Portland Timbers head coach Giovanni Savarese
Overall thoughts on the match…
“Today I was proud of my team. I was proud of my team. I was proud of what we did. I thought that we did a lot of good things. I thought that we were a difficult team to be able to break down. I thought we created chances. I thought we had good energy. We played together. This team is going to win more games than lose games and today I leave from here with a sensation that we are just about to win the first match. And the things that are out of our control, maybe they will go different.”
On the team’s defensive performance with changes made for the game…
“It went very well. I felt that we matched up well. We were able to defend well. Yes they created some good crosses, but we handled it very well. I don’t think they had that many shots. I think they hit a post in the first half. They didn’t create much, even though, yes, they did have the ball, but we closed the spaces I thought we did a fantastic job, especially the guys in the back to make sure that we were very disciplined.”
On limiting the Galaxy attack…
“It was important for them not to find any passes through lines. We did a great job especially in the first half. We made sure that we made it difficult. They had to rotate. They had to move [Jonathan] Dos Santos to the right and [Sebastian] Lletget on the left to try to create more space, but nevertheless we were able to do well until some of the guys got a little tired and they were able to find a little bit more space. When we made some substitutions we regained a lot of the dangerous moments that we created during the first half.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Diego Chara
On his thoughts on the game…
“I think we played a better game today. We tried to keep a little bit more of the ball, and create more opportunities to score.”
On playing his 250th game overall with the Timbers (regular season and playoffs)…
“It wasn’t a good result because we didn’t win, and that’s hard. At the same time I’m happy to play my 250th game with the team and now we need to look forward.”
On building on the positives from the match…
“I believe that we have a good team. Right now is a tough moment for us, but we have the next week to prepare for the next game and I think it will be very different.”
LA Galaxy head coach Guillermo Barros Schelotto
On Zlatan Ibrahimović’s influence on the game and on the win...
“He scored two goals, and we are happy with two goals; with the win. But, we are happy too, because he could finish the game without problems. I think during the game, sometimes, we managed the ball, I think we managed the game, but we couldn’t be deeper like I’d like. But, we had the possibility, they had the goal and some shot from outside the box, and nothing more. I think they took care of us. They played really defensive, and sometimes you can’t get the space, but we moved the ball, we kept the ball, we tried to go right and left and sometimes we couldn’t; especially in the second half.”
LA Galaxy midfielder Romain Alessandrini
On the win tonight and being back from injury...
“We have worked hard together since three weeks and tonight was good for me. I am glad to be back, no injuries so good feeling tonight and day by day, game by game I will be better.”
Notes:
- Diego Chara played in his 250th MLS match (regular season and playoffs) for Portland.
- Since making his Timbers debut on April 23, 2011, Chara has appeared in more combined regular-season and playoff games for a single club than any player in MLS.
- Jorge Moreira made his Timbers debut in the match, starting and logging 90 minutes.
- Diego Valeri recorded his 68th career MLS assist in the match, which is tied for 19th on the MLS all-time assist list.
- David Guzmán registered his first assist of the season and the eighth of his career for Portland.
- Jeremy Ebobisse recorded his second goal of the season.
- The match was the 17th different time the Timbers have played at Dignity Health Sports Park (formerly StubHub Center). In all eras of the Timbers, the only visiting stadiums Portland has played more matches in are CenturyLink Field and Swangard Stadium.
