Galaxy - 2, Loons - 1
Q. Joe, what has this season meant to you? You guys are defending MLS Cup champions and the start wasn't probably anywhere where you guys thought it would be. But what does it say to get through this season and to sort of finish it out this way?
JOSEPH PAINTSIL: I think this season was a lesson for us and this is also a wake-up call for us as a team. It hasn't been the way we wanted it to be. Unfortunately, we gave out a lot of points, a lot of unnecessary goals, a lot of mistakes. We get punished and we're here now not even playing for the playoff. It's really a sad moment for a champion team last season and not playing in the playoffs.
We should have at least been in the playoffs even for us to test ourselves and see how far we would go. But in everything, you just need to give thanks to God. He knows the best. So I would just be calm and just look forward to the next season. That's the most important thing.
We have some Cup games that's ahead of us. We just need to come back, work harder and not to repeat the start of the season, how we started the season, and just to work on something so that we can be better during the season.
Q. What is your offseason going to look like knowing Ghana qualified for the World Cup, knowing that you have a chance to go to that team whenever the World Cup is here in the United States? How important is the offseason for you and how important is the start of the season for you?
JOSEPH PAINTSIL: It's really important for me now because there shouldn't be a -- there should be a little break for me, but not everything because I still need to work myself out and just be ready for the season and also for the World Cup. That's the most important thing.
So for me the offseason is a little bit -- it's good for us to go, I think, be with the family, with everyone, everyone that we feel happy being around with as the most important thing, to release stress and everything and just focused on what is ahead of us next season.
I think for me it's really important for this offseason so that I can go prepare and work harder and just come back and just continue what we used to do last season and what I did also this season, even though it wasn't a good performance for the whole team.
But I can (indiscernible) least at the end of the season I had 10 goals out of it. I'm really glad that, on my part, I did what I had to do to help the players and the staff. And I think the players are really willing to come back stronger next season and just give everything for the supporters.
Q. How would you describe what you lost without Ricky this year, and what do you envision for next year when he's back?
JOSEPH PAINTSIL: We lost a lot. We miss him. He's a key master player on the ball. He makes the decision for us, especially me and Ricky, me and Pec and also with Dian (phonetic), and now if Ricky was starting, there would be a little bit changes, because now it's just me and Pec, and if they know what we're capable of doing and they stop us, it's really easy and difficult for us to do whatever we have to do.
But if we have Ricky on the board, he's always a guy who always makes a great decision by giving us assists and going solo and scoring. And so we really miss him this season.
I think we just can't wait to be with him and just start the season with him and just feel the energy again.
Q. We saw this team get better the second half of the season. We saw some very fine performances. When you look at the season as a whole, are there positives beyond that that you guys gained out of this year?
JOSEPH PAINTSIL: Yeah, I think it's positive. I think we had ourselves a tie place in the Indy Cup (phonetic). I think we had something, even though we wanted to win the cup, but it wasn't possible.
The starting of the season was really bad, but at the end of the season I think we did what we have to do but it was really too late for us to do whatever we have to do to be in the playoff.
Like I said, it's a lesson and wake-up call for us not make this thing happen again because it's a really disappointing thing for the club and for the players also, especially sometimes when I look in the mirror and sometimes when I look at the table where we are, I feel a little bit disappointed. But in all, you just need to be focused and just do your best and leave everything to God and we'll see how next season goes.
Q. You won the Golden Boot this year for the team. So you mentioned that you feel like, you know, you came out and you performed to a certain extent. What would you like to add to your game next year? Where's the next level for you next year?
JOSEPH PAINTSIL: You mean what's the next step for me next year? It's the same thing. It's the same energy. I just need to come back with a full focused mentality, just do what I love to do, just playing and enjoy scoring. I'm really going to prepare for the next season and just do extra work for where I need to land more and what I need to do also, because when I go to Ghana, I have to really, like, do everything, put in more effort because next season is going to be not easy as we all would think, but the most important thing is the start of the league is the most important thing for us to win the games and then we will see how it goes.
So I think it's going to be the same season. I think the coaches are going to prepare some things and some changes and maybe some things that we need to do to also improve more in terms of defense and attacking, I think they're going to do a good job next season, and we're all going to put our energy and help each other to be a success in this league.
Q. Tonight's victory shows that LA Galaxy still has some soccer in the pitch bringing hope to the fans. What does Galaxy need to do to climb back up to the top of the MLS?
JOSEPH PAINTSIL: We just have to just focus and just don't let what happened at the beginning of the season happen. At least if we are going through the season, we have to make our mind really strong and just go all out especially winning all our home games and winning some games also. In a way, I think it's going to be something really important. Like last year, what we did, we win all our home games and did extremely great also away, scoring and everything, and that leads us to play in the playoff and play in all of our home games, all the games in our home games.
I think we as a team as a whole just need to prepare mentally, physically, come face each other and face the reality. This is a league that's it's really a strong league and competitive. And as you can see, we just don't need to just be sitting down just be thinking we were champions last season and, you know, just keep on being a champion.
But if the champion you were last season is not a champion you are this season. You need to focus and just try to win more cups. I'm just here to win cups, and I'm here to make history in this club, and that's what my mentality is. And that's what my mentality is going to be next season to also score more, use my energy, my abilities to help the club and to have a success at the end of the day.
Q. (Off microphone)
JOSEPH PAINTSIL: Yeah, I already released a song which is out. It's a gospel song. I just love it. It's good.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports