Steve Cherundolo PRAISES Olivier Giroud as he SCORED his FIRST GOAL with the LAFC

uh can you tell us how he impacted the team's chemistry today in the attack if at all yeah I thought as the game went on he got better and better um and he's again he's he's still gaining Fitness and and still working on uh um yeah getting match Fitness and sharpness and U you know so he can be an influential part of our attack um you know his combination work uh and play and understanding with the KNE it's clear to see in training not a a whole lot today but um that's something we're looking for and I'm I'm positive that you'll see more of that in the weeks to come can you tell us one take home message that you gave to the players afterwards uh we haven't spoken yet you haven't okay let's go right here hi where where do you just believe Columbus got the better of you tonight you know the game developed exactly how we expected so our match plan was pretty clear um and with the exception of conceding a goal right before half which which shouldn't happen just poor defending just kind of falling asleep um you know I thought we had a really good second half and it developed exactly how we thought we knew they would get fatigued we knew um our subs would be positive for us and um that's exactly what happened had him on the ropes and then again same carelessness defending um at the end you can see the second and and I think that's the difference tonight it's just two two moments in the game where we kind of uh weren't awake and they were um and really that's the difference I didn't see much much else um and unfortunately for us we had a few few chances to go up 2 one in the second half and I thought we really had them on the ropes um and just couldn't finish those plays difference is their player coo did and ours didn't do you feel like Columbus had a bit of Advantage not having to play in the group stages and just Fitness wise I don't know I don't think so I I don't think you can go that far back the advantage is you get to play at home um that's that's a clear Advantage uh we've seen year and year MLS Cup and in these tournaments um but that's an advantage you earn through the regular season all right next question in the room please John hi Steve John Arnold with the leags Cup site um kind of following on the advantages you can gain in different tournaments and that kind of thing uh I heard you talk a little bit about not going directly into the round of 16 as maybe not a huge motivating factor that the trophy was more of a motivation uh you now have other tournaments that you turn your attention to open cup the league what do you feel like has to happen for you guys to you know be able to focus on that and potentially reap the rewards in concav Champions Cup that come with those tournaments we're already qualified for the Champions Cup so um that was the first objective of this tournament and and a job well done uh by us and so um you know again winning raising a trophy is always great it didn't happen and we move on it's that simple we have an important match Wednesday night in Seattle in the open cup and we'd love to uh host the final at beo and that's that's our objective now there's no time to really to think uh too much about this um it was a it was a fun experience fun tournament for us but it's over and you won't hear me speak another word about it after we're done here do we have any more questions in the room there you go coach with uh Columbus outscoring you guys 10 to three and within nine months you guys have sort of built a rivalry and with this day and age forming new rivalries it it's entertainment can you just talk about sports in general just building new rivalries and what it brings to you know MLS it's it's great it's two teams uh functioning at a at a very high level um in different ways and it's also great for our sport uh great for the MLS and um you know I I I don't like to draw conclusions or or go back multiple seasons and and create these long statistics I think that doesn't make sense every game has its own story um and so I like to think from game to game but uh you're welcome to think however you please um but yeah rivalries are important we have our regional Rivals and our local one in La um and then maybe now out of conference with Columbus Philly matches are always important for us and always exciting um but yeah to grow our Sport and and to make our league more attractive we need more of these games and um we were happy to take part in it tonight just came up a bit short all right we're going to jum jump to zoom take some questions first one we'll go to Josh gross thank you hey Steve do you hear me loud and clear all great um uh first uh could you just talk a little bit more about uh what you hope to accomplish from half to half um so do I understand right that the first half went the way you wanted what was the message to the group for the second half and secondly um health-wise how are you coming out of this Murray had to come off and Olivier seemed to be bothered by the knee a bit do you have any updates on player Health afterwards as well thank you yeah the first half went as expected um we're fine not having much possession uh we didn't concede much at all um and then a silly set pieace goal uh second phase of a set piece which is uh should have been under control um and then to have to chase a deficit in the second half makes it difficult away and against this team but I thought we did a fantastic job in the second half and so you know we we we wanted to weather the storm in the half they have been starting quickly in this tournament really pushing the tempo in the first 30 minutes as I did tonight but have been dying late uh and we we saw that and um you know I I think if we can get into the half without kiny in that goal I think uh I'd have a different demeanor right now but um should have could have would have so um obviously congratulations to Columbus but you know the game plan did go as expected and our injuries maray we have to see how he's doing uh um certainly it doesn't look like he'll be available for for Wednesday so uh hopefully it's not too bad Olivier um I don't know anything yet but it seems to be fine