Salt Lake 2, LA Galaxy 0
Q. It seems like that first half five-minute stretch defined this match. Can you tell us what you saw out of the performance today?
DIEGO FAGÚNDEZ: I think the first half, we just made some, I wouldn't say "mistakes." I think the field didn't help us out.
But once again, we go back to the same thing. We shoot ourselves in the foot on some of those plays and we get punished. It's one of those things that it's frustrating but now it's a quick turnaround.
I think it's time to put this game behind and focus on Tuesday. We set ourselves up for a good results to go to the Tigres and get results there. I think in this league, it goes with runs, and I think all we're waiting is for that first win, and I think after that, things will come back into play.
Q. We spoke after that draw against Tigres on Tuesday, and it was a hard-fought draw. The team seemed pretty proud of the achievement, and now it comes out today with a loss. Is that disappointing to follow up that good performance with that type of performance? And what does that do to the mentals of the team? Does it knock you back in belief at all in this difficult stretch?
DIEGO FAGÚNDEZ: No, I think when we talked after the game, you saw the hard work we all put in and how tired we were. That's what kind of team we wanted to be defensively.
Today I don't think we were to the same expectations we did at home against Tigres, and that's why I think we got punished. But if you go back, I think like I told you at that game, I don't think there's one team that has outplayed us or anything. I think we've been in every game.
One of the toughest things is that we're not getting those bounces that we need. Just it's so frustrating, and I don't even know how to describe it. At some point things need to turn around, and I don't know if it's at Tigres when we go on Tuesday or something needs to change in this locker room.
We are all trying to figure it out. We need to figure it out soon because it's one of those things that we need points, we need goals, we need people to be confident. Games come fast.
Q. The lack of production on the offensive end; where do you think the difficulties lie? Were they just playing the system well or was there a disconnect between players?
DIEGO FAGÚNDEZ: First let's just say that playing here is hard. There's not one team that will tell you, Come to Salt Lake and playing here, it's easy.
We won last year and the way we played and the way we battled last year was crazy. That's the No. 1 thing. It's not easy to win here. And for us, I think even games that are 0-0 are hard for us to get points and goals.
When you go down 1-0 early, it kind of brings you down a little bit and once the second goal, we had to gather the team and say, hey, enough, 2-0 is enough. Like we can't be conceding at this point. We need to create more chances, and like you said, we didn't get enough shots, and that's not good enough for us. We need to be better. We have good players that can make plays happen. We have players that can score, and that's one thing we need to go on Tuesday and we're going to have to do that. Because one goal, it helps us a lot.
Q. On a personal level, it was your first time captaining the team today. You're at 399 matches at the moment, and the next match on the weekend would give you 400. How special would it be to mark that occasion with a win?
DIEGO FAGÚNDEZ: Look, being a captain for this team, it's an honor, being in this league for so long. For a team to have the confidence in you to lead a team is amazing.
At the end of the day, of course I wanted to win, and I was trying everything I could to get that for the team. But sometimes things don't happen, and the No. 1 thing is just keep working hard, give everything you have for your team.
And like I said, we need to guide each other now for Tuesday. That's going to be more important, and we have to take it one game at a time.
399 is kind of crazy to think, but there's still a lot of legs in me, and a lot of games left. And what matters right now, is trying to get wins and stuff and points. Tuesday is a big opportunity for us to really step up and say, you know what, let's get our first win in Monterrey against Tigres, and then come home and let's do it, and hopefully my 400th could be our first win. That would be nice. That would be a really special day.
Q. Understandably Galaxy fans might be a little bit concerned during this stretch. If there's one thing you could tell them at the moment, what would it be? Thank you so much.
DIEGO FAGÚNDEZ: Thank you, of course.
One thing we can give them is we've been putting all of 110 percent out there on the field. It's not the way we wanted to start but if you have seen this league many years, I think you've seen teams that are in CONCACAF, they don't always start well. At the end of the day, it's making sure that you make the playoffs.
And for us, like I said, it's one game at a time, and if we can turn everything around, we can get there. We can't be looking at the big picture and saying we're going to go all the way to the final. We have to go a game at a time and making sure that we get our job done.
Like I said, Tuesday is a huge game, and then Saturday is going to be important. We are going to be at home with our fans and we need to show them what kind of team we are. We are the 2024 champions and we need to show that to them. I know they are going to be there supporting us no matter what.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports