D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
Overall thoughts on the friendly match against AFC Ajax:
These exercises are always interesting, in terms of what you can get out of them. Today was a good day for us. A lot of guys that haven’t seen minutes came in and gave a good effort, although a better effort in the second half than they did in the first. We didn’t get the way they played for about fifteen minutes; as you could see, we didn’t touch the ball for fifteen minutes. They are an unbelievable team; the way they play, how they understand their system, and it’s nice to play against a team like that.
But after fifteen minutes we started figuring it out, and I thought the game changed. It could have gone either way. We had four or five good chances, but when you make a couple of mistakes good teams punish you.
On Brandon Barklage’s performance:
It was okay, but I thought he could have done better on the first goal. [Brandon] Barklage is a very hard worker and he is in a position where he is still learning; he still only has four or five real games in that position. It takes time, but the one thing you know you are always getting with Brandon is the work.
It was contagious. [Chris] Korb came in and did a good job, [Rodrigo] Brasesco came on the right and looked okay. Also, Blake [Brettschneider] came in and gave really good energy. And that’s what they need; if you are going to press, you better press, and you better press hard and together, or if not they’ll pick you apart.
On Perry Kitchen as a midfielder:
I thought he did fine. Perry [Kitchen] has a strong personality; he is a hard-nosed kid. I ask him to play in several different positions and he doesn’t blink, he goes in and does his job. I think anywhere I’ve put him so far he’s done a good job. We’ll see where we go from here. We have some decisions in the weekend going into Portland, a tough place to play - small turf field, so we’ll have to make some adjustments.
On Charlie Davies’ comeback:
Charlie is doubtful at this point, but you never know if he’ll back.
On friendly experiences and being exposed to big teams:
I’ve always loved [international friendlies]. I always had illusions of grandeur and thought they were going to buy me for millions of dollars (laughs) if I scored enough goals.
At D.C. United we’ve had the pleasure of playing some really good friendlies. Some organizations haven’t had the chance of playing the likes of Ajax, AC Milan, Real Madrid, or Chelsea. It’s an unbelievable experience, not only for the team and the young guys, but also for myself and the whole organization.
I think we earned a little bit of respect today, and that’s big progress.
D.C. UNITED FORWARD BLAKE BRETTSCHNEIDER
On scoring United’s goal:
It was nice to get back on the field, obviously against some quality opposition. I went out there and tried to show the coaches that I could contribute. The goal came from a lot of hard work on Joe Ngwenya’s part, and I ended up being in the right place at the right time. [Ngwenya] played a good ball across and I tried to tap it in near post. It was great competition tonight and it will be good for us moving forward into Portland.
WATCH:Blake Brettschneider's goal
On playing against Ajax:
I thought once we figured out how to contain [Ajax] and keep them to one side, we started to do a lot better and as the game went on we continued to create chances, and I was fortunate enough to finish one of them. This was a positive result for us, obviously we wanted to get the win, but there was a lot of positive stuff there – a lot for us to build on.
D.C. UNITED DEFENDER/MIDFIELDER PERRY KITCHEN
On playing defensive midfield:
It was fun playing against a great team like Ajax, it was definitely tough the first ten or fifteen miutes as they came out flying and we had to make some adjustments in terms of our pressure and our lines. Overall it was a great experience, and it’s going to help us going into Portland.
On Ajax’s style:
It was fun to see how good [Ajax] are, but it’s tough being on the opposite side. One through eleven they are so clean on the ball, they know their roles and they spread themselves out so well. You can see why they are a [UEFA] Champions League team, it was an awesome experience.
On moving forward:
[Portland] should be fun. This [Ajax] match can hopefully give us some motivation moving into our League games.
AJAX MANAGER FRANK DE BOER
On the game:
I think we started quite well. We controlled the game and created some chances. I think they had a lot of problems with the space behind [D.C. United’s] defense. We created some chances and that’s why we scored the first goal. We didn’t have that many problems, but in the second half I think [D.C. United] played much better. They had a lot of movement in the midfield and our strength was a little bit down because also the weather was not in our favor because we’re not used to playing in those circumstances. D.C. played also much better, so they deserved to draw at that time and also because we made a lot of mistakes. The example of course was the goal. Our right fullback made a big mistake and it was 1-1 and at that time we had it very difficult. But also, we created some good chances because Lorenzo Ebecilio was one-against-one against the goalkeeper and at the end we made the score 2-1 for the lead. So, maybe a draw in the end was maybe right, but I’m satisfied. I saw some very good things and I hope that everybody enjoyed in the game.
On D.C. United:
Especially in the second half they put some more pressure on us and you saw some very good skills and they created some chances. Our goalkeeper had to have some good reactions to make saves. So, they played quite good football.
AJAX DEFENDER VURNON ANITA
On the game:
It was very warm. The first half we played very well with the possession. [In the] second half D.C. United played very well. They kept on running and they scored a good goal, but we won.
On his game-winning goal:
I got a ball from the keeper. I didn’t know who to play and they kept good pressure on me and I took the ball and scored a good goal.
On D.C. United:
[D.C. United] are very good. They keep on running and their conditioning is very good. I think they are going to be good for the season.
On playing in the United States:
It’s very nice to come here in America and play here against D.C. United. They have a very good team, so it was a good exhibition match.
