D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen
On the successful week and week ahead:
“We talked about getting nine points in three games as a goal, and you go about working towards it and then when you get it, it feels good. We’ve put ourselves in a pretty good position but now we have to go away for two games and that has been our Achilles heel. It was good to get the monkey off our back in Philly, but you’ve seen Portland. It’s a small field, tough crowd and tough atmosphere so that is going to be a big task but we’ll take a day or two to heal and rest up. The guys earned a day or two to unwind and then we’ll be getting back to business for Portland and also Toronto.”
On Branko Boskovic:
“He’s been great this week, he really has. I know you guys made a meal out of his comments earlier in the week but to me that’s just a guy that wants to be on the field and wants to win and I thought his attitude all week has been good. He helped out in the Philly game and I put him in a position he’s never played at in his life and I think he has excelled at it in both opportunities. Tonight, a goal from his head, a diving header, I’m sure that’s the first in his entire life, I’ll have to ask him. He’s committed, even though I’m sure he disagrees with me at times, he’s committed to the guys out there and he’s committed to this organization and he always has been so I’m happy he was the hero today.”
On bringing Boskovic off the bench as opposed to starting him:
“Part of it is I wanted to get Marcelo [Saragosa] in there. I think he has done a good job when he’s been in there. He was fresh and Branko has had some travel and some games this week but it was more of a tactical decision. It was more Maicon [Santos] or him, I think they both do a good job of coming in off the bench and you don’t necessarily always want to have both in the starting spot because then you don’t necessarily have a huge impact piece on the bench in that role.”
On getting three wins in three games following De Rosario’s injury:
“I think the guys have all raised their game a little bit. We’ve rode our luck at times too, we could have had ties or losses in all three of these games, they weren’t overwhelmingly dominating. I think that’s the one overwhelming theme with this group right now, they’re grinding and they’re surviving. They understand we don’t have Dwayne but they also understand that it is going to take a group type mentality now to get us to where we want to be and they are all doing their part and they’re all putting a little more responsibility on themselves. But again, the real test comes now against Portland and going away to Toronto.”
D.C. United Midfielder Branko Boskovic
On the game-winning goal:
“The last time I scored was like two years ago. It’s a good feeling. Especially when you win 1-0. I think we deserve these three points, its very important for us and this goal was because we worked hard and it was good quality by the group. We help each other on the field and we deserve these three points.”
On his struggles over the past two years:
“Like I said, I am happy, especially when you win 1-0 in a game like this. This is a victory of group, one group of good quality, one family.”
On how the goal happened:
“I don’t know, I tried to go first to hit this ball and it was a little bit lucky. I don’t know, I’m very happy. I don’t know what else to say.”
On the overall effort:
“Everybody played good, everybody take his chance. Last game, [Lewis] Neal take his chance and score, Maicon gives a good pass. This is good for the team. This is a victory of group. We have a good group and good quality and when you play, somebody always helps. Next game its going to be something else. When we play like this, this is group, and this is good. This is not only one game, it is multiple games. This is good.”
D.C. United Goalkeeper Bill Hamid
On the confidence of the team after the win:
“It gave us a lot more confidence as well. The fact that we’ve gotten two shutouts in a row and it was two great games of defense and you have to take your hat off to the teammates in the defense, blocking everything.”
On the performance without Dwayne De Rosario:
“DeRo is a special player, but when you are expecting things to happen throughout a season, you got to have a backup plan and different routes you want to take the team and the coaches have done a good job with that. We have figured out a way to get results without DeRo, even though DeRo is a special player and a complete game-changer.”
On the personality of the team heading into the final matches:
“We were grinding at the beginning of the season. We were getting results at the beginning of the season. We knew we could do it. We just had a little fall off, but, like I said, we want the playoffs. We’re going to stay a team, stay together and do what we need to do to get there.”
D.C. United Defender Chris Korb
On the team’s push for the playoffs:
“Three wins in a row. We haven’t done that in a while. And we are actually getting some results on the other end. It’s good. We want to create some separation. See how far we can get up in the rankings and maybe get some home-field advantage in the playoffs.”
On the recent stretch of matches:
“We knew it was going to be 3 games in 8 days. So we knew it was going to be tough. And we wanted try and keep the ball as much as we can. It would have been nice to get an early goal, but we bailed it out and got the goal and kept the shutout.”
On Branko Bošković:
“It was awesome. I think we were all as excited as he was and, I think, by his celebration, you could tell how happy he was. It was a big relief off of his shoulders, especially after the last couple weeks. He is a great pro like everyone says, and everyone loves him.“
