Head Coach John Galas shared his thoughts after Lane United FC’s season-opening 5-1 defeat on the road at Ballard FC.

On the first game ever for Ballard FC

“I want to complement Ballard because that was a wonderful atmosphere and a good showcase for the league, first and foremost. They’ll be able to draw fans, they’ve got a good atmosphere, they’ve got a good team, and it was fun to be a part of it from that sense.” 

On his general feelings on the team’s season opener

“We’re better than what we showed and we know that. We gifted them opportunities and – fair play to them – they capitalized. We just kept on shooting ourselves in the foot; goals change games. Down 2-0 at the half and we were up against it for 90 minutes, so it was tough.” 

Things to focus on in training to prepare for next weekend

“Stating the obvious here, but we need to work on not giving the ball away so cheaply and giving them goals. Certainly, taking better care of the ball because we have talented players who like to play football and I thought we were pretty casual in possession at times. It’s always hard when you can’t scout a team; you don’t know what you’re going to get and making some of the in-game changes is difficult, but obviously shoring things up defensively, because when you give up five… I think these are fixable things, which is the good part.” 

On positive takeaways, particularly after second-half substitutions.

“Well, we scored and Duncan [McGuire] proved again that he can be a menace up top and Ryan Brakke was certainly positive on both sides of the ball. The energy was good, Jordan came in and put in a good shift. I thought Brian Torre was excellent tonight, too. We’ll look at who’s ready to play next week. I mean, spots are up for grabs after a 5-1 drubbing… you’ve gotta look at things and evaluate them. I know the players aren’t happy and we’re not happy as a staff and we’ll fix it.” 

(photo credit: Rio Giancarlo)