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...
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.
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.
environment fare field guys ideal league rise stars step time
I think American players, of this league especially, a league on the rise -- any time these guys can get on the field and play international competition, they fare well. I think our all stars are going to do very well. Unfortunately it is not the most ideal preparation, but once they get on the field and see the environment I think they will step up and play respectfully.
again alive best both happy hope league meet open playing playoffs soccer team time wednesday won
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.
coach consistency consistent difficult enjoyable final league national players rely sacrifices team
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.
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.
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.
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.
challenge challenges club meet physical players travel
Our players have had the challenge of, like every other club in the country, to meet the physical challenges of travel and on many occasions, Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday games,
ability added club combined knowledge midfield player proven
Marcelo is a proven player in this league. His knowledge of our club and league, when combined with his ability, will give our midfield an added dimension.
best escaped fans field giving good happy importance longer man money playing product relates single win
It is not good enough any longer just to win championships. We want to put out a product on that field where every single day our fans feel like we're giving the very best possible. It has not escaped me, the importance of us playing well and how it relates to making money for this club. I'm not a happy man when we're not consistent.