MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SATURDAY, JULY 9, 2005 - METROSTARS 2, LOS ANGELES GALAXY 1
METROSTARS HEAD COACH BOB BRADLEY
On the game:
"It was an important win for us because it is the halfway point and as a team we try to break each quarter of the season down and so if I added it up right in this last quarter now (eight games) I think we won four, lost one, and tied three. I felt like some of those ties, the New England one, the game at home, and the Salt Lake game on the road were late goals that kept us from getting three points, but still I feel that in this eight-game stretch we made good progress and now we want to build on that and in this next quarter of the season see if we can't go a little further. So, in that regard important win and important to win at home."
On the difference between the beginning of the season and now:
"I think that we had some tight tough games early on, I think that we learned from them and I think that it is all part of progressing as a team and so far as I just said I think that there is a lot of good times in that regard."
On Amado Guevara's performance tonight:
"Amado wasn't even 100 percent tonight, his back was bothering him. I don't think that he had his usual movement, I think that he picked and chose a little more as far as plays that he felt that he could get to and that kind of thing, but he still obviously has the ability with the ball to make special plays and so that led to our second goal."
On Sergio Galvan Rey:
"I think Sergio again in the flow of the game he made some good plays, but I am still looking for more from him and tonight I didn't think he led the line well and he was offsides a few more times than I would have liked and that's a fine line because obviously you want your forwards to move along that line. To be fair to him, he is also, the last game in Salt Lake he had a goal where he was two yards onside, so it is part of a forward's job to move along the line in that way. Hopefully we can keep pushing him along. The movement is there all the time, it is just making sure it adds up and counts for a little more."
On Eddie Gaven's goal:
"It was obviously a really creative play by Amado to lift the ball over the top and Eddie is always looking to get into those areas and Kevin (Hartman) made a really good save, luckily for us it was still alive and Eddie was able to put it in. Good second goal."
On the back four:
"For the most part even when we talk about struggles over the last few weeks its not been that there have been all sorts of things going on its been the occasional mistakes, but tonight there are still a couple mistakes. It's just trying to raise the level of concentration for every player through out the game so that the general good play gets us a result and that we don't play 80 or 85 minutes very well and make a couple of bad plays and cost ourselves points and so that's something you are constantly try to talk about with the younger players and try to get them to understand that pure concentration throughout the game and eliminate in those couple of plays and goes a long way towards being a very good team."
On Zach Wells:
"It makes it hard because you are in a game where not much is happening and now from a very, very strange position a player just lets one go and it hits off the inside of he post and goes in. Maybe the easiest games for a goalkeeper are the ones where there is a lot of action and your in it throughout the game and now you have the opposite where there is not much going on and yet are you still ready for those one or two plays that come your way and it is probably the most difficult thing for goalkeepers especially young goalkeepers to get a grip on."
METROSTARS MIDFIELDER EDDIE GAVEN
On his goal:
"I just kept making my run and I saw him look up a little bit. I didn't know he was going to get it to me because there were a bunch of guys there, but Amado pulled off some of his great skills and I just got my head on it and put it in the net."
METROSTARS MIDFIELDER AMADO GUEVARA
On Eddie Gaven's goal:
"It's something you practice from time to time, it doesn't always work and it just happened that we were lucky and it worked with Eddie Gaven."
On the win:
"We needed to win, we lost the three points at Salt Lake and this is a game we had to win."
METROSTARS GOALKEEPER ZACH WELLS
On the win:
"The way things have been going lately we wanted to concentrate and finish it out. We wanted to close the game out and that was a big focus before the game and at half time we were able to do that."
LOS ANGELES GALAXY HEAD COACH STEVE SAMPSON
On the game:
"I thought our boys battled. I was very happy with their second half effort, especially the first 10 minutes. We created some great chances. You want to look at a few guys tonight, I think we got some more answers. Troy Roberts played very well in the back, no question he can play in this league. Mike Enfield continues to impress, Herculez scored a great goal, so there is a lot of positive to take from this. Obviously disappointed that after we equalized we gave up the second goal. I have to question whether he was offside or not, I'll have to wait and see the video. But with all the injuries we have, all the players missing for national team duty, I'm very happy with the way these guys battled tonight."
On Herculez Gomez's goal:
"Herculez is one of those players that just has a nose for the goal. The angle he was at was not a great angle, the distance, he must have been about 25 yards out, and he hit it with great pace. I think Herculez is one of those kinds of players that is an opportunist and I think he continually shows that he can play in the MLS and in the last two, three games he's come on, he's made an impact for us."
LOS ANGELES GALAXY FORWARD HERCULEZ GOMEZ
On the game:
"I thought we were finally swinging something along. We did what we wanted to do in the second half. We came out flying and we got an early goal, and I feel there is enough experience on this team with some of the veterans we've got, where we've just got to do better not letting another goal go in. I think we stepped up our intensity a notch, but you can't be just 70 minutes, you can't be 71, it's got to be 90 minutes complete, and again, that slip let us down."
On his goal:
"At halftime, coach was trying to really install in us all, 'just go at them, have some more confidence, shoot, be active,' and I got a great shoot off from Paulo and I just sped up and felt it go off my foot and saw it hit the back of the net and it just felt good."
