D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
On having a man advantage:
I thought we managed the game well once the red card happened. To get that goal right before the half was a big boost. I thought early, though, we looked a little hazy. I wasn’t happy with the way we started, it just looked like we weren’t ready. And, I will take that part on myself. Not getting them geared up this week and before the game because without the red card I think we are in a little bit of trouble.
On Fabian Espindola’s performance:
I didn’t think there were many poor performances after we go up a man, but that happens a lot. It is not easy to break teams down when they sit back and Fabi [Espindola] a guy that can unlock that, and he did a great job tonight. I thought [Chris] Rolfe and Nick DeLeon both really helped out in the midfield in creating problems for them. I thought Eddie put in a good shift until he had to come out.
On Bill Hamid coming back:
It was good, you know, it is never easy coming back in after a goalkeeper, the backup, had a good run. He wants to prove that he is the number one and I think he did that tonight.
On deciding tonight’s goalkeeper:
It was a conversation and that is a credit to Dykstra. I wouldn’t have had that conversation last year, he did a great job, but in the end Bill is our number one. And he didn’t leave the field through the way he played, he left through an injury and he is back. We have all the faith in Bill, but as I said before, we have faith in all three of my goalkeepers. Any one of them that I put out there, I have no problem with.
On five-game unbeaten streak:
Yeah, it is a good group. And, as I said before, they are hungry. I think a lot of these guys have something to prove, for one reason or the other. I have something to prove and our staff has something to prove, so hopefully we can continue on this run. We have a tough match next week going to the West Coast against a good Portland team. Obviously, their record isn’t showing it right now, but they are still a very good team, so we are looking forward to the next challenge.
D.C. UNITED FORWARD FABIAN ESPINDOLA
On the first goal:
We started to move the ball. That was a nice play—a great cross by Eddie Johnson and a good finish too.
On where the team is headed:
I feel good about our strength in trying to keep the ball and trying to get better. Sometimes you’re not going to score, but at least you can try to play—that’s what I want, and tonight, we won.
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER CHRIS ROLFE
On Fabian Espindola’s second goal:
Fabian Espindola was fantastic. As soon as I got the ball, I wanted to make Steven Keel (FC Dallas defender) step out. As soon as he stepped, I played the ball back to Fabian and he had a great touch and a great finish.
On the team coming together:
Tonight it looked good. Even when we were even strength, we had great possession and great movement. We weren’t really getting the good kicks that we wanted, but that will come. It’s a matter of guys being more comfortable, aggressive and a little greedier.
On spreading the field:
We came into the game with that game plan and then it was just exploited more when we had more space. The guys did a great job.
D.C. UNITED DEFENDER SEAN FRANKLIN
On finishing games:
Last game we didn’t do a good job when we were up a man, but this time we did. This time, we kept the ball. We spread them out, and we finished our chances and that’s something that we haven’t done successfully this year.
On their winning mentality:
We’re unbeaten in our last five games and some of those games we should have won. Right now, our team has all the confidence in the world and we’re excited for this win tonight, but it is a long season and hopefully it will be a successful one.
On the team coming together:
We’re working on a lot of things. It’s a pretty new team and it’s tough to work with new guys. We’ve been working really hard off the field and making sure that when it comes Saturday, we’re able to put on a good performance, and tonight we were able to do that.
FC DALLAS HEAD COACH ÓSCAR PAREJA
On strategy playing down a man
Just to be organized in two lines of four. We wanted to control the width of the field to see what is coming, especially on our left and their right. And also try to extend the line and support because we knew that they were going to get some numbers up.
FC DALLAS GOALKEEPER CHRIS SEITZ
On entering second half:
You know, we sought confidence. It is one of those things where we had a good group of guys out there, a group that we knew was going to have to work hard, but at the same time we thought we would be able to create a chance or two. We are going to obviously put defensive first and then try and get one or two chances to win the game and that was our mindset going into it. Obviously, things changed decently quick and we had to adjust from there. But, we went back out there and honestly we weren’t playing for the 1-1 tie, we still had confidence in what we could do out there.
