Steve Sampson Team Quotations

One thing that I've truly enjoyed about this team is the great leadership. Every single time this team's back has been against the wall, the leaders managed to come through. Now is no different.

He wasn't showing any signs of illness. The team doctor was with him and suddenly noted that he was sleeping in a very strange position. When he took a closer look he realized that he was not breathing and immediately began resuscitation.

Playing matches like this is great preparation for us. We know very quickly the things we need to work on. We're much further ahead this year at this time than we were last year, but we had to be, given the early competition. I like most of what I see with my team and I think we're going to be very difficult to beat in league play.

I think this team understands that we have to be able to resolve those issues in the first half and bring more energy to the game, and play more tactfully more intelligently. More players have to have better games than what we saw tonight, ... We have to use this game as a motivator for our upcoming matches and I'm sure that they will. This team will show its abilities, I'm sure in the final parts of this season and I'm sure that they will so our fans get what they want to see in the Open Cup Final against Dallas on Wednesday.

I think we're very close to being very good, but that small measure comes in the way of scoring goals, and we have to get better. Normally I don't meet with the team (after a game). I felt that tonight it warranted it. There needs to be a much greater since of urgency to get the win and I felt there wasn't enough urgency out there.

We're alive in both cups. We're alive in the U.S. Open Cup, which is very important to our organization. We're still very much alive in league play. So we're very happy that we won Wednesday night. We know that we will meet this team again in league play at our place, and probably in the playoffs at some point. We just hope to be playing our very best soccer when that time comes.

We've been in training for 12 days now and we're playing against a team that's very experienced. This is an opportunity to see where we're at. The technical speed of the Koreans will be more than we'll see at any other time of the year. It will be a great test for us and we'll be able to take from this exactly what we need to work on.

We're the only undefeated team in the country, ... We're the No. 1 team in both polls. We felt Virginia had to come in here and beat us to take over that position.

Something has to be done where the champions of MLS are allowed to prepare more effectively. We put ourselves at a disadvantage right from the get-go. Thank God we have players who have been with the national team who are now fit.

I'm disappointed at some of the chances we gave in the second half. These are the things we have to tidy up, ... Don't get me wrong. I'm very pleased with the result but we have to play better team defense going up and that's something we're going to work on.

It's really important that everyone understand this is not about me. It's about the Galaxy and the veteran players on this team who have made an incredible sacrifice.

You can't afford to give up so many of those kinds of opportunities. You have to eliminate the unforced errors and the silly fouls. You have to be very, very careful against a team like San Jose as far as giving away too many opportunities where they can set up free kicks. They're used to this field. They know how to use it.

It's going to be enjoyable to have everyone here for the most part so I can rely on some consistent players, ... I'm not going to use it as an excuse, players going in and out of their national team, but I think any coach would like consistency and it has been difficult but everyone's making sacrifices around the league and now we should have our team in place in preparation for these final matches.

His passion was the Galaxy. In retrospect, it's fitting that we won a championship for him this last year because I think he was so passionate about this team and loved every single player and the organization.