COLUMBUS CREW SC SPORTING DIRECTOR AND HEAD COACH GREGG BERHALTER
On the result of the match…
It was one of those that you’ve got to dig deep for. It wasn’t our best night. Give [the Red Bulls] credit for how they press. I felt like we could have played out of it quicker. Anytime we did get across the field it looked good. But, I’m proud of the effort. Your back is against the wall. You’re looking at a loss and you keep going, and you keep going, and you get something out of it. I’m really pleased with the effort.
On Waylon Francis contributing off of the bench…
I said that in the locker room to the guys. It wasn’t just Waylon [Francis], I think all of our substitutes did a great job, and they changed the game. Cristian [Martinez], Hector [Jimenez], and Waylon. And we know Waylon’s quality, and it’s just about getting him into a rhythm and getting him confidence. He’s a very good leftback in this League.
On the back-and-forth play of the match…
I thought that they were very man-oriented with their press in the first half, and we thought movement would make space for our midfielders. And they just stayed man-to-man. Sacha [Kljestan] stayed with Wil [Trapp], Felipe [Martins] stayed with Tony [Tchani], and Dax [McCarty] stayed with Mohammed [Saied]. And unfortunately we weren’t able to create that space that we were counting on. So we had to adjust, and we did adjust at halftime. We moved back to a more traditional formation. We wanted to spread them out. We wanted to play between their lines a little more and continue to focus on switching the field. And I think the second half was much better.
On Ola Kamara’s mental toughness . . .
He has good movement and you see he had another chance that was blocked by a defender that was in the right spot at the right time. I think he could have had a couple goals today. His movement is excellent and he doesn’t give up. He keeps fighting.
On adjusting to the offense without Federico HiguaÃn . . .
I think it’s getting back to the basics of what our system is. Our system is moving the ball and moving the opponent and we need to get back to that. I think in the second half, as we did that, it became clear what was going to happen. It became clear that we were going to get opportunities and we were going to put the opposing team under a lot of pressure. We need to get back to that.
Onthe effect of New York Red Bulls’ yellow cards . . .
We mentioned it at halftime, to be aggressive against those fullbacks, who we knew had yellows. It was a physical game and to give them credit, I thought they outperformed us in the first half; much more physical and they won many more duels than us. Give them a lot of credit. They came to play.
Onhis feelings about the previous two match results . . .
Again, we won’t make excuses for the guys that aren’t here and we won’t say that we are happy with ties. I think that this entire group works so hard and they believe in the team concept. It’s about the next guy stepping up. We still expect not to have a huge dropout in performance, even though there are different guys on the field.
COLUMBUS CREW SC DEFENDER TYSON WAHL
On the result of the match…
Obviously at home we’re looking for three points, and we ended the game in the way we wanted to probably start the game. If we started the game maybe with that urgency then maybe we would have gotten three points. It is kind of a moral victory, I guess, and we’re looking to build off of the one point, even though we’re expecting three at home.
OntheNew York Red Bulls’ goal . . .
I tried to make a play on the cross, so I was pulled out of position. Then I think Michael [Parkhurst] had to make a tough choice because he was two versus one and then they were just able to find the far post. I think either I shouldn’t have stepped out there or maybe we could have been marked a bit better in the box. It was a tough play though.
COLUMBUS CREW SC FORWARD OLA KAMARA
On the atmosphere of the stadium after scoring the goal in added time…
Yeah, the energy was unbelievable. I think if we can get that goal a little earlier, and get the crowd like that, then we will win the game. It’s about that. We were lucky that the supporters came out today like this, and we really felt them behind us the whole way. And you can see how we can pick up the game in the second half, even though they scored. We took over the game, and we showed that character.
On processing this game ending in a tie...
I think we were fighting quite well in the whole game, but the thing is maybe in the first half the game is a little bit how they like to play. You know, it’s a lot of long balls, second balls, and fighting. And we didn’t get that momentum playing our style. But you can see after their goal we’re playing our style. And then, in the end, they started to go down with cramps, they got tired. That’s how we have to play, and I hope that we can get that momentum and energy that we had in the last minutes there or the whole second half, and just carry it over to the next game.
On his goal…
Yeah, it was a tap in. The cross is perfect, that’s so important that a defender can just hit it in that open space. So I try to keep the space open so I can just run into it. Don’t be there too early, because then I can’t tap it in. It was a perfect cross, and that’s how I like to score goals.
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH JESSE MARSCH
On the outcome of the game...
It's frustrating for all of us because there's two games where we give away late goals, and instead of walking away from this road trip with two good performances that lead to four points we walk away with one. With that being said, we didn't play well enough. We didn't have enough guys who were sharp enough on the day, who had enough poise, who understood how to slow this game down a little bit. When they like to play fast we like to play fast. In some ways, a point is probably just but giving it away at the end is no good and not having enough guys to play well is no good.
On what to do to fix the turnout of a game such as this...
There's partly sticking to tactics even when things are tired, things are crazy, especially on the road, and then there's in possession more guys that want to kill the game by moving it, keeping it, giving it to the next guy, finding ways to still dictate the game with the ball. The combination of the two meant that the game slipped.
On the disappointment in the lack of sharpness from rested players...
Sometimes when you don't get enough training in the week, you don't have enough sharpness. Not sure what the reason is behind that. Listen, the rest of our season is like this. We have a lot of games, we have CONCACAF coming, guys have got to be able to deal when they don't have enough training, when they have heavy legs, when things are tough. They've got to still play well. We can't show up to tough places to play and have three guys that play well.
On what changed after the first 20-30 minutes in the game...
They got going a little bit and I felt like in the first half we didn't stick to our game plan enough, which then allowed the game to slip a little more than we would have liked. Second half, I thought, the game plan was in place but once we scored the goal they start pushing, getting us wide, which is why we went to five in the back. It's the second game in the row where we put five in the back and get beat on crosses. We've got to go through tactics again.
On the attack of Columbus with [Kei] Kamara and now without Kamara...
Whether you talk about [Kei] Kamara or [Ola] Kamara they both have really good qualities and they both are dangerous and fit the system really well. Clearly without [Federico] Higuain, that's a big piece for them, but that's still a good team. I have a lot of respect for Columbus. They made it hard on us tonight.
On what changes without [Federico] Higuain...
He's the wildcard when things break down for them, he can start to show up in certain spots and he can make final plays. He's very good at that. He's one of the best in league at that.
On missing [Aurelien] Collin tonight...
I mean for me it's ridiculous. I mean I don't know who is looking at that play and thinks that deserves a red card or even a yellow card or even a foul. It's terrible, it's terrible. It's ridiculous. Poor judgement. I don't mind the system where now there's an appeal and there's independent parties, but it depends on the independent parties being able to make sane decisions and rational decisions.
On whether or not New York was absorbing pressure and trying to get Columbus on the counter-attack...
We were going after them, but they were breaking us down at certain moments. And then obviously we're good at the counter if we can pick off balls in good places then we can be good. But again, I don't think we were sharp enough on that. We didn't have enough quality in the attacking part of the field to really put together plays.
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER FELIPE
On if the draw was disappointing after conceding the late goal…
Of course. I think it is a big disappointment for us. Especially those two games as we were up 1-0 and then we [gave up] late goals. I think we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to stick together until the end of the game and don’t concede those goals.
On what needs to change in the team’s mentality to hold out those small leads…
I think the mentality is there, the work is there. Just a couple of plays we’ve got to be more alert. It’s little mistakes that costs us points. I think we’ve got to work during the week. Now we have two big games coming up and do better in what we didn’t tonight.
On if the different lineup from the previous game on Wednesday played a factor in the draw…
No, I think we have a great group. We are right for the challenge and every guy is right there for the challenge.
