Commentary

Postgame Quotes: Swope Park Rangers 3-0 LA Galaxy II

Adrian Zendejas - Swope Park Rangers vs. LA Galaxy II - September 27, 2017

Swope Park Rangers head coach Nikola Popovic
Thoughts on the match...
I'm proud of the players and I think we all should be proud of how they perform. It's, again, a fantastic performance; a very controlled game. I always speak about this because this is what I want. I want the people who come here to Swope to enjoy and to have good entertainment when they come here. I think this is the most important when you want to create a style in a team. I think it's important for fans to come here and to enjoy a good game. I think we have accomplished this with another good performance after a very difficult game in Colorado. The circumstances of the game, the storm interruption, everything was very difficult. But we were able to recover and come today with a very good performance.
On the victory in Colorado Springs...
Over there, it was a very difficult game. It's always difficult to play in altitude, but then of course with so much water. Again, the players were fantastic. We have to congratulate them for the performance over there. But after such effort, to come here in three days, recover, and again today put in a very good performance.
On the playoff push...
I'm going to be honest with you, I don't think about it. What I really want is our performance to be really high and I think we have to focus now on performance. If we're able to bring this level to the game, I think everything can happen. I always tell to them we can only affect the present. With the future it's coming and the past is already past. We have to analyze what is being done so the performance is really good. Playing in such a very demanding way, it can give us more confidence, but I think day by day is the most important thing for us. We have to focus on performance.
Swope Park Rangers midfielder Christian Duke
Thoughts on the match...
It's a very important part of the season to find our swagger again and get back on a roll. We did last year and going into playoffs, it's big to have momentum going into it.
On the team's three-game winning streak...
Everybody's in form and everybody's performing well. It's fun out there. We're having fun out there and we're playing well. Just like training, we go out there and do it in training and perform on the field.
On his assist...
Kevin (Oliveira) played a ball to Lebo (Moloto). Lebo comes into the space, the defender follows him, and he peels off. It was an easy tap for me and Lebo did a fantastic job of putting it into the back of the net.
Swope Park Rangers goalkeeper Adrian Zendejas
Thoughts on the match...
They were pressing hard. So, there were times where playing out of the back was kind of hard. The second goal was important in this game. In the second half, we won more of the second balls on challenges.
On the team's recent form...
The players are feeling something else right now. We're all happy. After the U.S. Open Cup win, I feel like everyone just jumped and now we really want the Cup. We want to be the second team in Kansas City to bring a Cup here.
On momentum going into the playoffs...
I feel like we're picking up momentum at the right moment. We had an up and down early and middle of the season, but now we're picking perfect timing with three more games left. So we've just got to keep working.
On the team's culture...
We work hard everyday from practice to the game days. I'm glad that everything's working out and we're playing the way we want to play.
On the shut out...
Oumar (Ballo) and my back four are always coming through. There's always days where I come through for them and they come through for me. It's a family, we've all got to do our job.
LA Galaxy II head coach Mike Munoz
Thoughts on the match...

Swope is one of the top teams in the league and we put out a very young lineup tonight. I think we ended the game with five 16 year olds on the field so we knew it was always going to be difficult. Going into halftime 1-0, alright. The next goal was crucial. It was a great second goal by Swope Park. Credit to them. We want to wish them all the best in the playoffs. We just have to keep building off these performances with our young guys.


On bouncing back in OKC...

We'll continue trying to get as much experience for our young group as possible. We think from the start of the season to the second half of the season that the team has improved immensely. OKC is going to be fighting for their lives to get into the playoffs. We'd like to ruffle some feathers a little bit.


LA Galaxy II defender Jean Jospin Engola
Thoughts on the match...

It's a huge disappointment for us. We were not able, in my opinion, to compete athletically with them tonight.


On the team's road trip...

We're going to regroup. We're going to stay positive. We're going to give it our all in our last game of the road trip.