New York Red Bulls coach Denis Hamlett
Q. What do you think of Bradley Wright-Phillips record tonight?
DENIS HAMLETT: Awesome. Brad's a great guy. Couldn't have happened it a better guy. I think tonight he was just clinical with his chances. When he's in front of the goal and he has those looks, you can pretty much bet he's going to finish them, so real happy for him.
Q. Just talk about the game plan for Drogba, looked like you guys were bodying him up. Aurelien, when he was in, was kind of behind him and maybe one of the holding midfielders was trying to cut off the service before, but he only had three shots, one shot on goal.
DENIS HAMLETT: He’s (Drogba) a handful. And so we talked about sort of, kind of a reminder to our guys about when we played Portland a couple weeks ago with Adi, sort of the same thing; but obviously a world-class player.
He likes the physicality, so we just had to be smart in terms of how we sort of play a cat-and-mouse game with him. Sometimes you get physical. Sometimes you back off. I thought Felipe and Sean [Davis] did a very good job in coming down and doubling down.
Even Duvall took one for the team on a free kick, because around the goal, that's how he scores his goal. We thought for the most part, we did a good job on him.
Q. Obviously Dax getting hurt is a big blow for you guys, but you had Sean waiting in the wings to step in. What did you think of how he did tonight and how much confidence do you think he gained from that performance in L.A. against a team like that to play the way he did last week?
DENIS HAMLETT: I think a lot. We've said from day one with Sean, it's just a matter of time getting him a run of games. His confidence is high right now, obviously from the goal last week, and then coming in tonight and scoring another good goal.
We feel good about Sean. Obviously with the injury to Dax, he's going to get a lot of minutes. He's a humble kid, continues to work hard. He works extremely hard in training. Him and Felipe have a good partnership, a good understanding, so we were happy with that today.
Q. It was very physical out there obviously and then after you put the third goal away, they really got physical with you; that's one. And secondly, can you give us an update an Aurelien Collin, was he tackled down for the third time or did he go down on his own? Was there a concussion?
DENIS HAMLETT: I think when he came off, I asked him, he said he just couldn't see. So I'm not sure if it was a concussion or not. I think he just may be dizzy from the few hits he got.
Yeah, the game was a physical game. Look, they are a good team. They beat us up at their place 3-0. We knew coming in here, we knew we wanted to make sure now that we were ready for the challenge.
They are a team that doesn't like to lose and we don't like to lose. So I think it was a matter of us going out there and making sure we came out on top.
THE MODERATOR: One update on Aurelien. It's not a concussion. He's fine.
Q. A debut for Omer Damari, he came on towards the tail end of that game. What did you see from him, and particularly with Gonzalo, looked like he was playing a little bit underneath. What did you see from him tonight?
DENIS HAMLETT: Well, the first part, obviously the heat really got to him. I think within five to ten minutes, you could see it sort of had a shock to him. But you could see clearly some moments around the goal how clever he is with the touch and his movements.
Again, for us, it was good to get him out there, for him to get a feel of an MLS game. And now it's just continue to build his fitness up and get him used to playing and us understanding and playing with him.
Q. You mentioned the heat, you mentioned the physicality and early in the second half, it seemed to boil over for Montreal where they lost Oyongo and so forth. Were you ever concerned about that on your side? Did you start to see some things that players were getting a little frustrated at times because of the heat, the conditions?
DENIS HAMLETT: No, look, I think the conditions were extreme. And we talked about in halftime, just make sure that we keep our cool and try to keep playing and stick to our game plan.
I felt obviously with us getting that third goal, I think the frustration came in on their part. And obviously with the red card, they probably felt it wasn't a red card, and so now that even adds more to it. They had some guys, the history with Felipe, obviously played there with them.
But look, our guys kept their cool. We have a good group of guys that understand that they don't cross the line. So they step on the field and they're ready to compete.
Q. Obviously this is a very physically taxing game with the heat as you mentioned. How does this set you up now for a Champions League game? You guys are flying down to El Salvador; you're going to have to change out a lot of players, I would assume.
DENIS HAMLETT: Yeah, I think that game comes quick but we also know it's an important game because if you can get two wins in your first two games, then that sets you up pretty good, with the third game being at home.
We'll get our guys in tomorrow, re-gen, get some training in and have the charter flight down to El Salvador and put a group on the field that's going to get us a win.
New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips
On another club scoring record:
It’s definitely a proud moment, you know, the names associated with that record before, I shouldn’t even be in that category. Somehow by the grace of God I’m in it and I’m going to see how many I can get and I just have to thank my teammates and everyone that’s helped me to get to this record. I can only be thankful.
On if it is a night for him to relax and celebrate:
It might be too late, you know by the time I get home its eleven o’clock (laughs) maybe I’ll have one tomorrow.
New York Red Bulls midfielder Sean Davis
On the match:
I feel great, mostly because we got the three points. That’s the most important thing, and that was the mindset going into the match: do whatever it takes to get the three points. So I’m really happy that the group had the right mentality, you know we went down early, but I thought we did a great job of responding and I’m just happy we got the three points.
On the goals:
Yeah, I mean [Mike] Grella made a great play in the box, as usual. You always have to expect that Grella’s going to pull something off, and fortunately it bounced to me. I think it missed Brad [Wright-Phillips] by a little bit, but I was able to catch hold of it with my foot, just get it on target, and fortunately it took a little deflection and beat the goalie.
On looking the better team, even in the heat:
Yeah, I think that’s a testament to how difficult training is every day. I mean, guys that come to our team from other teams around the league always say that training is probably the hardest that they’ve ever had in their careers. It’s great for me that my first club is such a challenging club in terms of the training regimen and what it takes to succeed here, so it makes the game days a little bit easier in that sense, and we came in to this knowing that the heat was going to play into our hands and we’re confident that we can outrun teams.
Montreal Impact head coach Mauro Biello
Q. Did you see what happened on the goal?
MAURO BIELLO: Yeah, I think the ball bounced back out to them and Grella was able to get around the corner, get in behind. Once you're able to do that, he put a ball on the box there and it was a bit of a scramble and they were able to score.
A little bit disappointed that we come out that way after the half and give them that goal right away. I think that if, you know, we were going to get chances, and we did going forward, I think we could have probably tied that game up. But today, we weren't at our best in this game.
Q. Davis playing for Dax -- what did you think of how he played today?
MAURO BIELLO: Yeah, I think he's doing well. He's coming in for Dax and has done fairly well. He scored last week. He's got a lot of talent. He played simple, reads the game well. I don't think that was the issue on our part. Obviously the ball popped out to him for his goal, and he got it on target.
In the end, I think it was way too easy for them to slip a ball through the middle of our defense and they score and they go in alone. Simple little cross in the box on the second goal on Wright-Phillips, we should have did a better job with that also.
Q. The changing shape -- was the weather a factor?
MAURO BIELLO: Yeah, you know, we decided to go like that. I think going with two forwards, they were, you know, if we had three, one, two; the three guys in the middle were going to contain. And once we contain, we break. And that's exactly what we did. We hurt them, I thought.
We let them back in that game, but for the most part, the first part of the first half, they may have had the ball, but there wasn't really clear chances, other than the one Bush makes the save on Wright-Phillips. I think that overall, if we were a little bit sharper, maybe we could have got another one. But defensively, we need to be better.
Q. Can you talk about the conditions and the way they affected your players?
MAURO BIELLO: Yeah, I mean, this is -- felt like a hundred degrees out there. It's not easy. It's not easy to play in those conditions. But at the same time, it's hot for both teams. You've got to be able to manage the game in the right ways when it's hot like that. And obviously we're playing away from home and they were going to have a little bit more of the ball, so it gets a little bit tougher for us.
But I have to applaud my players. Some guys worked extremely hard, played a whole half, in that heat, with a man down, and still created chances. That shows a lot of my group, and you know, we'll take this one and then we'll get ready for next week.
Q. Seemed like after about 15 minutes, Drogba was dropping back significantly to get the ball. What were they doing to cut off service?
MAURO BIELLO: You know, I think that's what happened on the first goal. They bid on Drogba and a ball in behind, and we went in alone. Matteo went in a few times, so that was the idea. As soon as we win back that ball, if Drogba comes, the other one goes and it was perfect on the goal.
But in the end, it wasn't enough tonight, and you know, credit to them for the game.
Montreal Impact forward Didier Drogba
On the temperature:
I mean, it’s not really a difference because in the national team I play also in the summer, I used to play in the summer also. It’s really hot, humid, it’s difficult for everybody, but we’re used to it. It’s the same for both teams. The weather is the same for both teams. So it’s quite difficult for everybody, but we have to deal with it.
