Curt Onalfo - United Head Coach
(On his team giving up two scores late in the match...) "Unfortunately, the game was 93 minutes long and we were darn good for 90 minutes. It was disappointing to give up the two goals, but we were in desperate need for those three points. We're a young team, credit to Seattle for fighting and staying in there, but we were the better team and came away with the points."
(On coming up with a victory on the road....) "It was huge, this is not an easy place to play, unbelievable fan support. For us, we needed to accumulate points over the last couple of weeks. We are within striking distance for playoff contention. We have two weeks to get better as a group so we can continue to climb up the standings in our goal of making the playoffs."
(On Chris Pontius scoring three goals tonight...) "It took him a little time to get accustomed to the game but once he did, he became aggressive. He made two great plays and obviously the third one there at the end. It was a great individual effort by Chris, but this was a team win to get three points."
Chris Pontius - United Midfielder
(On scoring the third goal of the match...) "Adam [Cristman] might have had that one; I just saw the ball go in. It was a close one."
(On scoring three goals in tonight's match...) "Three goals. Honestly if you look at the goals, one was a deflection. I wouldn't say they were the best three goals I have ever scored, but finally the ball's starting to bounce our way. That was not happening the first quarter of the season."
(On pulling a win in a difficult environment...) "When you have 36,000 people rooting against you, I would say it's a tough place to play with confidence and remain calm and even talk on the field. These were three huge points for us with going on the World Cup break. We knew we needed these three points. It's a boost of momentum for our team."
(On his team turning the corner for the season...) "We have won our last few games. We have beat Seattle here on the road, we have beat Chivas USA, tied Salt Lake. I would say the corner has been turned for us."
Sigi Schmid - Sounders FC Head Coach
(General Comments . . .) "We got beat by Chris Pontius. The first was fortunate with the deflection. The second one, you don't expect Kasey to let that one through. And then at the end, we were chasing. We showed character getting two goals at the end, but time ran out. At this point, with the World Cup break, we need to focus on the points in front of us, not what points we've missed."
(On getting a break during the season . . .) "We know inside ourselves and our character has to be strong. It is what it is now. We need to do some soul searching and guys are having chats with each other to come back and make sure that we're sharper."
(On the outlook for rest of season . . .) "We come back and have 17 games left, there's 51 points. They always say you need one and a half points per game to make the playoffs. The points are out there. It's just a matter of us going out there and getting them."
(On Kasey Keller . . .) "Sure, he's unhappy about that [giving up three goals]. He's come up with some big saves for us as well, so you have to remember that part of it. It's something that he'll want to make sure he does better at as he moves forward."
(On lack of offense until end of game . . .) "It was finishing. We were a bit unlucky. All of a sudden it broke for us at the end where it hadn't been before. We were creating things, getting forward. The third goal was a bit of a back breaker. Not sure if it was their only second half shot, it might have been. We wanted to get energy on the field. That's why we made the changes. We really didn't change out of the 4-4-2 today. We were close. Still have to improve our finish."
(On why offense struggled in first half . . .) "We had enough shots in the first half, we didn't put them on goal. When we got to the end line, our runs weren't good or we'd get in too deep. We didn't get anything off that. We need to make better use of our chances."
Kasey Keller - Sounders FC Goalkeeper
(On thoughts on tonight's match . . .) "It was difficult. We give up a bad goal with the deflection - that stuff happens. And then I give up a bad goal and we're 2-0 down and you think still everybody is confident, thinking we are going to get back in this game. They play a quick free kick and get another goal and we're 3-0 down. But credit to the guys. They fought back and made it a game at the end, just too little, too late. Obviously I'm disappointed. The guys work extremely hard and for me to let them down like that is frustrating. I said my whole career that once I feel I can't do the job, then I have to stop doing the job. But I feel great physically. I feel good in training. Everything is going great. It's just frustrating with this game and with the L.A. [Galaxy] game that I've hurt the team when my job is to keep them in this game. We keep that 1-0, we come back, we win the game. Like I said, frustrating on my part but knowing that we got 17 games left and no one is going to be working harder to try to get this right. I wanted to play another year but not if I don't play at the level I expect of myself, that the fans, the coaching staff, the players expect of me. I will work extremely hard to try to make it better."
(On second goal allowed . . .) "Even today, after I blocked it I thought I had it and it just kind of spun away from me. Like I said, multiply frustrated on multiple levels and Sigi said to us, 'It's over and we need to concentrate on the next 17 games.' Like I said, I will be working extremely hard to try to get that right."
Freddie Ljungberg - Sounders FC Midfielder
(On tonight's loss . . .) "We are back to making mistakes and concede goals. It's a problem we have and we need to stop doing it. It's hard to play 3-0 down, especially in the first half we dominated the game totally and they get some fluky goals. It makes it hard but I don't even know what to say. It's hard. We came back to 3-2 but if you look at the first half, we should've been maybe 3-0 up. But that's the way it is."
(On how team will respond to loss . . .) "I think that we need to keep calm. I think there are certain things in our game that we will keep in the dressing room that we have to work on and if we can fix that we will score a lot of goals, I think. We are creating chances and going past them and of course, we have to try to concede not so many goals."
(On World Cup break . . .) "I prefer just to keep on playing. That's what I'm used to. But of course it's nice to have a little break and all the kicks and bruises can heal. So in that way it's nice."
James Riley - Sounders FC Defender
(On thoughts on the match . . .) "Obviously we ended with two games at home and to be honest I thought we brought the same energy and focus and intensity and we were unfortunate to give up two first half goals. I thought we dominated the run of play. Credit to them for being opportunistic and getting those goals but with that said, I thought we were able to get around them and create a lot of chances. [. . .] We showed good character, kept pushing and fighting. I think we have that to be positive about going in to the break. As Sigi said, we have 17 games after the break so everyone comes in with clear minds, refreshed a little bit and then we get back to work. We still have the goal of reaching the playoffs and we know anything can happen after that."
