Today’s guests: MLS Deputy Commissioner – Ivan Gazidis Los Angeles Galaxy/ U.S. national team midfielder – Cobi Jones Ivan Gazidis’ Opening Comments: “Congratulations to Cobi for becoming our MLS Player of the Week with his two-goal performance this weekend. Cobi has put in more than five years of service to the league and is a great example of someone who has made a career for himself in the U.S. He is a big part of our league history and future. The Galaxy have an important match tonight against Chivas. These types of international games are important particularly when Los Angeles can play outside of the United States in preparation for the challenge they have ahead of them in the Club World Championship. Cobi will be lending his experience to a young group of players with the Galaxy and I think it’s important for them to have the experience of playing outside their country. For most of them it will be a good learning experience.” “Congratulations to Alex Pineda Chacon, the MLS Player of the Month for April. He has been a great signing for us from Honduras. In his first season, he leads the league in scoring with five goals and ten points. He’s been a big part of the reason why the Fusion has the best record in the league at the moment. He’s averaging 3.81 points per 90 minutes and he’s only played 236 minutes so far in four of the Fusion’s five games. We’re really happy to have a player of his quality and to see him adjust so quickly is tremendous. We wish him all the best.” “Also congratulations to the U.S. national team. I was in Kansas City last week and it was a great crowd, great atmosphere and great win for the U.S. which has put us in a good position. That Costa Rican team is a very strong one and any positive result against them is outstanding. Once again, two 24-year-olds from Georgia stole the show with Mathis and Wolff combining for the winning goal. Then they came back to MLS this weekend and Josh (Wolff) scored on a beautiful 20-yard freekick into the upper corner. Clint (Mathis) then scored one of the best goals I’ve seen in MLS. If anyone hasn’t seen it I would encourage them to visit our website and have a look at it. He runs almost the full length of the field and takes on the entire Dallas defense, then beats the goalkeeper.” “We’ve received a lot of inquiries from journalists asking whether we’ve received European offers for Clint or Josh. We have not been approached by any European teams at this time. It’s not our focus or the players’ focus. Both of them have long term contracts with the league that will take them through the World Cup and beyond. All of our focus is having them in our league and continuing to perform with the national team and lead us into the World Cup.” “Jason Kreis joined Preki in the elite 50 goals/50 assist club. He’s the second player to join that club. We’ve reviewed the game tape from the Burn’s 3-2 loss to the MetroStars and he was credited with an assist on the Burn’s first goal in the 71st minute. Possibly the next player to join that list is Cobi. He has 50 goals and 40 assists. He will be there and we’re looking forward to that.” Cobi Jones’ Opening Comments: “I’d like to thank everyone for the honor of being named player of the week. It’s not just one player but the whole team so I’d like to thank all of them. Our team is preparing for this match against Chivas which is good preparation for the FIFA Club World Championship coming up in the next few months. It’s a good situation for us to play Chivas and it’s also good for the Anschutz Entertainment Group for the fact that they plan to expand their horizons to international soccer as well. The team here is pretty focused on this game right now. We are also focusing on the league and the Club World Championship. It’s a lot on our plate now but I think it is a challenge we are ready take on.” “The game against Colorado was a big one for us. The last two games have been a quite turnaround for us. We started off very slow. We’re treating it as a new season since those first few matches. We came off the loss to San Jose and played in the hurricane against Kansas City. The way we look at it right now is that we’re 2-0. For us we’re having a good season at this point in time. For myself, I got my first two goals of the year and hopefully I can get ten more assists to join that elite 50/50 crowd with Jason Kreis and Preki.” Jones on how it feels to get two goals after the offseason re-signing process: “Obviously it was a trying situation. All negotiations are trying on both parties but in the end I think everyone was happy with how things turned out. The two goals (from this past weekend) are an example of what I can do and what I can bring to the league. It’s a good situation both ways because the league can say it was well worth it to keep me here.” Gazidis on having Cobi Jones in the league: “We’re absolutely delighted about the new contract with Cobi. There were a few things we had to work out and we resolved them all very satisfactorily. We’re all extremely happy about it. I know Cobi is going to return the faith we’ve placed in him. He’s done that for the past five years through loyal service to this league and I’m real happy that he’s committed his future to MLS. I think there are some exciting things in store for him, the Galaxy and the league over the next few years.” Jones on how the Galaxy focuses on the regular season with the Club World Championships looming: “Obviously it’s a situation where you have to look at everything separately. At this point in time we’re focusing on the Chivas game. Then we will have to focus on the season at hand. We’re going to give 100 percent in every game we’re playing in. We could look at every game as preparation for the Club World Championship. You don’t want to focus on the Club Championships and put your season on the second tier and then come back after the competition and say ‘What happened?’ So we want to do well in the MLS season and focus on that. Then we will focus on the Club Championship and then come back and go for the MLS Cup title.” “It’s tough for teams to focus on different tournaments. But, the best teams are the ones which win the trebles like Manchester United. You have to be able to focus when it counts at a variety of different times.” Jones on how the play in MLS has improved: “If you look at the level of play from Year One until now there is a dramatic improvement in the level of play and the players that are here. There’s a dedication from the foreign players who are here and there’s more of a drive and intensity among the players to do well and get a championship. The league has spread itself out where it hasn’t been one team dominating all the time. But each team goes out every season knowing they have a chance to go out and win the championship. As long as we continue to get better and we continue to develop better players, you’re going to see the league get better and you’re going to see our national team get better.” Jones on how he was able to get past the offseason distractions: “At the time when I was going through the contract negotiations I wasn’t with the team. I was in limbo. I needed to get something done and once I signed with MLS, I put 100 percent of my concentration and time with the Los Angeles Galaxy.” Jones on how much he has changed since he’s been with the MLS and the Galaxy: “As far as soccer, I’ve become more of a well-rounded player and learned the game more. My ability off the ball and with the ball has improved tremendously. It’s a natural maturity that you get with anything you do with time and you get better and better over the years.” Jones on beating D.C. United en route to the Football Confederation Champions’ Cup: “It was very important for us especially since it was a game (against D.C.) that had something on the line. Usually it always seems we do well in a regular season matches (against D.C.) but when it came to the playoffs or MLS Cup, we would lose to them. So it was good to be in a game where it was one-and-out. It showed we had the ability to stick it out and push ourselves through. We’re a team that can win championships instead of being a team that always finishes second place.” Jones on what has led to his improved play over the last few weeks: “The team has been together since November, training off and on making sure we were read for the F.C. Champions’ Cup. Now it’s been such a long time with months and months of training that it has felt like we’ve gone through four preseasons. Then the season finally started and it blew our minds that we were finally there. We weren’t quite prepared for our first game. Then the next week we weren’t prepared either. Now we’re starting to realize that it’s time to shape up and sort things out. We’ve had to put the long months behind us and get a fresh start to the season. That’s what we’ve done and obviously there have been changes in the last two games against Colorado.” Jones on his discussions with Sigi Schmid at the time of the U.S. vs. Brazil match: “That discussion went both ways. I wanted a commitment from him and he wanted a commitment from me. Both of us had to be satisfied. He needed to be sure that I was 100 percent dedicated to the team over the next few years and not focusing on other avenues and other arenas. I wanted to make sure he wanted me as a player and leader on this team and that he felt comfortable with me in my position as a forward or a winger. We had to make sure that there was no anger that I took my time to make my decision and look at other options.” Gazidis on adding players to the Galaxy ahead of the Club World Championship: “We’ve indicated to Sigi Schmid and the Galaxy that we are ready, willing and able to assist them in any way that we can for the tournament. But that’s a complicated decision to make for a number of different reasons. First, Sigi has a team of players in which he has a lot of confidence in at the moment. And I’m not convinced that Sigi believes that he needs assistance or that it would be valuable to bring a player in for just one tournament when you have a team whose chemistry has built up during the course of a season. But we’re there if he wants assistance. I’m not sure whether he does or not or whether he is in a position to decide yet. At the same time, he wants the team playing in Spain to be recognized as the Los Angeles Galaxy so that any achievements we have out there are meaningful. You don’t want to send a team that is not representative of the squad that plays in MLS. That’s another part of the equation which must be considered. So it’s not a decision that we’re in a position to make yet and there are factors that speak against it.” Jones on whether new players are needed on the Galaxy for the Club World Championship: “The only player who should be given the opportunity to join the team late would be Luis Hernßndez because that was agreed upon beforehand. Beyond that, I think the question does not have any merit. It’s ridiculous to think we’re going to add players. If Chivas was going to this tournament would you ask them if they would be adding players for the tournament? You wouldn’t. So why would you ask the Galaxy the same thing? We qualified and won the tournament by beating CD Olimpia to advance as Champions’ Cup winners. Why should we now be changing our team just because we’re playing against Real Madrid and other great teams? This is the team that qualified and you have to reward those players who won the Champions’ Cup. This team qualified and this team should go.” Gazidis on whether Pineda Chac=n’s success will attract other players from Honduras: “It does have an effect when you have a player who comes in and is successful on the field as well as off the field. Pineda Chac=n has approached this with a positive attitude and has been a great representative of Honduran soccer in many ways. That affects the perception of the types of players you can get from that country. It will have a positive effect. People are going to continue to look at Honduras as a place where you can pick up good players, especially players who approach Major League Soccer with the right type of attitude.” Jones on the difference between under-17 players today and fifteen years ago: “The talent is getting better and I see young players getting better and better. You can see that the new crop of players is stronger, faster and more skilled and they can compete at a higher level. That’s due to the fact that Major League Soccer is here and the popularity of soccer has increased. You see players going professional at a younger age who can play at a high level. It helps that they get the opportunity to play overseas. When I was growing up there were very few players who had that opportunity to see what it means to become a professional.” Jones on the differences between the U.S. national team’s opponents: “All of them are difficult teams to play against both home and away. The biggest difficulty with Mexico is that they keep possession of the ball so well. Jamaica are playing very well right now. They are a quick and strong team and their athletic ability is something we’re going to have to deal with.” Gazidis on the cooperation between MLS and U.S. Soccer: “We have a great relationship with Bruce Arena and U.S. Soccer. It’s very important for all of us that the U.S. national team performs well through qualifying and in the World Cup next year should they be fortunate enough to get there. We’ve been conscious of the fact that we need to be supportive of our national team. The way we’ve been working with Bruce and releasing players as early as we can has been one of the factors that has helped that team do well. It’s also benefited us because we have seen some MLS players step up to the plate and perform very well. That reflects well on our league, it reflects well on those players and it helps elevate our profile. We’re working with U.S. Soccer to help build the sport.” Jones on Clint Mathis’ breakout season in MLS and on the national team: “Clint was always a player who had a lot of skills and other players recognized that he had the ability to become a very good player. It was just a matter of time of when it was going to happen. Right now he’s breaking out of his shell. He’s showing the ability that everyone believed would take him a long way. With the Galaxy it was a matter of him finding his spot on the team. Throughout this league you see players who are with a team which does not suit them well and then they move to another team and they start shining. With Clint, he has started to shine with the MetroStars and he’s built up confidence. When you do that, you can do anything. Right now Clint can do anything. He’s at a place where he’s comfortable. He’s scoring goals in MLS and he’s creating and scoring goals with the national team. He’s hot. That’s the type of player you want during World Cup Qualifying.”