Lane United FC came out on top of Saturday’s friendly versus Bellevue Athletic FC by the score of 3-1. Hear from Head Coach John Galas and key players Tommy Case and Tomas Serrano, who stepped up from the academy squad, below:
ON THE TEAM’S OVERALL PERFORMANCE:
“As expected. I mean, that’s no disrespect to Bellevue. We’ve been working on possession, on counter-pressing, and I thought we possessed well and created some very good chances and obviously scored three goals. But I was really pleased, especially with that first group, with their ability to win the ball after they lost it and they hunted, they counter pressed really well, and they did it with purpose. And I think that set the tone for the rest of the game where it made it very difficult for Bellevue to get out and be dangerous with possession or create many chances.”
– Galas
“I thought it was a good way to start off the season and just excited to play, just unite and be able to play with this team. It’s just a wonder; I’m just excited to play.”
– Serrano
“I thought it was good. A lot of new faces out there, so we’re just trying to figure out how each other play, but I think we came out with the right attitude.” – Case
ON IMPROVEMENTS TO BE MADE MOVING FORWARD:
“It’s really early. We still have a ton of guys that aren’t in market yet, so we used, obviously, those that were here. We used some academy players, guys that are still sort of trialing for the club so it’s early to say what because we don’t have our full complement of guys. It’s hard to say always, though, we could create more chances. We could be be a little more dangerous in the final third, and that’s the hardest area of the field to play, because if we break teams down in possession, then they’re still going to have an ability to get bodies behind the ball and make it difficult. So if that’s what we’re dealing with this year, because we’re out possessing teams and outplaying teams, and then we have to get better at a little bit more dynamic runs and movement in the box and in around the area and recognize when to play a little bit more direct versus sustained possession. But that’ll come with time and when we get all our guys in to see where we’re at.” – Galas
“I think we’ll just improve as we go on through the season because we’re just still starting out. So, I think as we go on through the season, we’ll be better and it’ll be faster and better to play.” -Serrano
“Well, we’re gonna get a lot of new pieces and a lot of new players arriving. I think just sharpening up our passing and looking forward quickly on transitions will be what we need to do.” – Case
ON SOME OF THE POSITIVES FROM THE FIRST MATCH:
“We were calm, we were composed, we defended very well, we were dangerous for when we did create some chances. I saw some bright spots with Jalen, our center forward. Tommy Case, put in a Tommy Case-type of performance where he doesn’t stop until you pull him off the field. We got a lot of young guys on. Tomas Serrano is 16, maybe 17, scored a great goal. Hayden Galas started it right back. Did very well for a 17-year-old. Peter Conrad, Finn Dumars all local guys that are young and have been a part of this sort of academy system, if you will, got minutes today, and that’s huge for their development. It’s huge for us to be able to bring them in and they fit right in and did exceptionally well. So that’s real positive for me.” – Galas
“I think we did really well under pressure. I thought we moved the ball well and we kept possession for most of the game.” – Serrano
“We got a lot of young guys on the field getting some experience and started to sort of see how we work together as a group, and I think we got some exciting pieces for going forward in the season.” – Case