The winners and losers spoke following San JoseÆs 2-1 win over Los Angeles in MLS Cup 2001: Los Angeles coach Sigi Schmid: “Everybody loves to beat Los Angeles. It’s the national pastime in every sport. That’s just something we have to live with. This one hurts. Overtime always hurts even more and it also hurts more so because although we struggled for a good part of the game, I thought that in the last 20 minutes of regulation and through to overtime, I thought we had started to get a hold of things and we were playing our best soccer. But that’s how things go.” Schmid on the emotions of his team: “There’s not really much you can say right now. Everyone is going through their own individual things. There are tears being shed and there are guys who swallowed a little bit more while others just want to get out of there. It’s a really empty feeling.” Schmid on whether injuries played a part in the result: “I don’t think fitness was a factor. Ezra (Hendrickson) wasn’t as sharp as he would normally be and Sasha (Victorine) we had to pull out a little bit earlier than we would have thought we would. We’ve dealt with that all year. Obviously you’d like to have a week (ahead of the game) but it was the same for both teams.” Schmid on what the Earthquakes did to foil the Galaxy: “They do a good job of covering and sliding for each other in the back. When they do that, you have to be able to get it out of there and switch it over to the other side. We didn’t do that often enough. We also gave them a little too much of the game in the back. We knew it’d be 2-v-2 in the back for us, but we gave (Troy) Dayak and (Jimmy) Conrad and some of those players too much time on the ball. ôI think had we applied more pressure we would have created more turnovers and caught them more in transition which would have opened up Cobi (Jones) a little more. And every time Cobi had the ball they double-teamed him.” Schmid on getting motivated for Saturday’s U.S. Open Cup final: “It’s going to be difficult but it’s something we have to do. That’s why they’re professional athletes. It’s their job. They have to put this one away and if anything, this has to serve as motivation for the next away. We don’t want to walk away from this season empty-handed. We’ll be even more motivated for the Open Cup than we might have been.” Schmid on the Galaxy winning the big game: “It’s been a theme for us all the time that we want to be the team that wins big games and today we didn’t do it. I think the character of the guys has improved. We’ve won a lot of big games this year and this was the first one that we lost. We’ve stepped up when we had to. Today it just didn’t go that way.” Schmid on substituting Paul Caligiuri in his last MLS match: “Paul logged a lot of minutes. (Ian) Russell was a little fresher. So we decided to come with a fresher guy there and they came with Zak Ibsen later. He’s done super for us this whole time but the minutes sometime catch up with you.” Schmid on what he saw on the game-winning goal: “The initial ball looked like a harmless ball played into the corner and we just didn’t get back in time. When (Dwayne) DeRosario comes inside like that, there has to be cover and sliding from (Greg) Vanney and from (Adam) Frye and maybe from a midfielder. But that didn’t happen. (Danny) Califf felt he tipped the shot and sent it a little bit wider. Kevin Hartman (goalkeeper) got a decent hand on it but he just hit a good goal. You can always point back on where it broke down and that probably happened on our sliding over.” Schmid on Landon Donovan’s first-half goal: “It was a good goal. They put a lot of pressure on us in the first half and got a lot of good wing play with a lot of crosses. As the ball got dummied on through, that left him (Donovan) wide open and he finished it well.” Schmid on whether this MLS Cup loss is his most painful: “For me personally, this one hurts more than 1999 just because I think we had made some improvements in what we were trying to accomplish. We overcame obstacles which if I ever write a soccer book someday, people will understand those obstacles we went through this year behind the scenes that no one knows about. ôFor us to have fought through all that and continued our path to getting to the final and in the end losing hurts a lot more for me. It will take me a day or two to get over it but like a lot of players in that locker room the goal has to be the U.S. Open Cup and then to get our rear ends back here next year and make it happen.” Paul Calgiuri, Galaxy defender, on the outcome of the game: “It was a well-played game from both sides. I feel that San Jose had better chances than the Galaxy did and that typifies the matches we’ve been playing all year. They (San Jose) have our number and they beat us twice in the regular season. We had to beat them in penalty kicks in the U.S. Open Cup quarterfinals and we knew it was going to be a tough game. It could have gone either way.” Caligiuri on the emotions after the final: “For every success story, there’s sorrow and pain on the other end. As much as I would have liked to go out with a championship, especially with this being the third trip to the final for the Galaxy, there was a great story on the other end with the Earthquakes going from last place to first place and the great successes of players like Landon Donovan. There are a lot of positive things to look at than only myself. The bigger picture is the development of the game of soccer and the direction of soccer. I feel that we’re all privileged today to see a great game and final for MLS Cup 2001.” Caligiuri on getting motivated for the U.S. Open Cup final: “We do have another game to play a week from now and it’s important to us. This hurts and our locker room is very quiet but all this will sink in when my career is officially over.” Caligiuri on getting over his second loss in an MLS Cup final: “To get over a loss at the MLS Cup final is going to be very difficult. We’re going to have to dig down deep to motivate ourselves for the final. Fortunately we do have that to look forward to at this stage.” Caligiuri on the factor Donovan played on the Earthquakes: “Landon makes a difference for the San Jose Earthquakes. With Donovan coming back to the United States and deciding to play in MLS, that has been a great attribute to this league. The other day I saw him wear No. 20, a number I once wore with the U.S. national team. It couldn’t go to a better person than him. That really typifies our growth in soccer. There are many more young players’ dreams that can be like Landon Donovan’s some day.” Landon Donovan, San Jose forward, on getting the chance to win MLS Cup in his first season: “MLS gives a lot of chances to younger players and a lot of other leagues in the country and in the world don’t. It goes to prove that you can give people the chance no matter what age, and I’m glad I helped show it.” San Jose forward Dwayne DeRosario on scoring as a substitute: “Coming off the bench my teammates knew I would give 100 percent. It helps to have the belief of your teammates to boost your confidence. It’s a great feeling.” DeRosario on the goal he scored: “We had a great feeling that we were going to win. That moment (the goal) was a blur. My main objective was to get the ball in the net and I did that … That was a great pass by Ronnie Ekelund (Quakes midfielder). It was a beautiful pass. He made my job a lot easier.” DeRosario on what Frank Yallop said to him before sending him on: “Before I went into the game, Frank said to me to go out there and win it. I had the one-on-one situation and I decided to take it.” DeRosario on the support San Jose received from the Chicago Fire fans in the stadium: “It’s great to have that support away from home. It makes us feel comfortable. I’d like to thank all the Chicago fans for their support.” Donovan on the support from the Chicago Fire fans: “Obviously the Chicago Fire fans didn’t want Los Angeles to win. But it’s always better to say that the champion beat you — at least that’s how I feel. Columbus is a great stadium, the crowd is awesome and I’m glad we had them on our side today.” San Jose coach Frank Yallop on DeRosario’s role on his team: “I feel Dwayne is an impact player and needs to get on the field. It was fitting for him to get the winning goal. Every minute he plays, whether it is a whole game or 10 minutes, he’s making an impact on the game.” Yallop on his emotions: “It’s hard to put into words what I’m feeling to be honest. We talked about it all year: why can’t we win it? Why not us? Right now there is nothing I can say to describe the feeling.” Yallop on the role of Jeff Agoos on the Earthquakes: “You can’t put into words what Jeff Agoos brings to this team. He’s probably the most consistent American player, without a doubt. I felt our defense has been dominant all year and we didn’t really get challenged that much today.” Donovan on the goal he scored: “Ian (Russell) and Richard (Mulrooney) had a combination down in the corner. I wasn’t expecting the ball to get across. But I decided to get into the box and Ronald (Cerritos) was very clever to let it through. It took a glorious bounce and when I hit it, I just knew.” Donovan on the 2001 San Jose Earthquakes: “There’s a reason why Jeff Agoos has four championship rings. He knows how to win. We have people on the bench like Dwayne (DeRosario) who would be playing on most teams in the world and is sitting on our bench during the playoffs. But we’ve had great depth, great coaching and great management this year. Everything has turned around for us and I hope we’ll be here again next year.” Donovan on Paul Caligiuri’s retirement: “Without Caligiuri a lot of us, especially my generation, wouldn’t be here.” DeRosario on his first season in MLS: “Coming from the A-League, I’d like to thank Frank (Yallop) for giving me the opportunity. With teammates like Jeff Agoos and Troy Dayak telling you that you’re good at what you do helps you keep your focus.”