NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH MIKE PETKE
On the game:
I mean it was a gritty, but gutsy performance for sure. With some quality mixed in there for a lot of the game. Yeah, especially when we went down a man it was difficult on these guys, but gutsy performance. They really put everything they had out there.
On Tim Cahill’s header and Lloyd Sam’s performance:
I thought Lloyd [Sam] did phenomenal. I thought we actually didn’t get him enough of the ball in the first half, but when he got it he beat his man to provide quality crosses. And Tim [Cahill], you know, we thought it was a good game to have Tim closer to the goal instead of making 30, 40 yard runs into the box as a late runner and tiring himself out. But it was a great cross by Lloyd and a great finish by Tim for sure.
On a reported incident with him and Thierry Henry this week:
Listen, I’ve said it already two days ago. He’s an emotionally fiery person which I love about him and I’m an emotional fiery person. This happens all over the world everywhere. It’s just news here because it’s the Red Bulls and it’s Thierry Henry. It’s really much ado about nothing. We immediately cleared the air and he’s on board 100%. He was a huge spark coming off the bench and providing us with an immediate danger, dangerous play there. He did great tonight along with the whole team.
On Bradley Wright-Phillips play:
Bradley [Wright-Phillips] did very well tonight, along with everybody. His timing on his runs were very good. His ball control with his back to the goal playing one or two touch, playing it off and spinning. His understanding of Tim [Cahill] up there and when Thierry [Henry] came in for the short time he was on, it was good. Yes, I’m going to check out and hopefully we didn’t play him too long as well as David Carney. It wasn’t the plan to play…They played well. They’re feeling good and everyone’s happy in there.
On Luis Robles stop as a pivotal moment this season:
A pivotal moment in the game, for sure, if not the pivotal moment. We’ve had many pivotal moments. There will probably be another one next week, good or bad. Every week we have a pivotal moment and a big play, you know, that defines the season up to that point. But for this game that was incredible because it gave us a bit of a boost, confidence. We’re down a man, they tie it up right there and it’s going to be a real dogfight. So very, very big game changer.
NEW YORK RED BULLS GOALKEEPER LUIS ROBLES
On the importance of his penalty kick save:
Well I think this week we knew that we had to give an answer for last week. We went to L.A. [Chivas USA] and we just didn’t give our best and we ended up dropping three points that were vital in this race because everything is really tight in the Eastern Conference. So this week was really important for us to give an answer and I feel like we did a good job there. That penalty kick situation I guess I’m a little upset about because we didn’t communicate properly and unfortunately we had to endure that and now we’re missing a guy [Ibrahim Sekagya].
On what he was looking for before Dwayne De Rosario shot:
I felt like he was trying to trip me up. I know he did a couple of things that I think very clever forwards do to try to trip the goalie. So I felt pretty confident where De Ro [Rosario] was going and luckily I went the right way. There were a few things that he did beforehand that I was pretty confident because I know that he was definitely trying to trip me off and at the end of the day it’s a crapshoot so I’m just really glad it worked out and we got three points.
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER LLOYD SAM
On playing a full 90 minutes and scoring a goal:
I just try and do the best I can do when I’m on the pitch. Whether it’s a statement, that’s up to other people to see. Whenever I’m put out there, I’m just trying to do the best I can do. It was a cross-shot and good things happen from them sort of balls so I’ll take the goal.
On the rivalry with D.C. United and the importance of the win:
I mean it doesn’t matter where they’re at in the league because that didn’t seem like playing the bottom team in the league right there. That was a difficult game and I’m guessing because of the rivalry that there is between the two teams, so it’s always going to be extra incentive to beat a team that’s a rival.
On his overall performance:
I mean going into the game, especially with Tim (Cahill) upfront, the focus was to get as many balls in the box as possible and I know that if I’m picked right wing, I’m going to get crosses in. I’m happy that – I don’t know how many crosses I put in the box, but I feel like I’ve done my job with putting the balls in and one of them ended up being a goal so that makes me even happier. So yeah, I mean I’m happy man. I mean I’m not at that many games, as you guys know, so it’s nice to get in there, first start at home, and get a goal. I was saying that good things will happen when you start me at home so I had to kind of back up my talk.
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER TIM CAHILL
On the overall play of the team:
I think for us is we set that whole week of playing like that. We said about the work rate it was up to me and Bradley Wright [Phillips] to set the tempo and put an onus on their defense and make them uncomfortable. If they kick the ball long then we’ve done our job. After that, the two sets of four, I thought Eric [Alexander] and Dax [McCarty] were exceptional, the wingers were unbelievable today, Lloyd [Sam] gave us a different dimension, which was just exceptional, and then Jonny [Steele] at the same time and put that with the defenders. You know, [David] Carney come through, he hasn’t played in a while, but I knew his quality. I knew what he can do as a footballer, safe, can get forward, can cross the ball and in the end a complete performance by the team with a goalkeeper and that’s what we’re all about. We’re a team that should leave everything on the pitch and we’ve got a few casualties now, but I’m proud of the boys on the team and obviously the fans got a good reaction for what they deserve.
On playing in an advanced position:
After I got the knock I was struggling, honestly. But for me, I’ll play anywhere. When the coach asked me, says I’m going to play you up front, I said no problems. What you do is you adjust to the circumstances of the players around you and you get them to work to what we me Bradley’s strengths are and that’s get us the ball. You know, we’ll have a fight with them, we’ll close them down, and at the same time, we’ll score goals and we’ll create chances for the other lads. So, you know we’re unlucky to get on the end of a few more, but I suppose overall it was, you know for me, the win is what we needed and the three points, doesn’t matter how you get them. I know everyone wants to play good football, but I thought we played some good football as well. We mixed it up.
On his 10-year-old son, Kyah, singing the National Anthem before the game:
Honestly, I didn’t sleep last night at all. I said to the lads, I said for me it’s emotional, my family means everything, but he was so relaxed. We’ve been practicing it together and he’s been – you know, this is what he wants to do. He’s an aspiring artist and he’s been doing really well and to have this opportunity with the Australian fans here was really special. But also, you know how passionate American people are with the Anthem every game and I know every word now because of my son. For me, it’s one of the most special days of my life and the passionate person I am, to do it with the fans, to show them how much you care for the club, I think today poured it all out, the emotions. I said to the lads straight after when we went in the huddle, I said, “Look, if that doesn’t give you inspiration to do well for the fans, for yourselves, to find that next gear, I don’t know what will.” And you can see today, we needed energy, we needed a reaction from the last three games and we needed to show that we can play with no fear and I suppose today that’s what happened.
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On today’s match:
I think it was a typical D.C. – New York matchup, pretty eventful. You know one play here or there can change things and (we were) a little unlucky not come out of here with something. I feel like after that (first) half, our energy and commitment and our whole demeanor was a little bit more physical and what the game need in the second half. I’m a little disappointed on the second half that we didn’t have that everywhere on the field; we were a little bit late. In the second half a lot of guys put everything they had out there; I mean we were exhausted. I think I worked them too hard this week… judging the legs that we had towards the end, I think I might have worked them a bit hard this week and I’ll take some blame for that but the second half, the character that we showed was.. I was really happy with it. Again, I feel like we are a little unlucky to not come out with at least something here.
On not being able to capitalize today and how the season has been going:
I didn’t think a lot was missing today, maybe we deal with the PK, maybe we are a little bit cleaner in our final third. It’s no different than most teams you know, you foul up plays in the defensive half and you are not finishing on the offensive end. The goals were… I didn’t like the goals, they were soft but again; I like this team, I like the group I have right now, I like the future for D.C. United and I’m not blowing smoke. You guys know me for a while; I do like a lot of what I see out of this team.
On the team morale leading up to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final:
Players have short memories, we’ll bounce back. It’s a tough loss tonight; again, I feel like we deserved a little bit more but in a day or two they’ll be over and it we’ll get back to work. We go out west for a game and there is still a goal here and it is to get better each week and obviously is to prepare ourselves for Salt Lake.
On Dwayne De Rosario’s performance:
It’s soccer man, it’s tough sometimes. I feel for Dwayne (De Rosario), because I know he’s going to feel like he let down the team, but you know, overall I’m proud of the performance that we had tonight.
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER PERRY KITCHEN
On today’s match:
I think we gave a great effort in the second half, especially to earn at least a point to be fair. That’s the way it goes sometimes, that’s the way it’s been going all year. We just have to stay in it, it’s very hard to do at this point but we got to keep grinding and staying at it. Ultimately we have a championship game coming up that we are trying to prepare for so, all these games leading up to it are important. As much as it stinks that nothing is going our way in the league, we just have to stay positive and try to figure it out because in the second half there were good sequences, there were good chances, there were good opportunities and we just haven’t been able to put it all together this year.
On if this week’s training effort affected their game performance today:
I mean, we were definitely exhausted. The work that put in this week was a good week, it was a very intense training week. We did all the right things but no; I mean it was hot out there, we were definitely pushing for the game and that always makes it tougher but me personally I felt normal, I felt good. You know I don’t think… it’s definitely not an issue of having worked too hard, we had a great week of training and we tried to prepare for the weekend and just didn’t get it done.
D.C. UNITED FORWARD DWAYNE DE ROSARIO
On today’s match: The first half was… we could’ve done a lot better in the first half. I think them scoring, then giving up a goal and then coming back and scoring hurt us but I thought the second half was a lot better, there were a lot of positives we could take out of that. (I’m) disappointed in myself that I missed that penalty shot at a time like that; I guessed right, I hit on frame but still at a time like that I think should bury it. We then had a decent shot with the header; I hit it a little bit low, I tried to get my head to it. Then again, disappointed loss but the second half was good. If we could emulate what we did on the second half and play a full 90 minutes we’ll be all right.
On if he thinks contact with Jamison Olave in second half was accidental: I don’t know, it’s tough... to say that it was part of his stride, I mean I don’t know. His elbow definitely was high, so I don’t… I was grabbing him to get the ball; it could be a little reaction of his part. I don’t know, I’ll just have to see the tape; right now it’s hard to say. I’m definitely not happy about it but we’ll have to see. I’m not going to say he meant it, I’m not (saying) he didn’t. I just have to review it myself.
