From the Galaxy locker roon after its historic victory: Head coach Sigi Schmid on title: “I was very proud of what our team did today. You know the history of the Galaxy has been that it can’t win the big game. I can’t say enough about the spirit of this team and the hard work they put in to overcome injuries, missing players and contract disputes.” Schmid on importance of win: “It was a huge victory for American soccer. It establishes what we are trying to prove, that MLS is a quality league and that we have players that we have organization, that we have coaches, we have owners that are supportive of this game and more so than anything that the U.S. Soccer is something that has to be looked upon as being quality. People haven’t looked upon us as having anything of meaning and now people will hopefully look at us as meaningful club play in the U.S. and clubs that are of quality.” Schmid on final hero Ezra Hendrickson: “We were hoping someone would come through with two goals. We didn’t know for it would be Ezra, but I told Ezra he needed to pay back a little for what they did to St. Vincent [St. Vincent & the Grenadines was defeated by Honduras twice in World Cup 2002 qualifying].” Goalie Kevin Hartman: “We are just a young developing league here in the United States and we wanted to prove that we could play with the best in the world. I think that was something we were able to do today.” Ezra Hendrickson on winning goal: “We knew it was going to take something special. Cienfuegos fed me a great ball on theone-two and I saw the opening at the near post and I just went for it. I am just happy that it finally happened for us.”
