Steve Sampson

Steve Sampson
Steve Sampsonis a soccer coach, currently of the men's soccer program at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He is also the former head coach of both the United States men's national team and the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. By the media, he is nicknamed Uncle Sam...
again critical early tremendous value
It was critical for us to get an early lead. Herculez once again showed his tremendous value to this team. The combination of he and Landon was a lot to handle.
difficult field players points saw season starting teams three
It was a very difficult game. I think you could see that the two teams were very tired. You can see that the season is starting to take its toll. But it was important for us to get the three points and this is why you saw the players that we put on the field for the most part that will be the same look on Wednesday.
against days exactly great koreans opportunity playing speed team technical test time training work
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.
created creating easily few finish game handle last minutes played
What a disappointing way to finish the match, especially after creating so many opportunities that we should have put away. It should have easily been 2-1 at halftime. We played to win, we created enough opportunities to win, and we didn't handle the last few minutes of the game very well at all.
advantage continue equally finish form heading prefer second
We would prefer to finish second and have home-field advantage for the first round. Equally important is that we continue to find our form heading into the playoffs.
close good measure scoring small
We've very close to being very good but that small measure comes in the way of scoring goals. It is inexcusable to lose the way we did.
excited excitement forward great hostile
We're really excited that there's going to be a great environment. When we go down there we're going to use that to our benefit. We look forward to it being a hostile environment. We look forward to the excitement of the event.
changes midfield might next player start type wholesale won worked
You don't make wholesale changes with your midfield that worked for you and won a championship overnight. But Landon is the type of player that is versatile. If it's not working for us in the midfield with Paulo and Pete I can put (Donovan) there. We might start with him there next week.
both business cups great opportunity playoffs teams trying win
We know that after this match, both teams will get on with the business of trying to do well in the playoffs and win the MLS Cup, ... So, both teams have an opportunity to win two cups going forward, and I think it's a great opportunity for both teams.
advantage against believe club fact finished result san twice
We don't like the fact that we finished fourth. The advantage is that we get to play San Jose twice and I believe that this club can get a result against them.
ability absolutely attack beautiful continue football middle necessary repeat series type work
There was one series (on Saturday) that was absolutely beautiful one-touch soccer. That's the type of football that I want to play. It's necessary that we have the ability to attack in the middle channel, that we have the ability to attack on the flanks. So yes, we continue to work on varying the way we attack. That's the only way we're going to repeat as champions.
front match needed people three
This match was important to us for many, many reasons. First of all, we needed the three points. Second, it was important to play in front of so many people and come away with a win.
five four knew miss players talked
This man, I talked to four or five times a day. Philosophically, we knew where we wanted to go with this team. I'm going to miss those conversations. I'm going to miss his leadership; the players are going to miss his leadership.
ability form gain leading looking night wednesday winning
This is a part of that. Our ability to play well Wednesday night is not only important to winning a cup, but also to gain that form that we're looking for leading into the playoffs. It's part of the process, and it's very important to us.