Game story.

Naturally, much of the media were talking about Sacha Kljestan going to Glasgow Celtic for good, especially after that sterling performance:

“As far as Celtic, I just took it as a training experience and whatever happens happens and I’m trying not to think about that right now,” he said.

Here’s Kljestan on his three goal performance:

“Getting a hat trick is pretty special to me. I’ve never scored more than one goal as a professional before.”

Coach Bob Bradley addressed the performance of his starting back four:

“I thought that defensively so far we were pretty solid. The positioning of the group was good. Danny Califf is a player who is always good in the air – that’s an area where Michael Parkhurst has to improve, but I thought there’s still work to be done. I think both Marvell (Wynne) and Jonny (Bornstein) got a little bit tired and when they got tired their positioning was not as good.”

Palos Verdes’ John Thorrington reflected on playing his fourth game for the national team in the South Bay after making his debut way back in 2001:

“There were a lot of people here tonight that have been here from the beginning and seen the ups seen the downs and it was a great moment for me to kind of start this year off and share that moment with them.”

“To have two guys from Palos Verdes to start a national team game for such a small place is pretty cool and Danny Califf and me both played on the same club team so it was cool. And then, obviously, all three of us were playing in front of family and friends, which is a huge bonus for all of us.”

Robbie Rogers of Rolling Hills Estates on his national team debut:

“It’s my first cap. I was trying not to make too many mistakes.”

On the Kljestan free kick:

“He just told me to run over it. We’ve been working on free kicks a lot this off-season. So he’s been practicing so he can hit it with that dip. It paid off so he got a hat trick and both of our families are here so it’s pretty great.

“He just told me that’s the first one he’s scored since he was 12, so that’s a great time to score.”

Here’s Bob Bradley on Robbie Rogers:

“We’re scratching the surface as far as getting him to understand now the demands of playing the international game … He’s a gifted player. He’s very fast, really a two-footed player, he’s capable of doing some good things, we saw that with Columbus last year. But we’re scratching the surface now so he understands the demands of playing the international game. The concentration has to go up, physically you just have to put more into it. To be a good team at an international level you need all players to be part of the game at all times, you can’t have players that are just in and out of the game. I think he made progress in this game – it was nice now he was getting a start. And I think it’s also a little bit special that it’s here he gets a start at Home Depot Center in front of for him family and friends. And again, at the end of it all we’ll make sure he doesn’t get carried away because there’s a long way to go.”