D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen
On the Red Card:
I got to look at it again, but to me it’s a soccer play that happens all the time where you go in – and Fabian plays with this heart – he goes in for a challenge. It’s just poor. And again, I haven’t seen it again, but it’s just poor, and then it just ruins the game; it’s so disappointing. It’s just a shame. To me it’s just a shame the game had to play out that way.
On whether or not he’ll appeal:
I don’t know, we’ll look at that.
On nearly taking away a point:
It’s such a gutsy performance from this team. They’re a bunch of grinders and they know how to do that and I’m proud of them tonight. I’m disappointed for them, again because of the call, and I’m disappointed that they couldn’t get something from what was a hell of an effort from the guys.
On whether or not it surprised him that the referee made the red card call:
No it didn’t surprise me at all.
On whether or not he was concerned about being tossed out of the game:
Sure, I wasn’t that concerned at the moment but I’m sure I was pushing it tonight. But in a game like this against New York, in what should be a good soccer game, a good rivalry game. To not have it be that way because of a bad call, it’s frustrating and it’s tough to get over. I think my guys handled it much better than I did, but they’re grinders
D.C. United Goalkeeper Bill Hamid
On the D.C. performance against a strong New York Red Bulls team:
We were under the gun. It’s tough to play against a team with such star-power coming at you, but the guys stayed organized, they won their one v. one battles, won their battles in the air, and they covered each other. Its unfortunate that they nipped a goal in the end, but the effort by these guys today was just absolutely amazing. To hold a team with so much star-power to zero until the last minute, I tip my hats to my teammates.
On what they take from this game:
We got to take from this game all the heart. We got to take that and run with that. Like I said it was a great effort by us. Like I said they have star-power all over the field, they know where their runs are going, a lot of dummies from the first forward checking into the second forward and playing that first forward back, and we held strong. We dealt with everything that they were throwing at us and I tip my hats to my teammates today. To hold a team like this until the last minute - great effort.
On red card:
Well it was so early in the game that I didn’t think it was a red card. If he ends up kicked in the face and he’s bleeding, that’s one thing, but I don’t know. The refs make these calls and you just have to adjust and deal with it.
On the call dictating the outcome of the game:
Yeah, it’s unfortunate that a call would dictate the outcome of the game, but we still could have done better on the last play, we could’ve dealt with that. There are one or two things we could’ve dealt with in the first place, and maybe I could’ve made that save, but we held them until the last minute. Great effort by every guy on that play.
D.C. United Midfielder Chris Pontius
Thoughts on the game:
First 30 minutes until the red card I thought was a little sloppy from both teams. It’s a rivalry game, it’s going to be a little chippy but obviously the red card changes everything, but I thought we put in the work defensively and had the chance to go up 1-0. I thought with the red card and the way we battled, we were unlucky to get out of here without a point.
On the D.C. vs. Red Bull rivalry:
It’s great. It’s the one that you mark on the calendar at the beginning of the year and you look forward to it, whether it’s them coming to us or us coming up here. There’s a lot of history behind these teams and I’m fortunate to be involved in a lot of these games, I always look forward to them. It was two quality teams going at it tonight. Unfortunately, you didn’t get to see eleven players v. eleven, instead it was ten v. eleven.
New York Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke
On the red card to Fabian Espindola in the first half and how it changed the game:
Yeah. Absolutely. When it was 11 v 11 I feel like we – I know we created chances, we moved the ball well, we were in control, we were in control the whole game, but I mean listen I’m yelling from the sideline late in the first half when [Chris] Duvall crosses from the right our left backs in the box, our forwards are in the box, our three midfielders are in the box, and Dax [McCarty] and Eric [Alexander] are at the top of the box and I’m screaming but I don’t see it at that time but their entire team was at the 18 yard box and back. It’s very difficult. I know a lot of coaches in this league, you know, when teams come in and sit in they rip it, they say it’s terrible. I give D.C. [United] a ton of credit. They did what they had to do and they almost walked out of here with a point. Once the red card came it was very difficult to break them down. I give my guys a lot of credit, they got the goal, and I give D.C. credit for really making it difficult on us.
On Bradley Wright-Phillips and if he is already looking forward to playing Philadelphia [Union] on Saturday:
First Bradley, I’m going to get the full report hopefully right after this [press conference], but we took him out. He said he felt something, it wasn’t pulled or anything, he just felt strange down there in his hamstring. We pulled him off so he doesn’t pull it. Hopefully we got him off in time. And yeah, these guys are tired. We have two days now, three days actually, to pick them back up, do whatever we can do to get them ready for the Philly game. Three games in one week, physical games, both of these games were physical. I give my guys a lot of credit for battling and now we have to re-assess and see whose going to be able to walk on Saturday.
On using the same lineup and formation in consecutive games and if he is going to stick with it:
No. I’m sure everybody seems to have saw a certain lineup but that’s not how – that wasn’t our game plan, lets put it that way. We just put players in positions, starting points, and it could look like a 4-2-3-1, could look like a 4-5-1, whatever you want to say it, but at the end of the day they’re starting positions and from there they have to seek the ball and find different things so I’m not sticking to a certain thing or saying or playing a certain way. I put the guys out on the field that I feel could get us a result, put them in certain starting points and then we go from there and we have two wins in a row.
On the rivalry and if he worried the match would get out of hand:
I hoped it did [get out of hand] to be honest with you because I miss the really old school rivalry from when I first came into the league, you know I don’t see it anymore. Tonight was maybe the first indication that there was maybe a little dislike and I miss it. Obviously I’m half joking here, but no I think it is good for the league, I think it’s good for the teams and I think a rivalry is great. Ben’s [Olsen] a passionate guy, I’m a passionate guy, passionate guys on the team as we saw today, so I was afraid that at the end of the first half when Roy [Miller] got into it with I think it was Sean Franklin, that it was going to give the officials an excuse to even it out again and I certainly didn’t want that.
On Lloyd Sam:
Yeah he’s been one of our most steady performers all year. Lately, over the last month or so, we’ve asked him to do things a little bit differently here and there, tuck in a little bit more, but at the end of the day he always has free reign to go wide because that’s his strongest position and you could see that he tears players up, you know on his right foot, he’s able to cut it back on his left and the crosses are immaculate every time. And yeah, I think Lloyd is somebody that I think has been one of our most steady players this year.
New York Red Bulls midfielder Lloyd Sam
On the difficulty finding a goal after Fabian Espindola’s red card
That was a very difficult game. As you said, they had 10 men for a lot of it, but they just kept everyone back and there was just no space up front. It was difficult. Our top scorer went off, which obviously made it more difficult. It felt so good getting the goal that gave us the three points at the end of the day.
On D.C. United sitting back after the red card
Yeah, not only did they stuff the box, but they defended pretty well, too. The left back I played against [Taylor Kemp], he seemed pretty good. That’s probably why they’re top of the league. I thought they defended well. As I said, they’re probably devastated in their [locker room] right now, to have conceded a goal in the last minute. We’re delighted.
On the feeling of scoring the goal
Yeah, [it was a] great feeling. It was just like any goal but this one meant a bit more because we needed that win. It was so frustrating being out there and nothing was working. It felt even better this time.
On D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid
Yeah, I was just saying to [Red Bulls forward] Thierry [Henry] that the save he pulled off from [Henry] with the strong hand was a great save. [Hamid] seems to do this all the time against us. He must love playing us. He makes a lot of saves playing against us. It’s good to beat them. They’ve beaten us twice this season. That’s what we were talking about before the game so we’re happy to get three points.
New York Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles
On the short turnaround between tonight and Saturday’s game in Philadelphia
I’m pretty sure [that] tomorrow everyone is going to be sitting in the locker room. We know that going down to Philly is going to be important because I believe they are right next to us in the table. Obviously it’s a rivalry game, too. We know they’re going to bring it to us and it’s going to be about recovering as quickly as possible and getting our mind right for the next one.
On the difficulty of breaking down DC United’s defense after the red card
To their credit, Bill [Hamid] played great. He made that one save on Thierry that was ridiculous. They’ve got a great team. Even being a man down, we knew that it was going to be tough and we knew that the only way that they were going to score was on the counter. We had to be very wary of that. I felt we did a good job of handling that. They did a good opportunity in the second half and we were a little fortunate that [DC United forward Kyle] Porter didn’t strike it that well. At the end of the day, it’s three points.
On getting back-to-back wins
When was the last time we won back-to-back? 2013? It feels nice, obviously, but, even better is that, as frustrating as that game was because we couldn’t score, we stayed with it and we [were] able to get that late goal so we have momentum going into Philly. Obviously, it’s going to be important in the sixty hours to recover as quickly as possible.
New York Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry
On if there was a sense of panic towards the end of the game still needing to score
We know it’s not easy to play against a team that plays with 10 men. We also beat New England like that, with 10 men, so we know it’s not easy. Still, [with] one second to go, or two or three or four or whatever, you still know that there [will be] another chance. We scored on the last one, I guess.
On what it says about the team to be held scoreless for so long and eventually get the win late
We played DC three times and three times we created so many chances against them and we were not able to score. It looked like it was going to be one of these days but we scored at the end.
On Bill Hamid
Oh, he was good. He kept everything out apart from the last one, thankfully for us. He’s a great goalkeeper. He’s been doing it in this league for a very long time. He was magnificent tonight.
On gaining momentum from back-to-back wins
No, we’ll see. It’s going to be a difficult game against Philly. It’s going to be a different game away from home. Hopefully we can manage to do something there.
On what makes D.C. United so tough defensively
I don’t know. It was more down to us, to be honest. The chances that we had, especially in the first half, there, here, and in the second half when we played them at their place, it was a matter of us finishing over them defending well. It’s not like we didn’t create. But they defend well as a team. You have to give them a lot of credit. They’re compact [and] they work really hard. [Davy] Arnaud and [Perry] Kitchen in the middle, [Nick] DeLeon on the side, [Chris] Rolfe or [David] Estrada, whoever plays, Fabian [Espindola] is doing an amazing job for them. Also the [defense]. I’m not going to name the whole squad but, yeah, obviously, no disrespect to them. I’m just saying we didn’t take our chances.
