Quotes: Portland Timbers vs. LA Galaxy
Portland Timbers Quotes
Timbers general manager/interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson
General thoughts on the result:
“I suppose every game presents a new learning opportunity. I didn’t learn anything about the club as such. It was about just individuals and moments within the game … And there’s no way that we should be walking out of here having given up five goals at home. It’s just not right. We scored three goals, three decent goals, and I think we’ve had some key players not play as well as they could. Individual errors, we got stretched, the lines between the back line and the midfield allowed Donovan and Keane to drop off and pick up the ball and cause us tremendous problems. It’s something that we covered, but again, I’ll take the blame for this one. There’s been a lot happening within the last week. I think at times we kept the ball well, I think we moved the ball well, I think we had individuals that had amazing games. But key lapses cost us the game.”
On the stretch where LA scored four goals:
“I would say we didn’t pick our heads up quick enough. Even the first goal, we should’ve been able to apply pressure. He’s [David Beckham] one of the best strikers of the ball in the world, and we’re not applying pressure. We outnumbered them in the middle of the park, to try and keep pressure on him, and deny service into the front two. I think it was a lapse of concentration, maybe. And we got punished. From there, I think we regrouped. I think we did okay in the next passage of play, and the situations that occurred after that we’re a bit blurry, to be fair. Possibly one of the goals that they scored, there was a foul on one of our players that was brought down, and sometimes it just doesn’t go your way; it’s not an excuse, it’s just the nature of the game.”
More general thoughts:
“I think defensively we’ve got some very, very good players. I think we got stretched at the wrong times within the game. But I also think they had some players tonight that were on form. I think Keane and Donovan had fantastic games. Their movement off one another was tremendous, and they took their chances. They could’ve had another couple, so could’ve we, but I think that when you have a couple of players in key positions have poor performances and the players that they’re playing against have great performances, it makes the gap a little bit bigger, and we were punished because of it.”
Timbers defender Kosuke Kimura
On the feeling of the locker room:
“It’s been really crazy, crazy last week. I got here, and the next day I’m in Salt Lake and playing with the boys, and I didn’t know some of my teammate’s names, even. And then we came back, and John Spencer got let go, and everything happened so quick. But at the same time, it’s a professional business. It happens. You have to know that it could happen to anyone … We need to regroup as soon as possible, like right now and tomorrow morning, and then we’ll head down to Chivas [USA].”
Timbers forward Kris Boyd
Thoughts on the match:
“We’re disappointed to have scored three goals at home and lose the game. But that’s what happens when you give players like that caliber too much time on the ball. They can punish you any given moment. We need to defend better as a team and stop them having the attempts that they had. We probably, overall, we had a few chances. But as I said, to score three goals at home and lose the game, we’re disappointed.”
On his first goal:
“I had just seen the ball come around, and got across the front of the defender and managed to get it in the net. It got us off to a great start, but we soon found ourselves 4-1 down and in a hole. And we struggled to come back after that.”
On positives to take from the game:
“We scored three goals at home. I think that’s a positive. But when you do score three goals at home, we should be winning the game.”
LA Galaxy Quotes
Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena
Thoughts on the match:
“It was a good three points on the road, a little hectic, a little sloppy, but a good three points. We played very well in spurts. Showed a lot of resolve coming back after giving up a goal in the first minutes of the game, but on the whole it was a good performance by our team.”
On Beckham:
“Spectacular two goals. Thought Robbie [Keane] and Landon [Donovan] were dangerous. We gave up three goals on set pieces nothing out of run of play, so that’s somewhat encouraging, yet discouraging, and we’ll get that corrected.”
On the atmosphere:
“It’s always nice. I think the support behind the team in this city is fabulous and it’s perhaps the best venue in the league to play in in terms of the atmosphere. I’m still not sold on the field, but for this kind of field it’s a good field.”
On coming back into the game after conceding first:
“Giving up an early goal isn’t easy, but I thought as we got into the game in the first 15 minutes we could sense that we could create chances. We were moving the ball well and obviously Beckham’s first goal was big and we did quite well after that. Disappointed we gave up the second goal around the 35th minute or so. I was disappointed because that could have been a game where we easily could have had control not that we didn’t, but I think we can do better.”
Galaxy midfielder David Beckham
Thoughts on the game:
“I thought the team did really well tonight. Even going down 1-0, we were still playing good soccer. I think we continued to play our own game and we kept our heads up. Once we got that first goal the confidence came, and we continued to play well.”
On his first goal:
“I got the ball from Keane, he won the ball back and laid it back to me. They stepped off of me and so I thought ‘why not.’ The last time I scored a goal like that was for Manchester United against Deportivo [La Caruna], it was very similar to that. I was happy with it, but I’m more happy with the team’s performance tonight because I think we showed our character. I think we showed that when we pass the ball around we can go through teams.”
On the atmosphere:
“It’s always fun coming here. It wasn’t that much fun last year because we got beat, but coming here with the crowd, with the atmosphere, with the way people are about their team it’s refreshing, it’s great to see and you know those fans out there support their team all the way through the game whether they’re winning or losing and that’s a great sign for a club. It’s a great set-up here, a great stadium and it’s always nice coming here, but it’s even nicer when you win.”
Notes:
-
The Timbers played their first match under general manager/interim head coach Gavin Wilkinson on Saturday against the LA Galaxy. Wilkinson served as the general manager and head coach for the second-division Timbers from 2007-10, compiling a 50-29-39 record during his four seasons the helm.
-
Saturday’s match opens a stretch of five games in 15 days for the Timbers as they play out the final two weeks of their July schedule.
-
The Timbers and Galaxy met for the fifth time in the all-time MLS series between the clubs. Portland, currently, has played LA more than any other opponent since joining the league in 2011. The Galaxy lead the MLS series with the Timbers with a record of 4-1-0, winning all three matchups in 2012.
-
Forward Kris Boyd recorded the second two-goal performance by a Timbers player this season. The first was Darlington Nagbe in a 3-2 loss to Real Salt Lake on March 30 at JELD-WEN Field.
-
Boyd’s goal scored in the third minute was the second-quickest goal scored in Timbers MLS history. Only Diego Chara’s second-minute goal vs. Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Aug. 20, 2011, was quicker.
-
The Timbers were handed just their third loss as an MLS side at JELD-WEN Field when scoring the opening goal of a match. Portland is now 13-3-3 in matches at home in which they score first.
-
David Beckham’s goal in the 24th minute marked the first time since April 7 in which the Timbers trailed at home – a span of 564 minutes.
-
The six combined goals scored in the first half marked a Timbers’ MLS record for total goals scored in a half. The eight total goals scored in the match also set a Timbers MLS record.
-
The five goals scored by LA were the most conceded by the Timbers as an MLS club, and Galaxy’s four goals in the first half were also the most allowed by Portland in a single half.
-
Portland’s six shots on goal in the first half were the most by the club in a half this season.
-
Forward Brent Richards, the Timbers’ first Homegrown Player, made his MLS debut against the Galaxy, coming on as a second-half sub. He becomes the Timbers’ second rookie to make their MLS debut this season, joining defender Andrew Jean-Baptiste.
-
Goalkeeper Troy Perkins made his 47th consecutive league start for the Timbers, dating back to April 23, 2011.
-
The Timbers were without the services of midfielder Diego Chara on Saturday due to a one-game, league suspension for the red card he was issued against Real Salt Lake on July 7.
-
Acquired in a trade from the Colorado Rapids on July 5, defender Kosuke Kimura made his first home start for the Timbers on Saturday and scored in his home debut.
- MLS League Pool goalkeeper Brian Rowe, who had been training regularly with the Timbers, was signed by the Galaxy on Friday.
