Sunday, September 2, 2007

Steve's take

It wasn't Joe Cannon in the nets for the Galaxy in this latest match, as the regular Galaxy starter was nursing a groin strain. Steve Cronin stepped in and though he did well in the main during the match, the lack of game sharpness probably cost him a bit.

Steve had a few things to say on the game.

"The first one, Pete lost the ball in the midfield. I think he was unaware that there was a guy behind him when the ball was cleared. He lost the ball and they played a good ball through to Robbie Findley. He beat Mike and I came out – I had a good angle and I think I got a little bit too excited and started to lean a little bit. I could have done better, but hats off to him, he put it right inside the post. The second one was a free kick, almost identical to the one at the end of the first half. I tried to hold the one in the second half, in the first half, I just tried to punch it away. Second half, the ball was coming in slower, and I think I had too much time to think about it. I tried to hold it, but I coughed it up. Eddie did well on that, but that’s a goal that shouldn’t have happened."

"I’m going to do everything I can on my end of the field. Obviously, it’s nice to take a lead, but whether the team is up or down, my job doesn’t change. No matter what, I’m supposed to keep the ball out of the net on our end of the field. Whether we miss chances or not, I try to stay on an even keel."

"I felt good out there. I was pretty sharp in the game. I didn’t feel that I was in a bad spot all night. Obviously, the little mistakes are things I could eliminate if I got in more games, but it’s hard to get those situations in reserve games and when you’re on the bench. I’m just thankful for this opportunity, though it didn’t turn out the way I wanted. Hopefully, as the season goes on, I’ll get more."

"It was different. I think our losing streak with Sampson – we just couldn’t score, period. Now we actually are scoring some goals. But when we score goals, other teams have scored more. Tonight, we didn’t do that badly defensively, but we didn’t score more goals. That’s the give and take that has been our Achilles heel this year. We haven’t been able to put both things together consistently. Against Pachuca, we did well on both sides. We should have won that game. Tonight, the guys fought hard. We had a good attitude throughout the game."

"It just wears on you. This is my first game on the field for the way things have gone this season and I don’t feel any different now than when I was on the bench getting the same result. I think it wears on everybody, top to bottom. I know the people in the front office are feeling it too. They have to deal with fans that call them up and send emails complaining about spending more money on season tickets and they’re coming out to see a team that isn’t winning. That translates down to us, but at the same time, if you worry about that too much, it distracts you from your job. Soccer’s a tough game – sometimes things just don’t go your way. It’s amazing to our team to have the quality of players that we have and still get these results consistently.”

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