After a strong regular season, Tampa Bay keeper Scott Garlick and his teammates once again were knocked out of the playoffs in the first round.
SOCCER AMERICA: Tampa Bay scored 62 goals during the regular season, but lost 1-0 to the Galaxy in the first playoff game. What happened?
SCOTT GARLICK: When we didnÆt get a goal, they gained more confidence. It was one of those games where balls that Mamadou [Diallo] hit were going wide.
They had a real good game plan and watched Mamadou very closely. When he doesnÆt provide us with goals, we struggle.
That made it difficult for the second leg because we had to win the game. Losing a couple of early goals killed us.
SA: Los Angeles can play that counterattack game really well …
SG: We came out thinking we had to get a goal early and we gave up a couple that could be classified as easy goals. That allowed them to sit back, and teams have been successful against us this year on the break, because we do tend to send players forward, and they killed the game off.
SA: Did Tim Hankinson do a good job of coaching this team this season?
SG: WeÆre a difficult group to manage. There are a lot of different personalities.
Tim did a good job of allowing certain players the freedom to operate as they will. If you put shackles on certain players, they tend to go south.
You have to look at all of us. We under-achieved this year. With the talent we had, we should have done better. EverybodyÆs got to take that responsibility.
SA: What elements need to be added for this team to get into the final?
SG: We do need a leader on the field, someone who can pull the [players] up by the bootstraps when theyÆre down.
SA: Anything else?
SG: ItÆs an aspect of having good players, but itÆs also having a group that everyone feels they have an opportunity to play, everybodyÆs busting their butt every day.
In D.C., if guys didnÆt do well or I didnÆt do well, there was somebody to take my place. That motivates people.
by Soccer America senior editor Ridge Mahoney