Head coach Ben Olsen
On the team’s response to falling behind early…
“After being down by two, it was obviously a good response right away to get to 2-1, and I thought we played well from there on out. LA came out with a lot of energy and had two good individual goals, which I think we could have defended better. They have a few players who can make those types of plays. To battle back and get something out of it shows growth from us and I think it’s a good way for us to finish a very long road trip. Four months of being on the road has been a grind for these guys, but now we get to go home and open up a new stadium that we’re all excited about.”
On the team’s ability to fight back…
“We’ve been able to come back throughout this season, but we’ve given up points after tying games in the past… So I’ve seen growth. At 2-2, you could see our guys had an understanding of what it was going to take in the last 10 minutes to get something out of this game. Everybody dug in and found a way to get a valuable point.”
On what the last few days leading into Audi Field will look like…
“We will have a few days here to get back and settled and obviously we have a new teammate (Wayne Rooney) that we need to incorporate into the group. It will take a little bit of time for Wayne [Rooney] to get fit and gel with the group, but he’s a high-level soccer player that understands the game and I don’t see him taking too long to adjust. It will just be business as usual other than Wayne’s addition to the group.”
On how the long road trip affected the team…
“We have travelled more than anyone in the league and it’s been a long four months. The guys have done a good job dealing with it. It’s not only been the away games, but the bye weeks as well. Because the season is back heavy with a lot of games, the rhythm of the season has been a little fractured which has posed problems. We’ve gotten on with it and we’ve been able to grab some points here and there in some tough buildings against some difficult teams. Now the job is pretty simple, we have to start getting three points. We have a nice new building (Audi Field) to break in and hopefully we can reward our fans with some wins down the stretch to push us into the playoffs.”
Midfielder Zoltán Stieber
On the result...
“We got, obviously, their first goal very early in the game. That was not how we planned it. And then their second goal. I think that was good answer after the two to zero that we could score our first goal. The whole game, actually, we played quite well. There was a lot of space in the middle that we tried to position ourselves. We are happy to score the second goal in the end.”
On his goal...
“I had seen that Luciano [Acosta] got the ball, and I was on the side, and I was trying to come behind the defenders, and Luciano [Acosta] played the ball in between the defenders, and I had seen that there was nobody in the middle actually, and after that I thought I should shoot it to the second post, and I’m happy to score that goal”
On playing their next match in the new stadium...
“We’ are very happy about it. It’s been a long few months. We’ve had to play on the road, and I think everybody’s excited about it; the fans, the whole club, and obviously the players. And, we have talented teammates of ours, so we are very happy to move into the new stadium and get some results.”
Midfielder Chris Durkin
On tonight's game...
"I think it shows the tenacity of the guys to go out and put a complete 90 minute game out there. We fought from 2-0 down and we got our way back to 2-2. I am really proud of the guys and I think we get to carry this momentum into the new stadium and I think we are all super excited."
On the team's performance...
"I think the focus is grinding out that 5 minutes after the goal the 15 minutes after the goal and just making sure that we are not conceding another goal. I think we are learning and I think we have a lot of quality and I think we are getting better each game and I am really proud of the guys I think we are just going to keep the momentum going."
Midfielder Luciano Acosta
[Translated from Spanish]
On tonight’s draw...
“We leave happy from here, after being down 2-0, in a complicated stadium, a complicated rival, and we were able to tie the game. I think it’s something that the team deserved. Now we get to play more games at home in front of our fans, and that’s going to favor us, not have to travel so much. So we are at ease.”
On how complicated the first half of the season has been...
“For me, it was more about having to travel so much. The team is young but it’s good. We are hungry to win; some games haven’t worked out for us but we are at ease. We know we are doing things well, that we are improving game by game and now like I said, we will get to play more home games. I think we have at least three games on hand than the rest so we have to win and hope to be in the playoffs.”
On what he expects with Wayne Rooney’s arrival and how he will improve the attack...
“He is a world renowned player. We all know who he is. He is Wayne Rooney. He is a great player who will help us with everything, from growing as a team to having more responsibilities. We all know that we can’t have the luxury to lose. He will help us because of who he is and he will help all of us grow. I think we are getting better and he will help us score more and we will look to play our best for him and try to play more for him than anything else.”
