Head Coach Ben Olsen
Game in General
“Again it wasn’t the greatest performance, but that’s what you’ve gotta do these days. We’re still trying to find ourselves. As far as life after DeRo (Dwayne De Rosario) and our shape, tweaking things. I thought for the most part we hung in there early then Maicon (Santos) came in and really helped out, and I thought changed the game.”
Substitute Impact
“I’ve made a lot more substitutions that haven’t made an impact. So if you add them all up, I’m sure I’m in the negative, but look they (Philadelphia Union) do a very good job at home. They put a lot of pressure on teams. They don’t have much to lose right now. So they’re throwing a lot of numbers forward. They’re comfortable here. So we wanted to plug up that middle a bit, and they had a lot of possession, nothing too dangerous, and we were hoping that Maicon (Santos) could come in and when the game opened up and help out.”
Chris Pontius
On the goal
“I saw MacMath come out I knew I had no angle, so I am just hoping either a trailing guy is coming through or Lio(Lionard Pajoy) steps back and times his run perfectly and luckily he did the right thing. He was so composed on the finish it was unbelievable.”
On the Quick turn around
“It’s a dangerous opponent especially when a team like Chivas doesn’t have a whole lot to lose, they become very dangerous… I think people are playing for their jobs there. But we are at home and hopefully we can play like we did tonight and hopefully get control of the game more.”
Confidence booster to win on the road?
“We have to start winning on the road, we’ve got two at home and three on the road. We have to take it one game at a time but it’s nice to win on the road. I think everyone stuck together, going on the road we have to be a unit, we have to play kind of inside out, be compact make it hard for them to break us down.”
Philadelphia Union Head Coach John Hackworth
Opening Statement
“It was a tough one, didn’t feel like that one was going to end with that result. My feeling right now is that our team is struggling. We’re doing everything possible to try put ourselves in a position to score and get attempts on goal, and for whatever reason, even though we had some really good looks. Just didn’t get the chances we really ah… too many times in behind their defense and not to get something out of it that’s tough. Hats off to D.C. United and Ben Olsen, they’re a really good team and there’s a reason they’re in the playoff run. They fought really hard tonight and obviously got the result they wanted.”
Goal scoring combination of players
“All we can do right now is give guys opportunities see what our combinations are and tonight we tried something new and while it created a lot the quality wasn’t there. So we’ll just have to continue to do that. The one thing I’ll say about the team is they certainly didn’t give up. In fact they almost tried too hard at the end. The last 20 minutes, I probably haven’t yelled that much in a long time on the sidelines. Just cause I’m trying to get guys to be still, be organized to give us opportunities. Guys are doing everything they can to put themselves in a position to get something off, but that’s not the smartest way to go about bringing yourself back in a game. So that’s something we have to work on.”
Goal scoring, innate or teachable?
“Both, but I think you have to have players who have confidence, who have that mentality, and I think we do. Look, Jack McInerney had some really good looks tonight, and was pretty dangerous. Antoine got in a couple times, and the balls bouncing off his shin, his knee, and it’s hitting everywhere except where he wants it. So you know, a little bit of me feels like we can’t buy one, no matter what, because I think those goals are going to come with those young players. The hard part about it is that this is their opportunity, and for young guys like this when they get this chance they really got to cease it. So look, we’re going to keep on teaching it, but at some point those guys have to create the chances and finish them.”
Looking forward to next year, do you think we have a good core players?
“I do, I think we have a great core of players. I think a lot of what I would just described to you is innate and teachable moments are things that come along with youth and that youth has to have time to grow and develop that is the way it always is. So I feel like we have a great group of soccer players, very talented individuals, but we’re on the young side, for sure, and we haven’t learned how to put the ball in the back of the net when it really matters, when we get our chances. So I’m very positive about this group, but at the same time I’m disappointed for them. I think they’ve deserved more than they’ve gotten, for sure.”
Philadelphia Union Goalkeeper Zac MacMath
On what the team needs
“It’s collectively a few things. I think as a team we need have a little bit more fight… bring it on the field [and] not let a goal against us. Bring the fight out in us. And we should bring it [from] the get-go… that urge to go get a goal and win games. And I think that’s something we all need to work at and really bring to the rest of the season and also into next year.”
Philadelphia Union Forward Antoine Hoppenot
On loss
“We want to win every game, especially at home…I thought we tried to play a lot more than they did. They sat back and really kind of tried to kill the game and catch us on the counterattack. It’s tough to lose a game like that. They ended up catching us on the counterattack and getting one and then they just sat back and killed the game off. It’s a tough one.”
On what to improve to get goals
“The chances are there. I know I had a few… I won a few back. The one Sheanon [Williams] played me, I tried push away and I probably should have just put it on goal. A few other times I tried to do too much instead of just shooting. [Hackworth] emphasized trying to shoot more so I know that’s something we got to do.”
Philadelphia Union Forward Freddy Adu
On playing time
“I don’t think per se my playing time has diminished. It’s just that today, for example, the coaching staff had made it clear in the beginning of the week that they were going to give other people a chance as well. Obviously it’s an ESPN game; it’s against DC United [and] I’d love to be out there, but I picked up a knock against Toronto. That’s why I came out of that game. I missed a day in training this week as well because of my ankle and we have another game on Sunday. I had talked to [John Hackworth] and he said “You know what? You want to take it easy.” And that was a good opportunity actually to give other people a chance as well. He has faith in all the players. He felt like some of the guys could step up and get the job done because right now everybody is playing for their job next season. Really, they’re playing for their job next season as well. It’s a crucial time. We’re not going to stop. For me personally, yeah, I’d like to be out there. We had a little mini run there in middle of the season when we were scoring a lot of goals and things were going well. We took kind of a step back as far as finishing goals. But stuff happens. We’re going to keep fighting it and hopefully the floodgates open.”
On fighting for position next season
“It doesn’t matter who you are, man, you got to come out here and you got to play for your spot next year. I’m no different than anybody else. I got to earn my spot just like everybody else. That’s the way I look at it personally and that’s the way I’m going to look at it till the end of the season and going into preseason. I love this team. I love this organization. And I want to be part of this team as well going into the future.”
