Head Coach Adrian Heath
On reflecting on the Inter Miami CF match Saturday…
“It’s difficult to think that we’ve gotten away with nothing from the game. Looking up at the clock, 87th minute and we’re 1-nil up, just had real good opportunities to finish the game and we don’t. Then we get punished for a couple of lax moments of concentration and at this level, as I’ve always said, concentration’s everything for defenders: The minute you turn off for a second, you get punished. It was two goals that I felt we could’ve dealt with and we should have dealt with better.”
On preparation for Wednesday’s match on short rest…
“I think the most important thing for us has been that we came straight from Miami on Sunday, so we gave ourselves plenty of preparation time. As I said to the guys, we can't do anything about what happened Saturday, we can think and do something about what comes on Wednesday. [LA is a] Difficult place, we know that. We’ve come up here and put up some good performances and if we play like we can, I don’t see any reason why we can’t get a result.”
On the matchup against the LA Galaxy Wednesday night…
“It’s never easy here. You look at the amount of money this club has spent over the last few years to assemble this squad of players. Whether it be Chicharito, whether it be [Kevin] Cabral, whether it be [Dejan] Joveljic, [Victor] Vazquez, Douglas Costa, you keep going; they've got an incredible amount of attacking talent. It’s never easy here. But, we’ve proved coming here, it’s been pretty good for us. We’re going to have to play well, I know that. Don’t give anything away, play well and take opportunities when you can and we can go and win.”
Midfielder Wil Trapp
On what he saw in the Inter Miami match from the bench…
“From the press box it was some good moments, right? We were leading the game for enough time to feel confident and feel like we could win it. I think it’s just two moments really where we just were sloppy. Sloppy in individual moments and that’s something we need to take accountability for and move forward and start encouraging each other, not pointing fingers in those moments because we all make mistakes. Our staff does a really good job in terms of preaching the message that don’t let one mistake turn into two and that’s something we need to get back to. When a guy makes a mistake, it’s not the end of the world. Pick them up, move forward, and try to correct. I think that’s something we need to look forward to in this next game.”
On how the group is staying fit and ready over the long trip and quick turnaround…
“So much of it is just getting recovered, first of all. It’s across the continental U.S. in terms of the flight pattern. So understanding that recovery is paramount and key at the moment. And then on the training field, preparing for what L.A. does, but also understanding that again, recovery is massively important right now.”
On how the group is preparing for LA…
“We’re just looking at the prior game we played at home. Knowing what they’re about, key guys that could be out or could be in for them. And again, it’s more important: it’s just about getting everybody on the same page physically to play the game.”
On his experience in the broadcast booth during the Inter Miami match…
“It’s definitely not as easy as we always like to make it seem in terms of looking at moments on the field, what to say at the right time. Our guys, Cal [Callum Williams] and Kyndra [de St. Aubin] do a great job. It was a fun experience. Something that was unique, but I hope I don’t have to be up there too often anytime soon.”
