MLS Cup Playoffs: Back To Business For Los Angeles Galaxy

November 9, 2014; Carson, CA, USA; Los Angeles Galaxy forward Landon Donovan (10) celebrates his goal scored against Real Salt Lake during the second half at StubHub Center. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

For Bruce Arena’s Los Angeles Galaxy, it’s back to business as usual as they begin plans for their Western Conference Championship series against the Seattle Sounders. The Galaxy routed Real Salt Lake 5-0 in the second leg of the Conference Semifinals on Sunday at StubHub Center to prevail by the same score on aggregate. When asked of their performance, the grins were collective from ear to ear but they were subdued a bit.

“We played well,” Arena told reporters. “We had three goals out of the midfield out of [Marcelo] Sarvas and Landon [Donovan]. Defensively we were pretty solid. I think they had one really quality chance off that corner kick. I don’t think there were too many out of the run of play. The entire team defended well on the night.”

“We were talking about not scoring a lot of goals in the last few games, and there was a lot of reasons for that,” said midfielder Landon Donovan. “But when our team is together and we know we have this to play for, then we’re going to play well. Now are we always going to score five goals against a team like that, no. But to be honest, we could have scored eight or nine tonight, and I thought we were really good.

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“We know we can play well at home. Between Seattle and Dallas, they gave us a lot of problems during the season so we’ll watch the game very closely tomorrow. We’ll be sure to get proper rest this week and we’ll be ready to go.”

“In the first ten minutes, we knew we had to get the first goal. Once we got that, [Real Salt Lake] opened up even more and we got the second one early as well,” said forward Robbie Keane. “I think for them then the game was over. They had to go for goal, so obviously there was a lot of space for us to counterattack and defend well. That’s the reason we won the game. We showed intensity from the start to finish.”

For midfielder Marcelo Sarvas, the play of Stefan Ishizaki could be key to the Galaxy’s chances of hosting the MLS Cup Final in December.

“I think every player is important,” Sarvas said. “It’s not about the midfield, or defense. I think we did a very good game; we stepped on the field the way we usually do, looking for the goal all the time. We neutralized the key players like [Javier] Morales and [Kyle] Beckerman. I think we did a good job around those players and everyone was sharp tonight. The team was great tonight.”

“We just said every game has a life of its own,” said Ishizaki. “We knew if we pressed them really hard, and make it really hard for them to play, they’ll get frustrated. Even after that, we kept playing and kept pressing. Landon was great, and a lot of the guys played really well tonight too.

“I felt that we had a really good team performance tonight. That’s what we’re going to need in these last games.”

Here is the schedule for the Galaxy this week.

Galaxy Training Schedule (All times Pacific)

Date

Start Time

Location

Monday, Nov. 10

TEAM OFF

Tuesday, Nov. 11

10 a.m.

StubHub Center – University Field #1

Wednesday, Nov. 12

10 a.m.

StubHub Center – University Field #1

Thursday, Nov. 13

10 a.m.

StubHub Center – University Field #1

Friday, Nov. 14

TEAM OFF

Saturday, Nov. 15

TEAM OFF

Sunday, Nov. 16

TEAM OFF

Monday, Nov. 17

10 a.m.

StubHub Center – University Field #1

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