Steve Sampson Game Quotations

What a disappointing way to finish the match, especially after creating so many opportunities that we should have put away. It should have easily been 2-1 at halftime. We played to win, we created enough opportunities to win, and we didn't handle the last few minutes of the game very well at all.

I felt in the second half the players played with a lot of pride and they showed they weren't going to drop their heads and roll over and that was important. They wanted to show the Dallas fans that we can play this game too.

I thought that Tyrone Marshall leaving the game was a big loss for us because I think he was holding the middle of the defense quite well for us. When he left we lost the middle of the defense.

I thought that the first 20-25 minutes of the game we played quite well. We created a couple opportunities. If we put one of those away it's a different game. I think the emotion of the match, and all the pre-game ceremony before we stepped on the pitch, hopefully wasn't that much of a distraction but in the end I think we'll evaluate that it was.

Their decision to go after Landon early in the game resulted in two yellow cards. This is a guy who takes a lot of beating when he plays for the Galaxy. I think quality players have to be protected - and tonight, he was protected. That made the difference in the game.

Certainly the opening game on Saturday is going to be very emotional. How we handle that is going to be very important.