D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On Dwayne De Rosario’s performance:
We can talk about Dwayne [De Rosario], but both Andy [Najar]and Dwayne had exceptional performances. The thing with DeRo is that I am noteven surprised anymore with some of the stuff he does. I’ve seen it as a fan ofhis and I’ve also seen it being on the other side for ten years. This is whathe does and this is why we wanted him. He’s just been exceptional and the guys havejumped on his back as well and rode the wave today. The great thing aboutDwayne is that he will forget about this [performance] and move on and try todo it again. But even for him, I’m sure it was a very memorable game.
On the team’s performance:
Taking away the individual efforts – because I thought therewas some really good stuff out there – as a team, as a group it was a reallygood performance. What we asked of them all week was that the only way we weregoing to get a result today was with a complete group effort, everybody doingtheir part. I thought we got away from that the last week, and on Wednesday,especially after we had two goals. We got away from the team concept; westarted doing things that were a little bit hopeful and they ended up costingus. Looking back at this game [against Real Salt Lake] I was most happy withthe way we defended and moved our defensive shape. Also, let’s be honest withourselves, it wasn’t Real Salt Lake out there that had a five-game winningstreak. We need to keep that in the back of our heads, but I’m glad we punishedthem for putting that team out there.
On Real Salt Lake’s lineup changes:
I was surprised when I came in and saw that [lineup change].But that was their choice. Is it disrespectful? I guess you could look at itthat way. I think the players looked at it that way and maybe that charged themup a little more. Again, I thought it was a good response to a very emotionaltie on Wednesday.
On the upcoming match against Philadelphia Union:
Now, we need to put this [game] to sleep and go against agreat Philadelphia team right now. I saw them last night and they are playingsome good stuff. It’s a conference game, a huge match-up for us, so we need toenjoy this [victory] tonight, forget about it and move on. And hopefully wewill get that second win.
On Stephen King’s performance:
It was a good game from [Stephen] King. He had probably thebest game I’ve seen him play. He broke up a lot of plays, he played at certainspots that were tight and gave us good possession. I also thought [Josh] Wolff had a good night.A lot of the things he does, he is just a really cerebral guy. His positioningwas good on the ball, he helped out Dwayne up top defensively – he workedpretty hard.
On Perry Kitchen’s collision with Bill Hamid:
Perry [Kitchen] is fine, but I don’t know how you take a hitfrom Bill [Hamid] like that and get up. I thought Bill actually ate him[laughs]. But he [Kitchen] is a tough kid. It’s going to take a lot for PerryKitchen to get out of the game.
On achieving consistency:
I’ve tried everything and it’s been up and down. It’s alittle bit of who we are right now. But at some point that has got to change,and hopefully it’s this week. At some point it’ll just click. We have to forgetabout any success we had as quickly as possible and focus on doing our jobconsistently. That’s the trick this week.
D.C. UNITED FORWARD DWAYNE DE ROSARIO
Overall thoughts on the match:
It was a great result against a fit and confident Real SaltLake team. We won balls and were able to open [Real Salt Lake] up andcapitalize on chances. That first goal was a great effort by Andy [Najar]. Itwas a great run and a good finish. I think that goal gave us a good boost ofconfidence, and we just kept going at them. We kept our shape, and that’s whatBen [Olsen] wanted us to do – we stuck to our game plan.
On scoring early:
It builds your confidence more and more when you scoreearly. When you’re up 2-0, you start to feel a bit positive. But we were up 2-0[against Chivas], and they came back, we just continued with our hard work anddiscipline on the defensive side and that’s what led to our goals goingforward.
On completing his hat trick:
I felt like I was in a good spot tonight. We were aggressiveearly on and it paid off. Everyone worked hard to put the team in a goodposition, and I was able to finish some of those chances.
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER ANDY NAJAR
Thoughts on the match:
We are so excited about the match. It was a great effortfrom the team, so everyone is pleased.
On his opening goal:
There was space in the middle [of the field], so I went thatway and I saw [Dwyane De Rosario] and I ran diagonal [to him]. I got a greatpass from [De Rosario] and was able to set up the ‘keeper.
On his chemistry with Dwayne De Rosario:
I enjoy playing with him because he’s a good player and hehelps me get more experience. It’s a lot of fun to play next to him and Ireally enjoy it.
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On the game:
I’m disappointed. Obviously with the scoreline I’m verydisappointed that we reacted the way we did giving up the first goal. Iactually thought we started okay and looked fairly dangerous and were movingthe ball pretty nicely and I really kind of had the feeling that things weregoing to go well. And then the first goal comes and the reactions just weren’tgood enough. It just never felt like it was a 4-0 half to me. I felt like theyscored on every chance they had which was odd. So, I walk away thinking I’ve gota lot of work to do to break down that video and see where the faults lie. Theone thing I can say is I’m pleased that we came out in the second half and didbetter and won the half which as a manager was all I could ask for at halftime.
On the play of Dwayne De Rosario:
[Dwayne De Rosario] was brilliant. He was brilliant. It wasone of those nights where if you give a player like that a yard, then he’sgoing to punish you. And I think he punished us every time that we gave him ayard. So, hats off to him.
On not playing Javier Morales:
I felt like the game was lost and that there was probablynothing positive that could come out of playing [Javier Morales] out there. Ifelt like it was just too big of a risk. Also, frankly I kind of wanted hisfirst minutes to be at home, so I would have used him tonight in very fewcircumstances and obviously it wasn’t going to happen so we’ll look forWednesday.
REAL SALT LAKEDEFENDER NAT BORCHERS
On the game:
I think we won five games in a row and I think it’s safe tosay we weren’t five-games-in-a-row-good. We didn’t play that well through thatstretch. Tonight, I really don’t think that we were 4-1 bad. I think they cameout with more energy. [Dwayne De Rosario] just had a phenomenal game. He lit usup, and when you’re down four goals in the first half it’s tough to scrapeback. There are some positives though. We came into the locker room and wesaid, ‘look, we’re going win this second half and that’s our goal.’ Weresponded well in that we did that.
On the lineup changes:
I would argue that this is the same team that beat Cruz Azullast year at home and this is basically the same group that did that with a fewchanges. We expect a lot from our guys who come in off the bench, so wedefinitely need to work on a few things to get better.
REAL SALT LAKE MIDFIELDER KYLE BECKERMAN
On the game:
When [Dwayne] De Rosario is on, he’s certainly a dangerousplayer and I thought [D.C. United] played to their style – sit back and thenstrike. When DeRo’s like that they’re a pretty dangerous team.
On the game getting away in the first half:
[D.C. United] had four shots and four goals -- pretty goodshots too. So you take your hat off to them and we triedto forget about it and win the second half. We just wanted to get a tie or awin in the second half and forget about it. So, we did that and we ended on apositive.
