D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen:
On the result…
“I hate to say it, but I feel okay with the tie because I thought they were pretty good on the night, and I was surprised at their energy level after coming off of Wednesday. Saying that, I don’t think we came with the right enthusiasm for the game in the first half. There was some tactical stuff and some lack of quality in the way we played at times. We still needed to turn it up some. I felt that we did that in the second half. The ball moved a little quicker for us in the second half. There were times that they were trying to slow down the game and that proved difficult for us. They had some great chances and I’ve been saying it all week, they’re as good as it comes in terms of the counter. They’re certainly not as bad as their record indicates. I give them credit.”
On Eddie Johnson’s Goal…
“It’s good for him to score a goal. He’s in so many good spots and we’ve let him down a lot with lack of quality service. He knows what to do in the six yard box when the ball is delivered properly. We just need to continue to give him that type of service and he’ll start getting on the board more.”
On players supposedly defending Eddie Johnson..
“I don’t know what they need to be defending him for. Eddie has been fine. I don’t want to address the EJ issue. It’s not a big deal to us. He’s back here playing for us now and he’s doing fine. You guys make it more than it is every time.”
D.C. United Goalkeeper Bill Hamid:
On response to going down a goal:
“Yeah, I mean we were all communicating to each other after the goal, 'lets pick it up, lets pick it up' and we didn’t give up. You know, that shows our heart, but at the same time we as a team are probably going to look at this and say that we have to do better as a unit on the field.”
On Eddie Johnson’s goal:
“He has had a good season, he fits in our system. You know, he fits our game plan and what we want to do. We are excited for him that he got the goal. It was a quality finish.”
On Eddie Johnson staying with D.C. United:
“I like Eddie a lot, he is a good friend of mine and I wish he was there. I think he deserves to be there, but, you know, that is how it happens sometimes. But, yeah, it is a good thing that we still have him. Like I said, he fits in our system, he fits our game plan and we are delighted to have him for the whole season.”
D.C. United Defender Bobby Boswell:
On final result:
“Yeah, I think any time we play at home we want to win, so it’s pretty disappointing. You know, we wanted to come out and really get all over them. I don’t think our start was too pleasing for ourselves. Say what you want, we weren’t really happy with the pitch, but both teams have to play on it, so we will look at the film and see what we can do better. Obviously, take care of the ball, maybe move a little more for each other, but I think we had a sense of urgency in the second half.”
On rallying around Eddie Johnson:
“I think the biggest thing is that he is the hardest critic of himself. That is kind of a whole locker room of guys like that, you know, we are harder on ourselves than the media is. Obviously, him being the big name that he is, he is going to get more attention. And, you know, he wants to score. He obviously wants to get his goals, but at the same time, he wants to win. He is the first guy to celebrate and congratulate guys when they score and he is a good teammate in that regard. He is here to help the team win. When Eddie is out there we are a better team, that’s the bottom line. Whether he is scoring, setting them up or flicking balls on and defending, he has found a way to help the team get results. And, as long as he keeps doing that we are going to have his back all the way.”
Montreal Impact Head Coach Frank Klopas:
On the result…
“When they scored in the 83rd minute it felt like a little bit of a disappointment. The thing is, it’s something to build on. I think both teams had chances, but the result was 1-1. We had some very good looks late, but it just didn’t happen. I think it’s always something to build on, especially when we were on the road tonight. It was a very good effort by the group and I felt like it made a big difference to have Hernan [Bernardello] in the middle along with Patrice [Bernier]. You can see the quality and our ability to hold the ball. When we settled down, we were able to get in to a good rhythm and play. I think we had some very good moments and it’s really something to build on. All the guys gave everything they had and now we have a week to prepare for the next game. We just have to keep working and go on the road. We’re close and maybe the next one is the one where we get the result.”
Montreal Impact Forward Jack McInerney:
On the result…
“Obviously it’s disappointing to get the draw. We came out in the first ten minutes and we really struggled, but we adjusted and I think we really took the game to them. We created more and better chances than they did. At the end of the day, if we want to make a run into the playoffs, we’ll need to do a better job at finishing those chances. If we had put our chances away tonight, it could have been two or three to zero. I think we came in and surprised a lot of people. We’ll take the point and move on to the next game.”
Montreal Impact Goalkeeper Troy Perkins:
On the result…
“I think it was a fantastic effort from everyone. There was no sandbagging tonight from anyone. Everyone carried their weight tonight. At times you’re going to get a result like that where it’s 1-1. We deserved more, but they could have had more too. Tying 1-1 on the road and to play positively like we did is a fantastic result. I think the result was fair. They hit the crossbar twice and I think they had more clear chances than we did. But on the flipside of that, we had some shots in the first and second half, but that’s the game.”
