D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
General comments on the match:
“I don’t think we had enough of a chip on our shoulder early in the game, and I thought (San Jose) did. They’re at home, so their energy was good. They create a lot of problems with the numbers they throw at you. It makes it difficult. Particularly early, they were sharper than us. I think we missed a center back today, and that’s not against Perry (Kitchen) or Robbie (Russell), but they’re not center backs. (Emiliano) Dudar’s out, and Dejan (Jakovic), they would have really helped out on a big (guy) like (Steven) Lenhart, who had a good day. They were opportunistic. It seemed like when they had good looks, they did very well with them. The second half, I was proud of the way the guys fought and came back. Overall, I’m disappointed in the loss, but there is a lot of fight in this team, and when we get healthy, I think that we are going to be OK.”
On what’s next for United:
“We have to survive. There are a lot of teams with players in key positions out. We just have to make it work. We played a very good team tonight. They have the record they have for a reason. They are dynamic with their attack, and again that’s missing a key guy or two in the back (for us). It was always going to be a tough task, but I’m proud about the second half. We have a late game here, and an early game in Toronto in two days. We have to get ready for another tough battle.”
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER DWAYNE DE ROSARIO
On the match:
“(San Jose) have shown they can score goals, and that’s something we knew about. When you look back at it, I thought we did enough to come away with something, but hats off to San Jose. They kept coming, and coming, they pressed the game and they did what they do best. They get themselves in good areas and they finish their chances. We got punished. Teams like that, any chance you give, they are going to finish it, and we saw that tonight. But away from home, three goals, you think that’s good enough to at least come away with a point, and we didn’t. We came away with nothing, and we’re disappointed about that part.”
On Jon Busch’s first-half save of his bicycle kick attempt:
“I thought (the save) was equally as good as the bicycle kick. I just kind of went for it, and (Busch) picked it out of the corner. I applaud him for that, because I didn’t think he was going to get it. He pulled a great save. It was one of those nights where (the Earthquakes) got a lot of bounces going their way. That stems from their hard work and their mentality. They just kept coming and coming, and when you have that mentality, chances are going to come. We brought it to them, too. To be fair, we should have still come away with something, but unfortunately we didn’t.”
D.C. UNITED DEFENDER DANIEL WOOLARD
On his goal to cut the deficit to 3-2:
“The ball went out wide. Andy (Najar) got on the end of it and put a great ball in. I was just hoping it would get over that last defender. I committed myself, that if it was going to get over (the last defender) I was going to get to it. I just tried to put enough on it to get it past Jon Busch, and was able to. It gave us a lift there. It was too bad we couldn’t keep it to just a one-goal deficit for very long, because if it was one goal, we’re definitely in it. Unfortunately, we weren’t very good defensively tonight, so it didn’t matter.”
On what led to them allowing five goals:
“They’re a very good attacking team, especially at home. They send a lot of numbers. We just didn’t deal with it well tonight. We gave them too many chances, and they put us away.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH FRANK YALLOP
On the game:
“We attacked well all night. I liked the way we moved the ball around, how we were running off the ball and we were dynamic in front of goal. All the things we talked about coming into the game, we did well tonight, so I was very pleased with that. Even though we got down early, we did not hang our heads or buckle. We kept at it and got a great win.”
On start to the season:
“We have had a great start but we are not getting carried away at all. There is a long way to go in the season and we have to keep playing well and getting results. What I like about our team right now is that they play for each other and they come out excited to play every match. We have great team spirit right now in training every day and that is carrying over to the games.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES DEFENDER JUSTIN MORROW
On scoring first career MLS goal:
“I was supposed to be on the edge of the box, but I snuck toward the back post. I found my way to the open space and the ball found me for the goal. It feels great to get that first goal out of the way and to do it today, on my mother’s birthday, makes it that much more special. I will never forget it.”
On second match in four days:
“This was a great team win overall. D.C. (United) is a great team who can come out of that (Eastern) Conference, and their skill showed by the way they fought back to make it close. It’s a tough stretch to play three matches in one week, but we have stepped up to get wins in the first two. We want to go get that third win in Vancouver on Saturday.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI
On scoring 50th career goal:
“It was a good team win, first of all. I give the credit to my teammates. We are creating chances and I have been fortunate enough to find myself on the other end, ready to finish. Anytime you can score to help your team get three points against a quality side make the goals even greater.”
On team’s unbeaten streak:
“I think you are seeing us starting to gel and just play. We have some skilled players on this team and you see the depth of our roster stepping up for injured players. Everybody is doing their part, staying disciplined and it’s resulting in three points.”
