SIGI SCHMID
''It's been a long road with all the past and the Galaxy not having success in the finals. Whether you admit it or not, those losses still hang over your heard. This surely gets those ghosts out of the closet.''
''My hat's off to Steve Nicol and all that his team has done. We continued attacking throughout the game and I thought our defense did a great job.''
''There are so many people I want to thank. Tim Leiweke took a chance on me and allowed me to coach this team. Most importantly I need to thank the players. They always believed in themselves.''
''Around here, you have a great man in Todd Smith, as he endures what he's going through. I lost my mom at an early age to cancer and you don't realize the fight that he is going through.
''My 72-year old aunt, who all her life asked why I played this crazy sport. She used to get upset when I was late for family functions. She couldn't understand what it was all about. She hasn't missed a home game in 30 years. And she didn't miss this one. It shows this sport can catch anyone at any age. Her being here today was very special because it's as close as it could be to my mom being here at the game.''
''We had planned to start Mauricio Cienfuegos. He has been an institution with the Galaxy, but Peter Vagenas was also healthy. Maybe there was a little of the passing of the torch today.''
''In terms of the game I don't think we attacked the width as much as we needed to in the first half. I think Cobi confined himself to the right wing and we needed him to be more active. I thought he did that in the second half and that's what opened up the game.''
''It's still a blur. I had to sprint out there for the celebration. That tired me out, and that's when I forgot everything. It was a good combination through the midfield. Tyrone laid a good ball off. He's a good attacking outside back. He got in behind them out wide and then hit a great ball to Carlos. Carlos did what he does best — score it.''
''I thought what we had to do was not get frustrated as the game went on. They're a team that prides itself on its defense. We needed to make sure we didn't lose our shape on defense. I thought we did that throughout the second half and overtime. We felt it was just a matter of time.''
''I think people hear us now. We've been in four title games, and won three of the four championship games we've played in during the last two years. Thursday (the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final) will be our fifth. I don't think there can be any doubt that we've got a great start toward establishing this club as the premier team of MLS in the early years of this decade.''
CARLOS RUIZ:
''First of all I want to congratulate the New England Revolution, their head coach and players. I have also lost some difficult matches on a number of occasions and it makes winning that much sweeter. I want to thank the League, the media and my teammates for making this happen.''
On the winning goal:
''I'm getting used to this type of play. I know that anytime there is a cross, a lot of my goals have come that way, and I look forward to opportunities like those.''
On missing some scoring opportunities: ''In any game you're going to have opportunities when you miss some and you make some. The thing is, however, is that we created those opportunities. Luckily I was able to capitalize on one of those opportunities and make the difference for this game.''
On being the first Guatemalan player to win a title overseas: ''This is very important to me and Guatemalan soccer. It's proof that all of the talents are there. Guatemalans are able to produce good soccer players who are able to win titles.''
COBI JONES:
''It's my first time in a winning press conference so I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do here. I have to give credit to the New England Revolution. They're an unbelievable team, especially over the last games of the regular season. They were on the brink of not making it in and then finishing first in the East and making it all the way to the final. It's a tribute to them.
''I also have to say thank you to all of the Los Angeles Galaxy fans. I'm surprised that we had that many fans here. I have to thank all the fans who followed us for seven long years of coming so close and being the bridesmaid for so long. Hopefully we can finish the next one (U.S. Open Cup) on Thursday.''
On where this victory ranks in his career:
''It hasn't settled in yet, but give me a few hours and a couple days. It's been a long season with the World Cup, qualifying, the intensity in Korea, and then coming back here and picking up the level here with the team and seeing us come from behind.''
''To be very honest, the soccer press wasn't thinking of us in the beginning of the year or in the middle of the year. It was always San Jose and Chicago. But we took the hard route to beat San Jose to win the title. We've beat teams at their home and have established ourselves as a team that does not fold anymore.''
''Obviously (the losses) are motivating but there was a quote in the locker room before the game something along the lines of 'Yesterday and tomorrow are twin sisters that ruin the present.'
You can't think about the past and the other three games. This is a different team and we have a lot of different players like Tyrone (Marshall), ''The Fish'' (Carlos Ruiz) and 'Lexi (Alexi Lalas) who have helped the team establish itself as the premier team in MLS.''
On where the win ranks: ''It's a very different type of victory but it's up there. This is the pinnacle of my career for me — being a champion. You finally get the monkey off your back. No one can talk any more. I don't have to listen to Bruce Arena (U.S. National Team Head Coach) any more asking me when we are going to win a championship. I can finally walk up to him and tell him, 'I got this one for you.'''
''I've been on the team that's lost and you can't say that team wasn't hungry. You can see it on their faces. When I went up to Joey Franchino (New England Revolution captain) after the game, you could see the desire was there. We wanted it and New England wanted it just as bad. It comes down to the desire of the players out there. It comes down to the team which works hard and gets the breaks. We've had the quiet confidence over the past few weeks to come in here and do the things that need to be done.''
On the physical match: ''It's exactly what we expected coming in. We knew New England had established itself over the past few games by its defense. Sometimes they have seven or eight players in the box and it makes I difficult to score. And the wind didn't help as well. It made it hard to cross. So we had to try to get some breaks on them when they pressured us and we had a few chances that didn't go our way. But we finally got the fastbreak that worked.''
On the flow of the game: ''It was very difficult. I thought there were a few opportunities where we could have closed it out quick. But it didn't go our way and Adin Brown made some incredible saves. Their defense was so solid in the back. You start to think that it was going to go the way of the other three games. I knew the opportunities were going to come. When you have a proven goal scorer like Carlos (Ruiz) and you give him two or three chances, you know he's going to finish one of them.''
''After the Colorado game there was no celebration. We still knew we had to focus on the next game. You can't celebrate in the semifinals thinking ''we've made it to the final.'' This team has made it to the final before. We don't need that anymore. People have been asking me whether we wanted to make it to the final. And I didn't. You can't just be happy making it to the final any more.''
''When you have opportunities you think are solid and the 'keeper comes up with a good save you think about it. Is this going to go the other way? But the opportunities kept coming and you just felt it was just a matter of time before the dam breaks and we were going to get one.''
ALEXI LALAS:
''For myself and Kevin Hartman, it was an easy day because Danny Califf and Tyrone Marshall worked their butts off. Defensively, we knew that if we were able to keep them at zero, then somebody was going to score.
We knew we were going to get our chances, and we were a little unlucky at times, but we got that last one.''
''When we have the ball, it's also important to know where their markers are. So when Tyrone goes on his little walkabouts like he did at the end there, we get back into position.''
''You go to this thing so many times. There's a lot of fans in Los Angeles and they've suffered for a long time, but they've also come out and supported us.
I believe that if you're consistent, good things will happen. As good as New England played through the playoffs, we played well from the beginning of the season to win the Supporters Shield and win the League, and that says something.''
''Defense wins championships, and all that type of stuff.
With as well as both teams were playing in the past month, that effort showed tonight. Neither of us wanted to give it up, especially in a golden goal situation.''
''This team has had a tremendous amount of success in its history. Getting to the finals and doing that type of stuff has been a part of this team.
We all hear it.
We have an incredible fan base back home, and every time you go to the supermarket or wherever, people who are into the Galaxy say, 'Hey, you better win it this year.'
Now we can go back with a trophy for them.''
''This is a wonderful ending to a three-year odyssey for me.
It's something that has made me a better soccer player and a better person.
It's not going to change my life, or it's not going to justify anything or make my life complete at the age of 32.
But it certainly is a wonderful moment and something that I'll treasure.''
''I'm greedy now.
I really enjoyed myself this year, not just because of the success, but it was just a fun place to be and a fun team to play for.''
PETER VAGENAS:
''The coaching staff has done wonders all years preparing us for games, and that's the biggest challenge.
Physically we'll be there (on Thursday), but I'm sure they'll give us the next day or two to soak this up because we deserve this, it's been a long time coming.
Come Tuesday, it's all about business again.''
''Danny and Taylor (Twellman) go way back.
We could see it in Danny's eyes all week.
After training Sigi gives us time to work on our own and Danny's had guys doing what Taylor would do. Califf was pissed off last time we were here because (Twellman) got a goal and he took it personally. Sigi made it personal and that's the best way he could do it, our defenders love that.''
EZRA HENDRICKSON:
''Today we came out and p[layed very good defense.
Our whole thing was let's keep it at zero and we'll win this game, because no one's going to shut us out.
That was our whole attitude coming into this game.
It took 100 minutes to happen, but it did.''
''It's just happiness right now, its elation.
We've been on the other end a lot of times, but now we're winners and hopefully this is the start of something that's going to continue for years to come.''
''The thing with ''Fish'' is that he's a great finisher.
He missed a couple of chances during the course of the game, but you always knew that if he gets another one he's going to put it away.''