D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
Overall thoughts on the match:
I never like to tie at home; we as an organization don’t want to tie at home. But if we are going to tie at home, I can live with the way we played tonight. Our commitment was there, the concentration was there, and I feel like we just defended long throw-ins the whole night. The game was there; we had one or two chances, but we were a little bit unlucky. [Kevin] Hartman made a hell of a save... I am disappointed that we didn’t get that goal, but the positive is that we had a good performance after a good performance on Wednesday. That’s what we are striving for – good, consistent soccer, and if we continue to do that over the course of the year it’s usually enough to make playoffs.
On Stephen King’s first game as a starter:
I thought he was great; he’s a wonderful kid. He comes everyday with the same mentality and he is a great teammate. It’s been a tough year for him and he has been out of the loop, but he stepped in and did a really good job.
On Andy Najar’s performance:
I thought he had a great game; he was special tonight, definitely the best player on the field.
On Najar’s injury:
I think he is okay. He just collided with Brek Shea.
On Dax McCarty’s and Stephen King’s interaction:
It’s a little bit of a different dynamic with [Dax McCarty] and [Stephen] King there than it would be with [McCarty] and Clyde [Simms]. King had a great understanding - when Dax [McCarty] sits [King] is more comfortable going forward. They played off each other pretty well all night long. Dax’s energy was great and he wasn’t surprised by his old friends from Dallas.
On the backline:
[Daniel] Woolard has been great, the last two games he’s done a really good job for us. Perry [Kitchen] is playing out of position, but you wouldn’t know it. Defensively, he is very committed. Dejan [Jakovic] has been very good for the past two games and he brings that athleticism that helps out in a lot of cases.
On Charlie Davies’ performance:
I think he could go again; he is fit. He is a very strong kid. He has been very good and is starting to feel at home out there. He is also starting to feel at home with [Josh] Wolff. He is becoming more of a complete player for us.
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER FRED
On his scoring opportunity at the conclusion of the game:
I saw [Josh] Wolff cross the ball, and I saw [Kevin Hartman] try to touch [the ball] and I sprinted. I said, here I have to score, and I headed [the ball] and he saved it. It was unlucky, but we did a good job in this game. We could have used some goals, but we will work on this.
On the match overall:
Everyone did a good job tonight. Andy [Najar], Chris [Pontius] were good in midfield. We need to keep doing good things and I think we can win next Saturday [against Colorado].
D.C. UNITED DEFENDER PERRY KITCHEN
On the match overall:
I thought it was a good game for us. We were tight as a group, and a shutout is a team effort. It’s a team defensive effort, and everyone did their part. We hoped for the three points, but at least we got something out of it.
On his progress playing right back:
It’s always nice getting forward, I’ve been at centerback for a while now. Like I said, I was just trying to pick my moments and I was able to get forward a bit. I wasn’t trying to do anything too crazy.
On the improved play of United’s backline:
We’re still not perfect by any means, but we have definitely been doing better these past few games. We need to continue to progress, and it’s good motivation to see us pick up these types of results.
FC DALLAS HEAD COACH SCHELLAS HYNDMAN
On the game:
I thought it was kind of a sloppy game from both parts. There really wasn’t a lot of quality possession and not enough scoring opportunities for either team. I think it was just one of those games that on our part we were unable to connect a lot of our passes.
On his side’s defensive play:
I thought the best chance [for D.C. United] was there at the end when our goalkeeper made the save at the far post on the blind side and I thought that was probably the best chance in the game. We left two starting defenders at home and that obviously hurts us. Brek Shea did a good job playing the left back position, but he helps us so much more as a left midfielder.
On earning a draw on the road:
We’re never pleased with a point. We go into every game wanting three points and that’s the mentality we go in with. And we try to play the same whether we’re at home or on the road, and today we just weren’t able to get the rhythm of the game.
FC DALLAS GOALKEEPER KEVIN HARTMAN
On the game:
I mean it was a pretty back-and-forth game. There were a couple breakdowns that we had and really kind of gave them a few opportunities. That being said, I thought we all kind of stepped up under the circumstances and we maybe had a couple chances to maybe get a goal here or there. I thought [the game] was pretty evenly contested. I know that Ugo [Ihemelu] maybe cleared one off the line where Brek [Shea] tried to head it back to me when I was yelling away, but besides that the Fred opportunity maybe late. Maybe those were [D.C. United’s] two most decisive opportunities and we were able to do whatever we needed to kind of get rid of those. So, [a] point on the road against what I think is a D.C. team that’s really headed in the right direction under Ben Olsen. We have won three out of four and then this tie – we’re starting to get back into the groove of really not conceding goals and really trying to be difficult to beat. I think that that’s something that we really kind of want to make a trademark of the team.
On his game-saving stop on Fred at the end of the match:
We had stepped probably 20 to 25 yards out and there was that looping ball in. My attention was more to the center where the ball came from and so when it was clipped there I kind of took a look and I have no idea really how we lost [Fred] in that position. I don’t know if he made a good run or if somebody had held him on [side] or exactly how it happened. I thought that Josh [Wolff] did a really good job to steer it across and then I was like, man he’s there pretty early so when I turned to my right I didn’t think anybody would be there because I had a pretty good idea of what was going on centrally. And then [the cross] happened so quick and when it happens that quick, you’re timing’s got to be great and Fred did a great job to get there. So I kind of just turned and saw that [Fred] was going to try to put [the ball] in, so I just tried to get as big as I possibly could and go directly at the ball and luckily I was able to get a hand to it.
FC DALLAS DEFENDER UGO IHEMELU
On the match:
I thought it was a game that went back-and-forth. Not very organized – scrappy – just one of those game that you have to battle and I think we battled well. D.C. created some good chances. We had a few [chances]. D.C. was very motivated for this game, so that said we’ll take the result. One point on the road isn’t horrible. We would have wanted three points, but we’ll take this for now.
On Dallas’ defensive efforts:
It was a makeshift backline, we’ve had some injuries last minute, so the guys that came in did well. We hadn’t even trained with Brek [Shea] at left back this week, but he came in and just worked and brought great energy and stay organized with the backline. I think it worked out relatively well.
