REFEREE MARK GEIGER
On allowing play to resume with Red Bulls defender Kemar Lawrence down before New England’s goal…
“At the time, the injury did not appear serious. Therefore, play was allowed to continue.”
On issuing a red card to Felipe Martins in the 61st minute…
“Felipe challenged for the ball using excessive force, making contact with his studs to the opponent’s lower leg.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH JAY HEAPS
On the Kemar Lawrence play…
“Got to go back and look at it. I didn’t see him down and we play the game to play. I don’t know what he said [Jesse Marsch] and quite frankly I want to worry about my team. I don’t want to worry about what he’s saying about my team.”
On the collaboration during the game and the goal play…
“Obviously, we knew we could break on the different times and quite frankly I thought we were going to get more in the game, but it’s an early-season battle between two really good teams that don’t want to give anything away. I credit their group for being so up for the game and in the first half I wasn’t thrilled with how we were, but I loved our response. I thought our best stuff came early in that second half and we really dictated the game in the second half. They beat us to the punch in the first half and I was really happy with how we responded. Halftime was not an easy halftime, it was emotional and we asked a lot of our guys and I felt like they went out and did it.”
On Diego Fagundez scoring his second goal of the season…
“For me Diego [Fagundez] is really coming on. I thought he was one of the players that was finding the game a little bit, but had a lot to do defensively, but excited that he’s finishing on the backside. We always talk about how teams get narrow and to make sure that we have our lines and our numbers in the box and Diego [Fagundez] finished on that back post. We worked on that all week and want to continue to get goals like that.”
On how the back four handled the pressure late in the game…
“I actually thought that we did well. I didn’t feel like we were under any pressure unless they were set pieces and I was disappointed that we kept giving away silly fouls or corner kicks needlessly. So, that was where I felt like we were letting them back into chances. If you look closely at their chances in that second half it was all from set pieces. We have to do a better job of not fouling there and you know that the referee has given a red card, he’s going to give things the other way that are ticky-tacky and so you have to be smart and I thought we handled that scenario, I want to get better, but I thought we handled the rest of the game pretty well. We finished things off, we pressured them, and I really want to get that second goal though when we go up again.”
On starting Juan Agudelo over Charlie Davies…
“I think that was what we wanted to have, a little bit of ability to move and be flexible and those two guys allow us to do that. We knew it was going to be physical game. Looking at the wind, it’s 22 mile-per-hour winds and so you’re factoring in a lot of things. The one thing Juan [Agudelo] does is he battles and he fights and he’s not always going to spin the guy to get behind, but he’s going to hold the ball. We felt like we needed that and then as the game went on we realized that we wanted Teal [Bunbury] up there for the pace, so we made the switch there early midway through the first half and that really provided a lot of space there for us. It was the right thing to do and it opened up the second half for us. Charlie [Davies] is one that we need to play and be more in possession of the ball and he’s going to get on the end of things and tonight it didn’t feel like the game was going to go that way until it settled down and that’s why we went to Charlie [Davies] late in the second half.”
On the first win of the season…
“The first one is always the hardest. I’ve said for a while because you go on the road, we’ve been, well unfortunately we live here on the east coast, northeast, so we have a lot of our games on the road. We’ve always talked about trying to get points on the road and try to do well and take your opportunities at home. We really looked forward to getting back here and having a chance to play at home and that’s what we do.”
On Bobby Shuttleworth’s performance…
“I think that was great for Bobby [Shuttleworth]. I love Bobby [Shuttleworth] when he makes a save. Bobby [Shuttleworth] makes all great saves throughout the course of the season, but we’re really looking for him to make those saves when you’re 0-0 or up 1-0 to preserve the three points or preserve a heavy draw on the road or something like that, but that’s where I think his maturity is really getting better. He’s starting to make those saves and key games, key moments, that help you win and that’s really the difference that I thought tonight, was that Bobby [Shuttleworth] made those saves”
On allowing the goal when Kemar Lawrence was down…
“I have mixed feelings on it. I want to look at it right before I fully discuss it and I think it’s one of those where we might have to discuss it later in the week. It’s one of those where I don’t know when he goes down. If he goes down in a situation where we had plenty of time to see him, but I’ve got to be honest with you, I think he went down in the course of the game. We saw it in Orlando last year; we saw it this week in Kansas City. I try to have our guys play to the whistle so I’m never going to stop them from playing to the whistle. I think that there are injuries that the referee has to stop or you have to kick out of bounds. When the game is on and Juan Agudelo gets the ball over the top and he’s on the outside of the eighteen, he’s got to play that on and I’d expect the other team to play that on and I’d be just as mad in the same scenario, but I’d understand. I’d probably want my defender to finish the play or get to a position where he’s not in an offside or make enough emotion, commotion, where you get the referee to stop it, but I haven’t seen the play. I was watching [Andrew] Farrell kick the ball so when it turned over, when I saw it, I didn’t know when he went down and I saw Juan [Agudelo] where he was and when Juan [Agudelo] gets the ball there he’s got to go to goal and I’d expect them to go to goal at that point. What happened before that, that’s what I have to go see.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER DIEGO FAGUNDEZ
On what he saw during the goal-scoring play…
“To tell you the truth, I didn’t see that much. Once the ball was played over the top and I see [Juan] Agudelo going in, I thought it was off sides. Once I kept looking, I saw there was no call being made. I just tried to make my run. The ball went across and I’m glad I was in the back post.”
On whether teams should continue play when a player goes down…
“Yeah, I guess if the play goes down I think you should work even harder to get that ball out of bounds. It’s one of those—it can go either way because if they were going to attack, who knows what would have happened.”
On what it was like to score the game-winning goal…
“We always said 1-0 wins early are nice because you don’t really get a lot of them. And I think this team, we fought all the way to the end. We were trying to get that first second goal, and we got one goal and the most important thing is we got three points in front of a crowd and now we just have keep moving forward because it’s a long season.”
On the adjustments they made for the start of the second half…
“I think at halftime, we came all in here; we knew we weren’t that happy; we didn’t play the way we always play and I think we went out there in the second half and we changed the game. We were pressuring a different way. We were trying to move the ball, playing more as a team and I think that’s why we got a result.”
On Head Coach Jay Heaps describing the halftime as emotional…
“It was very emotional, but we stuck as a team. We weren’t trying to go after each other. We knew there were still 45 minutes to be played and we had to go out there and do our jobs and make sure we were working for each other and I think that’s what we did.”
On attacking an experienced backline…
“When you see a backline that haven’t really played that often, you have to go at them. I think we have such good, talented players that any one of them could have gone against them and we probably would have won. But at the end of the day, you still battle. You go out there every game, no matter who’s playing and you just have to give it all you have.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER BOBBY SHUTTLEWORTH
On getting the first three points of the season…
“Yeah, it’s big. I mean, we’ve talked a lot about once we score a goal, being able to dig in and get a result; holding that lead, and that’s exactly what we did tonight.”
On their resolution to avoid conceding goals at home…
“Yeah, Jay [Heaps] talks about that all the time. We got to make this place a fortress and to be honest, you know, the D.C. [United] game, we dropped points there so this is a big win for us. It’s a stepping stone moving forward. It’s a long season but we need to continue to put performances in like that second half.”
On preventing Bradley Wright-Phillips from scoring late in the match…
“Yeah, he’s dangerous; scores a lot of goals and you know we went over a lot of tape and were told we got to be very wary of him and I think we did a great job tonight. I think we limited their chances and it was pretty straight forward.
On whether or not he thinks the ball should have gone out of bounds on the goal…
“To be honest with you, I didn’t even see him on the ground.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD JUAN AGUDELO
On getting the first win of the season…
“That feeling of the first win of the season is big.”
On the physicality of the game…
“Yeah, we knew that was going to play a part with the way that they press high. We would have to hold the ball up and be in tough situations to try to kick the ball to the strikers and we had a lot of help, so yeah, I thought we did. We changed to try to mix up and try to shake up their defense a little bit.”
On the chip he had early on in the game…
“Yeah, Diego [Fagundez] had the ball. He played it out to me wide and I looked at who I was going one-on-one against and it’s Kemar Lawrence. These Jamaican guys are fast so I just picked my head up and I saw the keeper and he was a little bit off his line, and unfortunately, the wind was blowing in the opposite direction. So maybe, maybe not – it would have gone in but I wish we’d picked the other side of the field in the first half.”
On creating incredible goals…
“I don’t really think about it. I just—whatever comes to me. Like I say, maybe it’s a little bit of the South American in me. I kind of just do it.”
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION DEFENDER JOSE GONCALVES
On how the Revolution managed the mix and matching of along the back line…
“It’s good. It shows that we have a good group of guys, with good players, who can always step in and play well, straight away. That’s for us, the key. That’s why we won tonight, because everyone was ready on the field. It’s a matter of playing well together and we have been working on that all week. That’s why we deserve that win.”
On the Revolution’s back-to-back solid defensive performances…
“It’s early in the season. It’s always good to get a shutout. We move quick to the next game and take the best of this game today and then we are looking for the next game because it’s going to be pretty soon again.”
On Bobby Shuttleworth’s performance…
“It’s a well-deserved win. Everyone worked well, from Bobby [Shuttleworth] to Juan [Agudelo], up, and the other guys who came in. It shows a lot of character. Soon enough, we were far the better team. We came out to play, to create a lot of chances, and we scored. We were always looking to score the second one. It didn’t come tonight, but hopefully it comes next game.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH JESSE MARSCH
On injured Red Bull defender Kemar Lawrence, the refs, and team’s performance…
“Kemar [Lawrence] felt his knee pop a little bit, we’re hopeful that he’ll be okay, but we’re not sure. You know, it’s shameful for me, the game is supposed to have honor and they can claim that they didn’t see them, they can claim that they weren’t sure that he wasn’t hurt. It was clear as day that he was down on the ground and not just one player saw him, the whole team saw him, so that part for me is shameful. The other part is that the referee had such a huge impact on this game by having a bad performance. For me, he can blow the whistle when a guy is down like that. He can give a red card to Bradley Wright-Phillips when he is on a breakaway and he gets pushed and shoved from behind that prevents him from getting a clear shot. Could be a red card penalty. How does that affect the game? I’ll stop talking about that right now. I wanted to get that out. I want to make a point of that. The next part I want to go to is that our team played great. We had fight, our team stuck together, had confidence even with a man down, played quite well to one of the better teams. It’s frustrating to lose, but in many ways that was a great performance for us and we’re unlucky to walk out of here without something.”
On what he told his team after the Revolution scored….
“You just say, ‘the game is still there,” and to push them and they did. It’s obviously an incredibly frustrating moment, but we stuck with the game and we were a bit unlucky to not find a goal.”
On his defense and his player Karl Ouimette…
I thought Karl [Ouimette] had his best game as a Red Bull player. I thought he was very good, good in the air. Shut down their attacking players. I don’t know why they switched [Juan] Agudelo and [Teal] Bunbury but ether of those guys were able to find the game much, so a lot of that credit goes to the work Karl and Kemar did. The whole backline I thought was very good. They didn’t give much away.”
On Kemar Lawrence’s prior injury going into tonight’s game…
“There wasn’t much of a question because he come out of the game in the 60th minute. It was a wreck to his ankle, so he felt fine – he actually came back. When he came back, the day he came back he did a regen and yesterday he trained and looked great so there wasn’t any issues there. Again, we are hopeful that isn’t too bad.”
On anticipating the switching of Juan Agudelo and Teal Bunbury before the game….
“We knew that they were going to play long balls and try to win aerial duels, so we were prepared for that. We weren’t sure [Charlie] Davies or [Juan] Agudelo was going to feature. We talked about dealing with all their different qualities of their attacking players. Our two teams know each other pretty well so there is not a lot of surprises.”
On the Felipe red card…
“That’s another one that’s not a red card. I said I was going to stop, but I didn’t include that when we talked about the referee. With Felipe being out, it’s frustrating and disappointing from the call but I know that Sean Davis stepped in and actually played really well and did a good job. I think Sean will be ready next week and this team’s deep. It’s a good team, a deep team, so I’m not worried about that.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER CHRIS DUVALL
On being back on the field and playing a new position…
“I think the main focus wasn’t getting back on the field, it was just trying to see if I could help the team get a win. Coming in a goal down and soon after being a man down, I think either the nerves or whatever it is about getting back on the field, they’re all gone and you’re just trying to make sure the team’s organized and do your best to just do your job. I think this wasn’t really a focus on me, it was just doing whatever I could to try and get a win and until the last minute. I think we all thought we’d get a goal, but we were a little unlucky.”
On the play that got him into the game…
“I think it’s just a judgment call. Everyone I’m sure has a different answer to that, but my answer may be different than Jesse’s [Marsch]. It might be different than the rest of the guys on the field, so I don’t think it’s really my place to comment on it.”
On what can be taken away from this game...
“Kind of like I said before, I think until the last second we really thought we were going to get a goal and we came close. In a game like that, we only really need one opportunity and I think from the very start we were the better team but things just didn’t fall our way today.”
On not having some key players for the upcoming game…
“It will be tested. We have the guys on the roster that we have confidence in, so I don’t think it will be a problem. It’s just a matter of making sure everyone stays together and we get behind the injured guys. I’ve been on both sides of it now and it will be an interesting experience, but we’ve got a good team and a good group of guys so I think we’ll pull together and we’ll be fine.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER DAX MCCARTY
On Kemar [Lawrence] down injured and how the resulting play decided the game…
“Clearly, that was the play that decided the game. There’s a few different ways you can look at it. I think from our standpoint, maybe we’re a little bit naive and maybe we can do more to let the ref know we have a guy down injured and put it in his hands. But then again what are we doing? It’s 2016. I guess we’re asking refs to be doctors in the moment on the field. On one hand, it’s in the ref’s hands. If he decides it’s a serious injury, he can blow the whistle, and if he doesn’t, he doesn’t have to but then you hope a team would recognize that and knock the ball out of bounds. I feel like in the game these days sportsmanship is this novel concept that we love to talk about and think about, but I don’t really think it exists anymore in the game these days. We’re playing a desperate team at home that hasn’t won yet this season and they’re probably thinking let’s do whatever we can to get three points, so they decide to do anything they can to get three points. I’d say that from their point of view, maybe they can argue and say they didn’t see that we had a man down until they were already in the attacking half and then they went on to score and they kind of play the innocent party here. But then again my argument back would be, well, Juan Agudelo is in that position in the first place just kind of camping out up there on the right wing because I think he sees that we have a player that’s injured and they still have possession of the ball, and so it’s two-fold. They have the ball back in their defensive half and they can say, ‘all right we can kick the ball out of bounds and let the injured player get treatment or we can continue to attack and try to score off of it.’ We’re naïve for not defending it well enough and maybe Kemar [Lawrence] can do a little bit more to hop around on one leg if he really has a serious injury and try to tackle a guy or foul a guy. Then, that being said, if he has a really serious injury then what else is he supposed to do? He’s waiting for treatment and he’s expecting the ball to go out of bounds and get treatment but it doesn’t happen. It’s a touchy subject. I can’t sit here and say that I’m surprised about the way they went about the game and that moment. That’s what desperate teams do, but obviously this is a contentious subject in the sport these days and unfortunately there wasn’t very much in the game. I think both teams neither really deserve three points but I think we definitely outplayed them on their home field but doesn’t mean much. I don’t think they’ll be apologizing for doing whatever they can do to get three points, so fair play to them.”
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