
LOS ANGELES GALAXY DEFENDER RYAN SUAREZ
On his two blocks in the first half:
"We all have to do our part, its not just one player's mistake. You've got to do your role and hopefully you're there at the right time at the right place and you make the correct move instead of the wrong one. It's just support and backing up your players; my 'keeper went out and I went behind him."
LOS ANGELES GALAXY FORWARD JOVAN KIROVSKI
On the play of the Galaxy:
"It was a tough game for us today because coming off of two losses, it was important to get the result. The first half we defended quite well and (Kevin) Hartman made a couple great saves and we had some chances as well. Overall, we maybe didn't deserve to win but we deserved at least a point."
On his goal:
"The ball was played to the 'keeper and I anticipated that hopefully he'd play a bad ball and he did. Fortunately he played it right to me. There's nothing else on my mind but to shoot and fortunately it went in."
