Galaxy-D.C. United Post-Game

Serious bloggers actually blog immediately after the game.

The rest of us go to Oktoberfest.

Game story from a Galaxy perspective.

The United view.

By the way, David Beckham had yet another sub-par game complete with errant passes, petulant behavior and little creativity. Yet Galaxy Coach Bruce Arena, perhaps playing politics, praised his performance as "excellent," while Becks himself simply conceded it was "all right."
"I'm sure I've played better," he said. "I've definitely played worse."

Best line of the night goes to Bruce Arena as he left the post-game conference, leaving David Beckham to face the media. "Monday!" said Bruce brightly of the next practice day, which players usually have off. "Yes, Monday," said Becks, considerably less enchanted with the idea.

Quotable:
Pete Vagenas on the early goal:

"I was ready to walk out the stadium when they scored off the corner kick to be honest with you. I can't tell you how many times we went over set pieces this week."

United Coach Tom Soehn on the outcome:

"We got careless. I'm not sure if the early goal caused that. We turned over the ball in some really bad spots. Guys like Landon, you can't afford to leave them unmarked."

On the officiating:

"The officiating crew had a bad night. ... The red card? The whole Galaxy staff looked at me - it was just a soft card."

On the season:

"I won't lie - it's been a tough season. As we look to get guys back it's going to take a little bit of time to find our rhythm. ... Some of the mistakes we're making are real basic."

On the Swiss cheese-like United defense:

"Landon did a good job of finding the holes and we didn't account for them. ... They moved the ball around well and exposed some of our weaknesses."

Arena on the early goals in each half:

"The way we came out in the second half - we gave up another goal. These are bad habits. These are things we have to get better at - concentration has to improve."

On the difference between the desultory performance last weekend in Kansas City and tonight:

"I accept the responsibility for Kansas City - because I put Landon and David in an unfavorable position. They had a lot of games, travel and I put at least two tired players on the field. My job as the coach here is to position players to be successful and I didn't do David any favors in Kansas City nor did I do Landon any favors. ... If I had to redo it, I'd probably do things differently on that day."

On the officiating:

"What can I say? At this point we're not willing to give back the three points. We needed three points tonight so we're going to take them anyway we can get them."

Beckham on the end of the winless streak:

"To go so many games without a win - I've never done that before - and I'm sure many of the other players have not done that before."

Ante Jazic on the D.C. defense: "They reminded me of our defense early on in the season."

On the difference Arena has made:

"If anyone knows soccer, they can see we're more organized, more compact, especially the back line. ... Before we were a little bit of a make-shift team. But now we're playing as a unit."

Landon Donovan on the season so far:

"Before the season started my goals were to lead the league in scoring and be the league MVP and I got a lot closer to both those tonight, which is good."