D.C. United Head Coach Tom Soehn
On the game:
I thought in the first half we started out the game well and then we lost our shape a little bit and they did a good job to expose us in those spots and they were actually unfortunate not to get one back. We adjusted a little bit second half and I thought we closed it up and we won a lot more balls high and created a lot of good opportunities. We’re happy to take the result home, but they had their moments and they’re a good side.
On the chances created by Jabloteh:
They came up short on some plays, but at the end we could have won it 2-0 – at the end we had a great opportunity, but that’s how the game goes. I thought we defended well as a team. I thought our commitment to defending was solid. It’s always difficult on the road and I thought we had a pretty good road mentality.
On getting three points in Champions League:
Every result is important. We’ve had a long stretch of games and we definitely needed to get a result in CONCACAF to keep us in, so this keeps us alive. And now we have Marathon at home next week and we need to take care of business at home.
On the play of Jabloteh:
They played very direct and they have some guys with some pace that can hurt you. And their set pieces – we gave them a lot of opportunities on set pieces. They obviously have some big targets who caused us some havoc. But, overall, like I said, we definitely shored things up in the second half, we had a lull in the first half where they could have put some away. We were fortunate to come out of that stretch clean and, second half, we were much better, I thought.
D.C. United midfielder Clyde Simms
On the game:
It was a good team effort. There were some guys for us who don’t normally get minutes getting good minutes and it was a good feeling to get the win. We got a little bit of a break coming up so it was huge to end this streak of games with a win.
On Jabloteh’s opportunities to score:
Most of their chances came in the first half. We noticed some things that we could have done differently – second balls in the midfield, we were losing a lot of those in the first half resulting in counterattacks and them keeping some possession. Fortunately, we came out of the half not giving up a goal. Of course, they came close a couple times, but we fixed some things at halftime and it was a much better second half.
On what the result means for the tournament:
We’re still in. We knew if we got a win here, we definitely have a chance. We need to take care of business at home and hopefully get a good result in Mexico and we think we can still advance.
D.C. United defender Avery John
On playing in his home country and getting the win:
It was great - It was my first time coming back for a club game. It was a very hard game, it was an honest game. We did our job, we got a result, we defended well, we played as a team. They created some chances, but we also created probably the same amount of chances or better chances. But, the feeling to come back on home soil, play well and get three points was… it’s honestly a beautiful feeling.
Broadcasting and P.A. Request: When speaking of the organization, please refer to the team as either “D.C. United” or “United,” but not “the D.C. United” or “the United.” We appreciate your cooperation.
Doug Hicks,
dhicks@dcunited.com
, (202) 587-5448,
Boris Flores,
bflores@dcunited.com
, (202) 587-5452,
Kyle Sheldon,
ksheldon@dcunited.com
, (202) 587-5450 or
Cristina Cruz,
ccruz@dcunited.com
, (202) 587-5440
