D.C. United vs. Toluca Quotesheet – October 20, 2009
D.C. United Head Coach Tom Soehn
On the result:
“We definitely wanted to come and get the result here so we didn’t have to count on somebody else. This is a tough environment to come in and play in. I thought our guys handled it well. We had some chances to put the second goal away and we missed those opportunities and they came back to haunt us. Overall, it was a spirited match. They had their chances, as did we. We’re disappointed not to come away with a better result but I thought our team fought well.”
Thoughts on Toluca:
“I faced their coach many times now. I think he does a great job of building a team that’s attractive to watch and hard to play against. They are very organized. So I credit them, I think they are a very good team. At home they are very difficult to play against. We came here and competed as well and both teams could have come away with a win.”
D.C. United Forward Chris Pontius
On United’s first ever draw in Mexico:
“It’s tough because it came down to the ref deciding the game. We played our hearts out. It’s a difficult stadium to play in and it’s unfortunate that we did not come out with the result that we wanted. When you play that hard for 90 minutes you want to win and I thought we deserved to win today.”
On the confidence his early goal gave the team:
“I think it kind of settled us all down. I thought it was good for us as a team. Toluca is the best team in Mexico right now. They are a very good team and playing at altitude, they are a very tough team to play against. It was very important for us to get on the scoreboard first.”
On the effects of the altitude:
“I definitely felt the altitude. I never played at this high altitude before. So you just get winded so much faster and your vision starts to get a little bit blurry which obviously is to their advantage.”
D.C. United Defender Lawson Vaughn
Thoughts on the game:
“From my perspective, I thought in the first half we came out and we’re very disciplined. We had good shape defensively and we didn’t give them many opportunities. In the second half we got stretched a little bit, gave them a little too much space and for me, the guy on the left, I gave him way too much space and he created that chance and he got the PK.”
Thoughts on the penalty kick
“The guy got around me. I knew that he was going to try to go around the corner and I just put my shoulder down. I don’t know if our legs got tangled but I did not try to kick him or anything and he just fell. I guess he sold it.”
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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
