MLS 2011 QUOTESHEET
SATURADY, APRIL 16, 2011 – TORONTO FC 0, D.C. UNITED 3
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH BEN OLSEN
Coming into this match you talked about doing the simple things better.Better possessions, better opportunities, did you like what you saw?
I did when it was 11-11. We went up a man and then we struggled to findour game after that. They were pushing, obviously because of the score,but we could have been a little bit better with the ball since we wereup a man. But overall, at this point, three points on the road and thisis not an easy league, and to get three points on the road is a verypositive thing. The guys worked their tails off and I thought thementality throughout the match was pretty sharp.
What was the difference tonight from last game?
Our energy was very good but we started off moving the ball and doing agood job of pressuring them in their half. Let's be honest, they had abig match on Wednesday. It was an emotional game for them and I thinkthere was a little let down both physically and mentally and we knewthat coming in and we jumped on them. That was our plan coming in and wegot the two early goals and from there I thought we did a fairly goodjob of seeing the game out.
Charlie Davies
Are you guys happy with what you did in the first 45 minutes?
Yeah, we came out here going for the three points. We needed the firstaway win on the road and we came out with the right mentality. I'mreally pleased with the guys that performed today, it was a greatperformance and we just have to keep building on this. I think we'restarting to find our identity which is to keep the ball and when we'reon we want to go forward and attack and score goals and we have theguys, the players, to go ahead and do that.
Walk us through your goal:
I got a great ball and I was able to turn and I picked off a ... squaredball in the back and I got their center backs to both commit and our guyWolffy (Josh Wolff) made a great run and unfortunately his shot didn'tgo in but it came right to me and I took the shot and it went right tothe back of the net.
How are you feeling physically in going forward this year?
I've just got to keep going. I've still got a little ways to go. It wasmy first 90 [minutes] Which is a big step forward and it was a goodperformance for me that I've got to keep building off this performanceand hopefully the goals keep coming. I'm just kind of shocked the waythings have been going, I'm surrounded by a great group of guys and thesupport is there so I just have to keep improving.
Aron Winter
Thoughts on tonight's game?
We were losing all the second balls and looks like we weren't sharpenough. It's strange because last week we played quite well. Today wasan off day. The way we lost, I didn't like it. You can lose a game but Iwant to see the reaction from each player and that way we have failed.
What I said before, we are rebuilding...each game we were playingbetter. Today nothing went our way. I didn't like the way we lost, I'mupset about it. What I appreciated from this game, was the 12th man onthe pitch. The supporters were good, even when we were losing 2-0, theywere behind us. That was positive, I'm upset the way we lost, it was ashame.
The way we gave away the goals is not good. The way we played with 10men in the second half was better than with 11 men and that made meupset. You can always have an off day. Let's say we had an off day. Thebest man on the pitch was the fans and I compliment them.
Julian De Guzman
The result is embarrassing. I didn't expect to play a full 90 minutesbut I'm totally ready to do whatever is needed. To play a full 90 withno pain and no negative reaction in my knee is good but at the end ofthe day the result is not something to be proud of.
We now have a week ahead of us to react to this disappointing result andto look forward, the only way to go is up. I think we have enough timeto go over today's result, it's pretty obvious that with the same typeof start we had against LA, but D.C. was able to capitalize and everygame you play in the MLS the most important moment is the first 15-20minutes. You're going to have teams come out regardless of thesituation. We have to use the home advantage, especially the fans andthat's something we didn't do.
Nana Attakora
Thoughts on the game?
It's a huge let down, we have to be better, we have to point out thereasons we are starting so slow and address it and fix it.
Why is that?
I have no idea why. We have everything here set up for us. We come in atthe right time, coaches get us focused before the game and they alwaystell us about the slow starts. It's something we have to fix goingforward.
Is it because there are a lot of younger players on this team?
That's a poor excuse because everyone here has experience they're allprofessionals, they wouldn't be playing here if they didn't. You can'tstart off slow like that, it's a rule, the first minutes of the game youdo what you need to do to not give up the ball and it's not only thisgame, we've been doing the past three-four games, there is somethingmaking us not focus so we need to address it and fix it moving forward.
