LA Galaxy manager Bruce Arena has termed the 1-0 win over San Jose Earthquakes as one of the most important this campaign. Galaxy resumed the MLS campaign after there was a short break for the World Cup. Even though LA Galaxy were without a number of star players, they managed to dominate the match and get a narrow win. More than the three points, this match was about bragging rights and Arena helped his fans to get it. As a result of this victory, LA Galaxy now remain undefeated in the last five matches of all competitions.

However, they have been slipping down the table and are currently sixth – just outside the play-offs. They do have two matches in hand over Vancouver Whitecaps, who are two points ahead of them in the table. But results need to improve quickly in order to catch their main challengers. The win over San Jose Earthquakes provides major lift to the players, as it comes against their bitter rivals. Arena claimed that this was a positive victory that could rub off the players for the rest of the campaign. Zardes scored the only goal of the game in the 61st minute. LA Galaxy next take on Portland Timbers in a match that will be at home.

“I’m real pleased with the win. I thought our guys played a pretty steady game, we scored a great goal, our young center backs did a good job defensively. I think, overall, this was our best effort as a team, our concentration over 90 minutes. So this is a game that I think we deserve to win, and we’ve been certainly pushing our group to try to be able to perform like this. So a really positive win,” said the LA Galaxy coach to the reporters at Stanford University.