Soccer News: Playoff Game Approaches - A Word From Our MLS Pros

Big Soccer Game Today. Head-to-Head Breakdown: LA Galaxy vs. Real Salt Lake. Which side will take the rematch of the 2009 MLS Cup final? The winner of this match will move on to MLS Cup 2011. Tickets still available.

Latest News: Galaxy Advanced 3-1 on aggregate. The excitement builds. The rivalry between the two coasts is strong. The MLS Playoffs are here. The Los Angeles Galaxy have advanced to the Western Conference Finals after a 2-1 home win over the New York Red Bulls, adding to the 1-0 victory they achieved in New York before. Landon Donovan's PK was intense and David Beckahm was fabulous. The LA Galaxy are the talk of soccer and all eyes are on our LA home team as the count down draws to an end.  

"LA Galaxy is a team of players who work hard for the team...Landon is a proven goal scorer," says Beckham.

Tickets are still available for today's game

What they said ont their last win against New York Red Bulls ...

LA Galaxy Head Coach Bruce Arena
On the win:
“Certainly a difficult game tonight. It was very physical, obviously, spotting—it’s not the right word, they earned it— falling behind a goal and the series literally being even three minutes in at our place. To show the kind of character they did to get back in the game in the first half and having a pretty good second half. Perfect. Henry was spectacular, Rodgers dangerous getting behind us and he got behind us 3, 4 times tonight. I thought the second half we played well and Beckham earned a penalty kick. It’s pretty good stuff. Obviously a good win and now focus on getting our team ready for Sunday.”

On the play of midfielder Chris Birchall:
“Birchall I thought, after the initial minutes, was really very good tonight. I thought he did really very good tonight. Passed the ball well, won some big tackles, great work rate. I was really pleased with Chris’s contributions.”

On quick turnaround for Real Salt Lake:
“This is maybe the 10th time this year we’ve done this. We know how to recover from it. It’s never easy, but we'll get our team recovered.”

On Beckham playing three games in a week:
“If anyone can do it, it’s David. If he’s ready to go, he’s obviously going to go. We have a couple weeks off after Sunday’s game, one way or another, so our guys will be ready to play Sunday.”

On Mike Magee’s goal:
“Obviously that goal was big. I thought he started the game slow, and he got into it as the half went on and had a good second half as well. But he’s obviously scored some timely goals and important goals.”

David Beckham, one of the world's most popular players will try to lead his Galaxy team to victory.

On the play of David Beckham:
“His effort was great tonight. He’s a player with an unbelievable desire to win and compete. I thought when we got down a goal, I thought David helped pick up the team. His energy in the second half and earning that penalty kick, it was all David. And David I thought was an inspiration to our team tonight.”

LA Galaxy Midfielder Landon Donovan:
On the turning point of the game:
“I think that we figured out how to deal with them. Henry came back into the midfield and made it difficult. He was finding little spots and we were kind of pulled apart. I think once we figured that out and once we were better with the ball we started picking them apart and creating chances. They’re a team that likes to have the ball and dictate the tempo, but conversely, when another team controls the pace and the tempo they struggle. I think that as the half went on we did a better job of that and we got a goal that we deserved.

On the effort of David Beckham:
“He’s gotten beat up both games, but I thought he was terrific again. I thought that he and Birchall did a great job. Obviously initially with the first goal we are all at fault for being a little out of position, but after that I thought they were terrific in midfield. David’s service once again was great and the effort by him was fantastic. I’ve seen that guy go through a lot and I think they would have had to carry him off the field, I don’t think he was coming off and that shows a lot about his character.”

On the form of Mike Magee:
“He’s been fantastic. A lot of our guys have said this throughout the year, he might be our best finisher in front of goal. He’s just so calm and he’s clinical when he gets a chance and we’ve seen that in both games, he’s scored two great goals.

LA Galaxy Midfielder Mike Magee
On his goal:
“Any time [David] has the ball, especially on corners, you just have to put yourself in a good spot because you know that he is going to put it there.”

On scoring in both legs of the series against New York:
“It does [feel good.] But there’s no time to celebrate just yet. Obviously scoring and advancing to the next round is huge.”

On the feeling of knocking out the Red Bulls:
“Once the whistle blew it was nice that New York was gone and I was continuing on. But we have a goal to win MLS Cup and that outweighs that as of now.”

On the play of Chris Birchall:
“Chris Birchall was an absolute beast. I think it took him and all of us in the midfield about 10 minutes to get our bearings, but as you can see he had (Thierry) Henry and about four other guys buzzing around in the middle of the field. He did an amazing job doing it by himself. You can’t say enough good things about what Birchy did tonight.”

On playing at home tonight and again on Sunday:
“It’s big. We’ve established ourselves as a very good home team and our fans as you could tell tonight were amazing, pushing us when guys were tired. It’s definitely a lot better playing here than in Salt Lake.”

LA Galaxy Midfielder David Beckham
On playing on such short rest:
“Obviously, we knew that the game was going to be shortly after this game. Obviously, it is not ideal but we are happy to be in this position and happy to have this problem. But ideally, I am sure Salt Lake would be the same and prefer a few days more rest but it is what it is. We are happy to be in the position we are in.”

On the win:
“I think that we started off bad and it wasn’t what we had planned, so obviously it was a disappointing start, but I think that the way that we adjusted ourselves showed the character of our players and our team.”

What happened when you got hit and had to go down:
“I think that I just headed the ball wrong, that was it. It was my back more than anything, I headed the ball but obviously I have had issues with my back all season and it was just a spasm in my lower back.”

On facing Real Salt Lake, a rematch of 2009 MLS Cup:
“There is no revenge about any games that we play in game. But, of course, we want to beat them. As simple as that. They are a very good team, they have a very good manager that is passionate about the game, and we know it’s going to be a difficult game. But, the advantage is, we’re at home and we’ll have out fans behind us. But we know we are going to be in a game.”

LA Galaxy Forward Robbie Keane On the game’s intensity:
“It’s a playoff game, it’s what we expected. Obviously we didn’t get off to a very good start, shot ourselves in the foot a little bit in the first five minutes and were a little sloppy with the ball and they scored a good goal. We had to work hard to come back in the game and we showed that in abundance today.”

LA Galaxy Midfielder Chris Birchall On the game’s opening minutes:
“I think that it just took us 10, 15 minutes to settle. I think that we’ll go through tomorrow what we could have done better in the first 10, 15 minutes. They did get chances but after that we got our confidence, started creating chances and after that we were a lot more settled and a solid team.”

On the team’s defensive adjustments:
“In the first 10, 15 minutes we were a bit slow in trying to figure out how they were playing. Thierry was getting in behind, he was dropping off deep, in front of our back four and just behind me and David so that is something that after 10 minutes we got sorted. Once you stop Henry getting it and turning you have a better chance of winning. I think we cut their chances down and we started creating and started playing.”

New York Red Bulls Head Coach Hans Backe

On giving up goals on set pieces:
“I think when Magee scored the first one our guys just missed to mark him, he came from the rebound area, perhaps not that easy to pick up, but I think our guys in the zone positioning should have attacked the ball. But it’s been too many goals from set plays all season.”

On whether Tainio’s injury forced Henry into a role in the midfield:
“I think Thierry, when Teemu is not on the pitch with his distribution, I feel Thierry likes to get involved deep as a second striker to get involved in the build up so that’s correct.”

On whether the Galaxy made any changes after Rodgers’ goal:
“I don’t think so. They got a little more possession, we dropped a little too deep after getting in front that early and gave them probably too much possession in the first half because when we gave our turnovers or breaks we attacked too quick, it was final passes from the back four and we lost the ball and had to defend for 10, 15, 20 minutes of the first half.”

On Rodgers’ goal:
“We haven’t lost many games with him on the pitch. He’s been a massive player for us, even if he missed the whole preseason he’s been, with his work ethic, work rate, his energy, he definitely also lifts the guys around. I think he will be more consistent with his game (next season). He missed the whole preseason, also four-five weeks during the season with his ankle problem, so I think Luke Rodgers with a preseason will be very consistent and he’s always good for goal.”

New York Red Bulls Forward Luke Rodgers

Overall thoughts on the result:
“Of course it’s disappointing. I won’t say a lot. We’re one-nil off. We need a score. Straight away we come out, we’re the better team. Score the goal. We’re starting to get all over them. And, once again, we’re conceding from set pieces. I don’t care what team you’re on, if you’re conceding set-piece goals, you’re not going to win many games. If you look at the season, there’s been a pattern and we need to eliminate it next season or we will be in the same position. I thought we had a great start. I thought we really worked hard as a team and it’s just disappointing. It’s hard to swallow.”

On what happened after NY went up 1-0:
“I’m not too sure. I just thought it was one of them games were everybody was going to score a lot of goals. Take nothing away, LA are a great team, we should have won that game tonight. But it’s not meant to be. We will prepare now for next season. Good luck to LA.”

New York Red Bulls Forward Thierry Henry Overall thoughts on the series:
“They won. They beat us at our place. They beat us at their place. So, at the end of the day, there’s nothing to say about it. We gave it a go.”

Overall thoughts on the game:
“We were 1-0 up, they come back on a corner kick, even though had a couple of chances before that, and then in the second half they put the score up to 2-1. In the end of the day, it was always going to be difficult to score two against this team. But, at the end of the day, they deserve to win, they beat us twice.”

On what was the difference in the series:
They won at our place and they won at their place. That’s the difference.”

On the loss of Teemu Tainio:
“You kind of don’t think about it when you are playing the game. But we already lost Rafa. I don’t know when exactly he came out, but losing a player like Teemu basically you losing two players that play in front of the defense usually. Now that I think about it you don’t want to have them out of the field, but we still gave them a good run.”