LOS ANGELES FOOTBALL CLUB MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 16, 2021

Cristian Arango

Press Conference

LAFC 3, San Jose 1

Q. Can you talk about your thoughts and how important it was to win this match?

CRISTIAN ARANGO: Entering this match, the attitude we presented tonight was fundamental to getting result, and we hope to continue to implement this attitude and the style to get the results in the coming matches.

Definitely our confidence grows by scoring. I think we were able to score and get the result tonight, but like I said, hopefully we can continue on this path. It's important in every match -- scoring is important, but like I said hopefully we can continue growing and being impactful.

We were taking advantage of the small spaces, short spaces. We were pretty compact in our pressing, and this helps us be closer on recovering the ball. Had we converted each opportunity that we had, the score would have been greater.

Q. You made your debut against San Jose on August 8. How has the team changed since you've been here over that stretch and where do you think the team is now compared to when you played them the first time?

CRISTIAN ARANGO: My teammates didn't know me well and I didn't know them as well either. I was only in training a couple days after that match, but I can say the development and evolution of me getting to know my teammates, and my teammates getting to know me has gone in a positive direction and obviously helps out, and at the same time we understand each another now and they know me and I know them, so we can expect certain things from each other.

Q. And for this last stretch, do you feel like the team is in a better place? How would you say the team is right now in terms of the last five games you have in front of you? What's the sense of the group? Do you feel like you guys are set up for success, or there's still ups and downs, not quite sure of the energy of what you have in front of you?

CRISTIAN ARANGO: This break definitely helped us out. This break was important for us to recover physically. We are coming off a stretch where we are playing matches almost every four days. So it obviously helped us recover and have full energy as needed.

We learn every day whether it's good or whether it's bad, we learn. So it's important to make those adjustments off of that. So now we have the confidence and you know, we'll continue building there.

Q. (Can you talk about how your leadership has helped the team?)

CRISTIAN ARANGO: When you ask about me as a leader, I think it's more natural and my way to lead, I can say that my calmness and my patience and good energy is what contributes. I definitely appreciate those who consider me as a leader. But I also consider the captains and seniority, and this is what it it's all about. We all learn about each other and support each other and then I also feel that there's a lot I can learn from my teammates, specifically MIH (ph), so that's always good that I can learn from others, as well.