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...
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.
against bring cup dallas energy fans final games half issues matches motivator open parts players resolve saw season sure team
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.
against atmosphere competition decide difficult expect good job league letting ourselves players prepare teams together union wants win
I think we have to do a better job of letting our teams prepare for this event. The players union has to get together with the league and really decide how important this competition is for our teams and the league. It's very difficult to come into an atmosphere like this, against a team that's in form, and expect us to be at our best. Our league wants to win CONCACAF championships, and we're good enough. We have to give ourselves a better chance.
against gain ground maintain points san second three
The three points is very important to maintain at the very least second place and to try and gain some ground against San Jose. We know we have a lot of ground to make up.
against bodies match rest today
It was very important that we rest some bodies today in preparation for the match against Dallas.
against enjoyed great leaders single team time truly
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.
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.
afford against careful eliminate errors far free giving kinds san silly team
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.
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.
finish good performance saw win
Overall, I was very disappointed with the end, but not disappointed with everything we saw tonight. I thought we put on a good enough performance to win if we just finish our chances.
ahead beat difficult early further given great last league matches playing quickly team time work year
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.