Ugh.
Post-game quotes in a bit.
UPDATE: Apologies, but there's a lot of post-game quotes here from New York and only a couple for us. That's what happens when you're on the road. Nothing else from me on this game - let's just start looking towards Tuesday's game with New England.
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH TOM SOEHN
On the game:
“I thought we came out with some energy and we were knocking the ball around well up until the point where we scored. We kind of let the foot off the gas a little bit and I thought we started to give them a little life. Two soft goals really cost us. Giving away a free kick right out the box and then the second one was just a cluster of errors. It’s hard to come back from that and I think we put our heads down. We tried to get going again in the second half but I still don’t think we had the life we needed and the competitiveness. “
On whether the short week was a factor:
“I don’t know. This was an important game. It’s against a rival and it’s a league game. There were no excuses looking past this one.”
On substituting Jaime Moreno at halftime:
“Jaime’s back was hurting, it was hard on him. Unfortunately, we were chasing the game down so we wanted to match a couple of guys and unfortunately it didn’t work that way. We had to try to get back into the game.”
D.C. UNITED DEFENDER PAT CARROLL
On Juan Pablo Angel’s second goal:
“It was going straight towards the far end. I thought I had it with my head, but I went up for it and didn’t get it and it went in. There’s not really much you can do about it, it just kind of happens.”
On whether fatigue was a factor in the game:
“I honestly couldn’t tell you. We were playing our game, we were getting into tackles, running balls, but we kind of just faded out.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH JUAN CARLOS OSORIO
On the team’s effort:
“I think that we got what we deserved. All the guys today showed great commitment and they executed and carried out the way we planned the game.”
On falling behind early:
“I think for me personally, the best thing was that after we conceded their first shot on goal, I thought the guys reacted very well to equalize the game and then end up at halftime up 2-1. That was very good to see that. Prior to this game, every time we went down one-to-nil, we didn’t come out on top.”
On Gabriel Cichero’s impact:
“We said that we wanted someone that could organize the back. He did that, and also showed some very good distribution, which we have been lacking in the past, so I think he was very committed and good on the ball. I have to say that it was too early to get a yellow card, but it showed his willingness to compete.”
On what his team showed:
“It was even more valuable for the morale. The way the game turned out to be was that it was more important to come back from the one-nil deficit. The game showed we are very resilient and that we have a lot of character because everyone competed and fought hard.”
On the importance of this game:
“I thought it was very important. I stated before the game that it was important points-wise, but that team morale was very important, that we believe in the way that we are playing. It was huge that the team responded very well today. I can’t just go and praise anyone individually, because it was a great team effort. In the end, we have to build on this and hopefully we can repeat the same performance on Sunday and we will see what the outcome will be, but we will build off this.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER MIKE MAGEE
On the game:
“We marked this game on the calendar. We felt good, we had a good week of training, to get back home, we haven’t had a lot of results go our way in the last five games. I don’t think we’ve won. We knew it was an important game. Everyone was healthy. Everyone was fit. We knew today that we were going to have a good result.”
On his performance:
“I feel like my legs are getting healthy and my legs are more fit. The team as a whole, I can’t say too much for myself. obviously it feels good to get a goal, but just to have the team come together like we did today is a good enough feeling as it is.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER GABRIEL CICHERO
On his first regular-season game:
“The most important thing for the team, and for me, is that we won. They say that (D.C.) is very good on offense and I think the most important thing is that we are more confident after winning this game. I think that we showed some good football.”
On the defense:
“I thought I played well. I tried to organize the defense, speaking a lot. I think the team needed this. I felt good. After playing the football we played, I think we can play with any team. We played on the ground, to Juan Pablo (Angel) and to Jorge (Rojas). They can make a difference. Every time we went inside, we scored.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS FORWARD JUAN PABLO ANGEL
On the result:
“I think it was important to get a result today first of all. We couldn’t get a grip of the game at the beginning in the first 15 minutes … Then they scored a goal. That wasn’t the best case scenario for us. We didn’t want to concede a goal early. But it happened. Then we showed (something) that we haven’t showed earlier in the year. We showed character and resilience. We won a very difficult game against a decent side.”
On the upcoming playoff push:
“It was a must-win game because of the circumstances. We have to put ourselves in a playoff position and today was very important. I said that today was the most important game because it was the next one, now the (most important game) is against Toronto. And if we show the character we showed today, I think we have a decent chance of getting the results from now (on).”
