The following are quotes from MLSÆs June 20 conference call featuring Los Angeles forward Luis Hernandez and Kansas City goalkeeper Tony Meola. Luis Hernandez’s Opening Comments “I have adapted well. This is a new stage in my career. Everything is going well in the city. I am getting to know my teammates, they are getting to know me. Things are going well. I feel like I am making progress. ôThere are a lot of differences in soccer here. In Mexico, we live with the passion of soccer, we all know soccer. There are a lot of tactical differences. By and large, a lot of the teams play the same style here, kind of a physical style of play.” Tony Meola’s Opening Comments “So far, things in Kansas City have gone pretty well. We’ve played 15 games and if you would have told us at the beginning of the season that we would have 33 points after 15 games, we’d have taken it. The spirit of the team is not down. We’re not naive here. We know what we did in the beginning of the season is not the norm in our league. ôWe earned it, we deserved it. We played well enough to be undefeated after 12 games. We understand the way the league is and how difficult it is to go on the road and play. Dallas has not been a friendly place to the Wizards. ôCertainly we’ll have to find a way to win down there in Dallas if we are going to make a run at the MLS Cup. I can guarantee our spirit has not detonated at all.” Hernandez on the struggles of Mexican players in MLS “The soccer is very fast and very physical. It is not what I anticipated, but it’s not too much of a surprise. There is a lot of room for growth, things can certainly improve. MLS is missing some salt, a little bland. It’s like a potato that needs some salt, needs some flavor and savvy.” Hernandez on how he enjoyed playing in Argentina “At that time I joined Boca Juniors, there was a limit of five foreigners and only two can play at one time. The coach would choose the other foreigners and not me too often.” Hernandez on choosing to join MLS “There are a lot of reasons for this. MLS gives me a better chance to play in Europe. Being in MLS enhances my abilities to be in Europe.” Hernandez on his goal drought in MLS “I need to keep working, along with my teammates. They need to learn my style of play and my movements on the field. I can not do this alone. It basically is the lack of adequate passing. I’m only getting sporadic passes, not the quality or quantity of passes I got in Mexico.” Hernandez on how long he’ll stay in MLS “I’ve got a three-year contract in MLS. I am interested in playing with any competitive team in Europe. I am currently in talks with a European club but can’t reveal which team.” Meola on rest for Kansas City’s veterans “About a month ago we had this situation, three games in a short span. It really showed last time. We physically were tired. We do have an older team, I’m at the lower end of the over-30 group. I don’t think there is any master plan to rest some guys. I haven’t seen in practice that any guys are getting rested. Assuming we are healthy, I think the best 11 guys will be on the field.” Hernandez on pregame rituals or superstitions “I am not superstitious. I go through a normal routine like all players. I am religious and do make the sign of the cross. “I don’t have a goal celebration. I do it basically on my mood, how I feel that day. I don’t prepare any celebrations before the match.” Hernandez on why Mexico didn’t send its “A” team to the U.S. Cup “I can not give you the reason, that is a question for the Mexican Federation. As you know, they sent the Pumas team, and I think they did well.” Meola on his national team chances “Bruce (Arena) had said to me in the first three months of the year, it would depend on how I played in MLS. He sent me an email recently saying I would be considered to be part of the team for the next World Cup qualifier. I’m not sure what being part of the team means. My last game was against Tunisia in late February.” Meola on last week’s struggles “I think the one thing that was intriguing was that we had more ball possession, more shots, more corners. The problem was they ended up with more goals. We have to get back to what got us here, that is efficiency both on offense and defense. We made only three errors and Dallas made us pay for all of our errors. No team has done that to us this year. We just have to play the same soccer we’ve been playing.” Meola on playing again for the U.S. “I’m never really happy with the level I’m playing at. Once you are happy, that’s where you’ll stay all the time. I think I am playing better than ever, I feel better than ever. I never thought the knee injury would be the inspiration to improve my play, but it has been. Things happen for a reason. It’s always been an honor to represent the national team. ôBruce knows me and my willingness to win every time I go on the field. If any coach is out there and would consider me, it would have to be him. We have to trust his opinion and the decisions he makes.” Hernandez on Saturday’s game against Kansas City “It is a very important match, we need to do well. We need to start accumulating points. Hopefully, we’ll do our best and come out with a win. Meola on facing Los Angeles on Saturday “The match is a big game for both teams. We both have aspirations at finishing atop our conference. Hear in KC, we are yet to speak about that game. Tomorrow night’s game is really our concern at this point.” Meola on keeping the Wizards core of players intact “It certainly helps our team, in terms of cohesiveness. We haven’t really lost anyone except for Miklos Molnar. You see teams like L.A. or D.C. lose guys to national team duty. Right now we have a few guys that are banged up.” Hernandez on the changes Los Angeles had to make to get him “I don’t feel the pressure. The turn that the team took since my arrival is circumstantial. I’m just focusing on what we need to do. Hernandez on adapting to the Galaxy’s style “I have a professional duty here. It is true that they need to adapt to my style, bit I also need to adapt to their style. I feel we are making progress.” Hernandez on how he was allocated to the Galaxy “I have no comment on this. Those are rules that the league makes, I am not accepting blame for the Galaxy losing players. I also can’t worry about that, I’m just concerned with improving our team now.”