Portland Timbers Quotes
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On how he felt the team played…
“Disappointing. First half, not good. I need some time to look at the tape. Time to think about it and I need some time to talk to my players as well about it because I can’t understand why in that first half we came out the way we did and it’s very disappointing.”
On what was most disappointing about the performance…
“Well, being one point off the red line, knowing that if we put three points in the bag today that we’d be four points ahead of San Jose and we didn’t. We didn’t get it done. Like I said I need time, and they need time as well, to think about, sit on it and then we are going to talk about it Tuesday. A lot of times I have answers after a game on why this, why that, a lot times it’s easy to say the other team is better. Sometimes we were poor. Sometimes it was finishing. Sometimes it’s defending. You know I think this is a combination of things today and I need time look at it and think about it. We didn’t look sharp from the start, ‘Why is that?’ Is it the break? They looked in a rhythm. Obviously they are a good team so that’s a part of it as well. The first two goals were out of nothing. They were soft goals, extremely soft. We didn’t have many chances early in the game. We ended up finishing with 17 shots. We had plenty of chances to again score, but we are down 2-0 when we start getting all those chances. We did have the one first half from six yards out at nil-nil. We score that and it’s a different game, but I’m not sure we would have deserved to be up. It’s disappointing and we have to sort it out and we are going to have to go on the road and win now. Do it the hard way.”
On if he had an inkling this was coming after training and a break following a midweek game…
“Absolutely not, no. Training was good. Obviously we were fresh. Sometimes in a big window you lose sharpness. I didn’t see that in training, but we definitely didn’t look in sync in that first half.”
On the choice to start Maximiliano Urruti up top today…
“We’ve been playing well but we haven’t been finishing. Adi scored two goals off the bench against New England. Maxi has played really well at home. We’ve gotten results with him at home, D.C., New England, Houston he started those games and all were wins. We felt his ability to pressure was a factor. Putting him with [Lucas] Melano and [Diego] Valeri they’ve got a natural chemistry. That was a factor. And the fact that he is probably our most natural finisher. He obviously has some different strengths and weaknesses. Adi has more physicality. We've played well with Adi, but the fact of the matter is we haven’t been getting production. So it was me trying to flip a switch. I thought if the ball fell to Maxi he might be able to finish it and get hot because recently although Adi has played well the last five games he hasn’t scored so eventually changes have to be made when we’re not scoring goals and not getting results."
On if it’s hard to believe they haven’t scored the last couple of games with so many chances…
“Yeah. We are in a funk on that side of things. We get chances. Even the one that’s right there to be tapped in at the end of the game hits the post. A couple headers late. The tough thing for me that's indicative of the rut is we had two, three shots from six yards out and they score one from 35. They had some other really good chances where Adam [Kwarasey] made some good saves, but those two were really soft goals on our part and that put us in a hole. We also had good chances. I need to go through and look at them all again but again I‘m just disappointed how we looked in that first half.”
On what the difference is in September and October this season to previous seasons…
“I think you have to look at it on a game-by-game basis. Obviously we looked really sharp in the last several games, not this game, so I don’t know. Is it the window being larger? We had kind of an interesting stop, start rhythm in the last month. So I don’t know that’s a part of it. Like I said I need some time to look at it and think about it. The biggest thing is we need to step up now and go on the road and get points. We are still in position but because we didn’t take care of business today we are hanging on by a thread. We are one point ahead and we didn’t get that cushion that we were hoping to get and that is extremely disappointing.”
Portland Timbers defender Nat Borchers
On learning from this game as the push to the playoffs continues down the stretch…
“I think we need to take some time on this one and really evaluate what we did wrong for the next 24 hours and we have to get over it because we are right there. There is tremendous opportunity for us going forward. We made things more difficult for ourselves right now but it’s still all there for us.”
On if the result was a surprise with the way the team has been performing…
“Yes. It reminds me of the Orlando game a bit. It’s a day game. It’s an opportunity to play well at home and we just don’t come out with enough energy, with enough bite. We just make bad decisions. I think this is something that’s tough to swallow because it’s at home. We had a lot of our supporters and our old-time guys that used to play for this club here. Guys that were here for the 40th anniversary of this club and we needed to step up and play better for them. They deserved a better match from us.”
Portland Timbers forward Fanendo Adi
On if there is worry that the team could slip out of playoff picture…
“No. We’re not thinking about that at all. We are thinking about making the playoffs and we’re very sure and confident in ourselves that we can make the playoffs. We just need to win our next game. We just have to go back into training and prepare very well, iron things out and look on to the next and try to win.”
On the team confidence with five regular-season matches left…
“Losing at home is a hard one to take but we just have to prepare and know that we have to win our next game, which is on the road in a match that is very difficult. We’ve won games on the road so we have to prepare to win on the road.”
On if they were too relaxed from having so much confidence in playing at home…
“No, it’s a hard one to take. I don’t think it’s because of that. It’s just we didn’t come out with the right physical output for the game and mentally. We just weren’t prepared for the start of the game and I think that’s just what cost us the game.”
New York Red Bulls Quotes
New York Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch
On the overall match…
“It was a very good first half specifically, but a very good performance to get a shutout against a team like this in an environment like this on the road. I think we showed a lot of things. I think we showed that when we are committed to play the way we want to play that we can really command the game. We showed that we’re a deep team and that when guys step on the field that they are talented and they know their roles. We showed that this team has heart and belief in what they are and who they are. There have been a lot of difficult situations we’ve been in this year. We weren’t happy with the performance in New England, for these guys to come back and lay it all out here like this and empty the tank certainly shows a lot about their character.”
On the team ethos…
“We’re about committing to each other and our main motto is ‘all in,’ every guy being all in and committing to each other mentally, physically in every way and having each other’s back. I think we showed that tonight. We want to play fast. By the fact that we were able to just play the game so fast and when we lost it go back and win it again, we were just all over them. They weren’t ever able to really catch their breath, specifically in the first half. The mentality and the soccer, when those come together you see a performance like tonight and that’s what we’re trying to build.”
On coming out strong after playing two games in one week and flying across the country…
“I think we’re fit. We’re deep and we’re young. We have a bunch of guys who can recover quickly, who can cover a lot of ground, who can make the game fast and then there is some talent on the field too. That’s for sure. Now we’re able to create a pace of game and then give our guys time and space you can see some of the things they can do. Certainly thought Shaun Wright-Phillips and Gonzalo [Verón] in the first half really made it hard on their defense and were showing up all over the place. Those guys had a great game. Sean Davis stepped in and didn’t skip a beat. [He] looked like a five-year [professional] and a guy that had been in the lineup all year. Sal Zizzo for a guy who is a converted right back I thought his understanding of how to play the position was fantastic. Overall, [it was] really good.”
On the significance of clinching a playoff spot…
“It’s significant in the sense that we’re being rewarded for continuing to believe in ourselves and push really hard but it’s not really the end goal. It’s a big step because to get to the playoffs this early in the season says a lot about our team and about the season we’ve had but we’re not stopping. We’re going to make sure that we’re all focused on the end goal. We have I think three or four at home now, so we have a good stretch of home games to really continue to push ourselves and continue to collect points. We’re going to take it one game at a time.”
On the performance of goalkeeper Luis Robles…
“He was disappointed with his game in New England. He let in a soft goal, the first one, one that is very uncharacteristic of him. Obviously [he] makes an incredible save at the end of the game but I thought overall his presence in the goal for when to punch, when to catch, speaking with his line in front of him, when to be off his line to make sure their fast guys weren’t getting on the end of everything, [it was a] pretty complete performance from him.”
New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles
On coming back to Portland and clinching a spot in the playoffs…
“It’s special to be back here. I still have a lot of friends from college and also my time at Nike so to come back and be on the field and have them watch me play is pretty awesome. Even yesterday when we went back to campus and visited the men’s and women’s University of Portland soccer team, I thought that was pretty cool as well. I think the most important thing for us is we didn’t do well on the first part of this trip so it was really important for us to get points. Sure, maybe a tie would have been OK but we really wanted to win because we knew if we win, we qualify for the playoffs and put us in a great position going into the end of the season. For us to accomplish that today was pretty incredible.”
On playing the way they did on short rest and coming across the county…
“We had a couple of obstacles to overcome. Dax [McCarty] and Connor [Lade] couldn’t play because of yellow card accumulation but this is also a good example of the belief in this team. It’s the next man on knowing that they’re going to be able to not only do well in the task but succeed and help the team succeed. So, for Felipe to have such an amazing goal and also for those guys to come in as well as I think Shaun Wright-Phillips and Gonzalo, they stepped in and did great. Today was a complete team performance. It’s going to be a lot sweeter getting on a plane with three points but with that being said it’s also a short week because we play Orlando on Friday.”
On what the team’s style of play says about every player buying in to the system…
“I think it says a lot. In order for us to be successful in the way that we play, it can’t be a 90 percent effort. Everyone has to give everything and you have to trust that the guy behind you is doing what they’re supposed to do because that’s how pressing works. So, for us to be able to go out there on someone else’s home field and press the way we did, create the turnovers we did, win the amount of second balls that we did, continues to speak into the belief that we have for Jesse [Marsch’s] system.”
New York Red Bulls midfielder Sacha Kljestan
On playing the way they did on short rest and coming across the county…
“So, this is the second time where we’ve had a midweek game and then another game on the weekend where we lose the midweek game and then right after the game Jesse says ‘not a great performance but if we go into the weekend and we win it’s going to make us forget about that loss and we have to put our stamp on the game. We have to play our game.’ Tonight was really a team performance. I think in the first half we played so well, we overwhelmed them. They couldn’t do anything in the first half and we put two unbelievable goals in. The second half we kind of just defended for our lives because that’s when the fatigue started to kick in but overall a great performance.”
On what level of buy in is required for the players with their physically taxing style of play…
“That’s been the most important thing. From the first day that Jesse took over the team, he laid out his plan of the way we were going to play and I think there were a lot of questions. I remember my first morning, I came to Florida and I sat down and I had breakfast with Jesse and he started drawing out on the field how we were going to play. I had serious question marks in my head. I was wondering ‘wow, is this really going to work?’ There were a lot of questions. Is this going to work? Is it going to work in the summertime? Are we going to get tired? Are we not going to be able to do it for an entire season? I think the way that everyone has bought in and everyone believes in each other and believes in Jesse’s system has paid dividends.”
On why the team has been able to get through the season with their style of play…
“The belief [in the team]. We had a meeting about just not only the belief in ourselves but the belief that we can push on in games and the belief that we can finish off games in the right way and not get so fatigued and be mentally fresh throughout 90 minutes. The mentality of the team has been great.”
