NEW YORK RED BULLS
New York Red Bulls Head Coach Jesse Marsch
Opening statement…
“I thought it was a hard-fought match and a playoff atmosphere. D.C., I thought, played well, battled hard and made it difficult on us all over the field like we knew they would. We know the heart of the team of D.C. United, we know that they’re going to make you earn every inch at all moments of the game, and that’s what the game was like today. We managed to get one, get a big lead and now set ourselves up to go back home and push the game there.”
On Dax McCarty’s goal…
“There’s a lot of little set plays that we build in; the little movements to try and unsettle the team or try to keep them guessing. It’s always kind of up to Sacha [Kljestan] to be the quarterback of these different moments and decide what play we’re going to use and when. It’s not just that. It’s a great ball in the box, which I thought he served a bunch of great balls all night, and then Dax [McCarty] does enough to gain a little bit of room and finish the goal, so good job from those two.”
On taking time for the team to settle in…
“Yeah, especially when you go on the road in the playoffs. A lot of times, the game doesn’t settle down and it could have gone 90 minutes. I thought it settled down a little bit in the middle of the second half at some point, but that being said, the game was on edge and on the balance at all moments. Big credit to our guys to come into a tough place to play against a good team and get a 1-0 lead.”
On Ronald Zubar’s challenge on Markus Halsti…
“It looked like he got ball and it was an aggressive challenge, obviously, but you could argue that it wasn’t even a foul because I think he got ball. One of the things with some of these guys that come over from different leagues is sometimes fouls are interpreted differently here than they are in different places, but I thought a yellow card was fair.”
On Damien Perrinelle’s injury…
“We’re mildly concerned right now and hopeful that it’s not terrible, so we’ll just have to take a couple of days and get a scan on it and see where he’s at.”
On holding D.C. United to zero shots on goal…
“I didn’t know that statistic, but I still think they were very dangerous at times. Guys like Espíndola and Saborío never make you feel at ease because they’re always able to pull off a play. Our defense did well tonight and stood them up in different moments. Most of the chances they got were either from set pieces or shots from a far distance, so that’s a credit to our guys. It won’t be easy to repeat the same feat at home.
On taking the lead on aggregate…
“We’re not taking anything for granted; it’s the playoffs. D.C. is going to come to Red Bull Arena fighting for dear life. If you have one slip-up all of the sudden, the game can be in balance there. With the away goal rules, we’re far from out of the woods here. We’ve gotten to halftime, we’ve gotten a lead, but we certainly have a long way to go.”
On getting control of the game…
“D.C. comes off a short week and they’re low on numbers and everything else, so we were able to now start to get control and get a grasp on the game a little bit, but again, at any moment they could have made a play and they made us earn everything, so big credit to them and we know what kind of game it’s going to be back at Red Bull Arena.”
On defending Espíndola and on Matt Miazga…
“We just talked at halftime about standing him up and not falling for his tricks, little flicks and little games that he likes to play and just staying focused on doing the job. Matt’s [Miazga] first playoff game; we’re continuing to try and help him understand what big games are like. He picked up the yellow on the play in the first half, but then the rest of the half I thought he was almost perfect. Not an easy job on Espíndola. He’s the heart of their team, he makes things happen and he’s not an easy guy to play against.”
New York Red Bulls Goalkeeper Luis Robles…
On limiting D.C. United’s chances…
“We knew that it was going to be a tough task going up against Saborío and Fabi. They’re two very good forwards that have a lot of experience in this league and a lot of success. For us to be able to limit their chances today is a huge compliment to our defense, but with that being said, we know we’re only half way through and it was important to get that road goal, but we’ll look forward to the next game.”
On Dax McCarty…
“He’s our captain. At the end of the day, we feed off of the way he plays. For him to score goal, the way he did, in such a big moment is just a cherry on top of an incredible season that he’s had. With that being said, we knew that it was going to be a battle in the midfield and if our three guys could win the second balls in the first half, it was going to give us an opportunity to get a goal and that’s what we started to see. We started to open up the game a little bit and got some chances on goal.”
On the defensive effort…
“First thing’s first, Damien [Perrinelle]; it’s really upsetting to see him go down like that. We don’t know what it is yet, but he’s been a huge part of what we’ve been doing. He was a huge part of today while he was in there, but then it also continues to speak about the belief we have in this team and guys. For Zubar to step in there the last 45 minutes was huge for us. So, we compliment the effort, there are a lot of things we do well and there are some things we’ll need to work on, but for us to limit the opportunities with two guys that dangerous is a huge compliment to those guys and they played well. But like I said, we’re only half way through.”
On the team’s level of attack…
“We knew when we did a scouting report that it was going to be very difficult. D.C. does a great job of setting a lock and whether it’s the four midfielders or the four defenders, that defensive lock is hard to break down. Obviously, a huge part of what we do is getting Sacha [Kljestan] the ball in good spaces so that he can attack. In the first half, they did a great job of limiting his space, but we continue to believe in the way that we play, we push, we got some turnovers and started to open up space and that’s really when Sacha [Kljestan] really got to take over and of course he got an assist on the goal. It was a great finish by Dax [McCarty], but we continue to believe in not only each other, but the way that we play and today is a result of that.
D.C. UNITED
D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen
On whether Ronald Zubar’s foul on Markus Halsti should’ve been a red card…
Yep. It has all the ingredients to what they’ve been saying is a red card in this league. But that doesn’t matter all the time. It’s what it is. It happened, and we failed to win the set piece battle today, which was a big part of this game. It’s disappointing for that part, where we pride ourselves, to let us down. They defended extremely well in their set pieces. I thought Fabi deliveries tonight were great and the runs were good. They dealt with it very well. We were hoping to take advantage of that a little bit more than we did.
What was missing offensively…
I think we had a few good looks. In the first half, Sabo had one or two chances that came from service. You don’t need a lot. They’re a good team, and we’re not going to get a boatload of chances against them. We understand that so we have to do well with the few we have. We didn’t do that. We didn’t have many, but you only need a few. You’ve got plenty of set pieces to get a piece on and you have a few chances there again in the first half. In the second half, you saw which team has been off for a week, and you see a team that’s been grinding and slogging through the last 10 days. Everybody was going into the reserve tank to push the game. That’s a tough thing to do. But we’ll have a week to recover and put our full team out there again.
On looking forward to the second leg…
Again, I’m happy with the performance today for the most part. Obviously, we need to get the goal in the few chances that we have or do better on set pieces. We have to shore up the other side. They are better at home. They’re as good in New York as any team in this league. It’s a very tough place to play. I don’t care. That doesn’t concern me or these guys. It’s a great challenge now to go in there and get the result that we need.
On injuries…
[Franklin] has been battling an Achilles now for 6 months. Again, I think the second half took its toll. We’ve pushed these guys. Hopefully he’ll be able to take a couple days off and get back for the weekend. Farfan tweaked his groin a little bit early in the week. [As for Pontius], it’s too early. We are going to do everything in our power to get him back. But you can only speed these things up as much as possible. [Rolfe] was just gassed. If Rolfe is full energy, he’s not coming out of the game. But we were under it a little bit and the game needed some new energy. I thought [Conor] Doyle did well and I thought Miguel [Aguilar] brought a little juice to the game. Again, I’m disappointed especially giving up the goal on the set piece but optimistic this is still a series we can win.
D.C. United midfielder Chris Rolfe
On the team’s chances in the series…
Good. It’s one goal, that’s it. We just have to recover this week. No, we’re fine. Down one goal.
On the Zubar tackle, and whether it was a distraction…
That’s a red card. No doubt. It’s possible. I don’t really think it affected us, but it’s a terrible tackle.
On the physical game between the teams…
Yeah for sure. It’s physical. I expect the same next week.
On how an early goal might have changed the game…
Like I said, we got tired. We had another game last weekend. If we stick one in early, who knows it could have opened up, but you have to think that it would have gone in our favor.
On the chance for a lot still to happen in the series…
One hundred percent. Down one goal, no big deal, you know? We’ll rest and feel better next week for Sunday’s game like we did this week. Anything can happen.
D.C. United defender Kofi Opare
On what wasn’t quite there…
I mean obviously goals. We need goals. As far as the way we played, I thought we did alright. I thought we at least warranted a tie. But that’s not always the case in soccer. The good thing about these playoffs is that it’s two legs, over 180 minutes; so still more soccer to play. Obviously losing this game is not what we wanted, but then again you know it’s not the worst outcome. Like I said before, we still have 90 more minutes to play. So we just have to regroup and look to get better for next week.
On adjustments…
I think set pieces we can be a little more clinical, because we are getting those chances. So whether it’s coming up with new ideas in terms of runs or plays off corner kicks, I think we’re going to use this week to figure out a way to break them down on set pieces.
