MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
QUOTE SHEET
SATURDAY, MAY 1, 2010
RIO TINTO STADIUM –
SANDY, UTAH
REAL SALT LAKE
2 : 1 TORONTO FC
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD
COACH JASON KREIS
On RSL’s plan of
attack on the evening:
“When we got the team sheet and saw that they had one forward, and really only one player on the field that had any attacking instinct, I knew they were going to defend with ten, so it was extremely important to see what we could do in the first 15 minutes. When you play a team like this and you let them linger and linger, things get a little more difficult to break down. So we thought that if they were going to come out that way it magnified the beginning of the game for us. If we could score a goal then their plan would go out the window – and I think it did, so credit to our guys.”
On what the three
points means for Real Salt Lake:
“I’ve been saying that we’re running the risk of now becoming not so positive about the way we’re playing, but in the locker room we’ve felt very good about how we’ve played in every single match. But you need results sometimes to bolster that confidence, and tonight that’s the most important thing that comes out of it for us.”
On the depth of
his squad:
“We’ve talked a lot about how deep we think we are, but we do have a lot of young players. There are times you’re going to need them to step in and prove you right, and tonight several of them did that.”
REAL SALT LAKE
MIDFIELDER ANDY WILLIAMS
On RSL being able
to control the run of play:
“They came out with one forward and tried to sit back, so we needed to be patient. Keep the ball moving and try to get one or two touches, and it paid off. Our movement was great tonight. Our form in midfield was outstanding, our outside backs – Tony [Beltran] and Robbie [Russell] were pretty good with helping us out, and our spacing was much better this week.”
On getting back in
the win column:
“It’s pretty important. We’re at home and haven’t brought a lot of points back from the road yet, so it was a must-win at home for us. And next week will be the same.”
REAL SALT LAKE
DEFENDER JAMISON OLAVE
On whether his
head-to-head collision helped his scoring prowess:
“I went to head a ball and collided with the defender, and when we knocked heads the lights just went out, everything went black for about 20 or 30 seconds. It looks that way because two minutes later I get the goal. It was going to go in anyway, but it’s my goal.”
On how the match
unfolded:
“We were able to give a good effort going forward because they really didn’t seem to be doing anything [in attack]. We just kept waiting and waiting for them to hit us with a counter-attack, but it never really came.”
REAL SALT LAKE
GOALKEEPER NICK RIMANDO
On his stop
against Nane Joseph following the Olave goal:
“When teams come out and they only defend and we’ve got a lot of possession and they do get that one opportunity you’ve got to be tuned in. That’s always preached here. We knew it was going to come from a cross or set piece, but I was set and luckily it didn’t have a lot of pace on it and I was able to get to my left side.”
On the late-game
penalty kick for Toronto FC:
“We knew it was coming … we didn’t know what time, but we knew it was coming! That’s called everywhere. If a ball comes into the box and hits someone’s hand, they’re going to call it. But [Dwayne] De Rosario switched sides. He usually goes hard to the right and he opened up and pushed it to the other side. If we’re giving up PKs and still winning games, I’m alright with that.”
TORONTO FC HEAD COACH
PREKI
On Toronto’s play
in the first half:
“I think we played very soft. We allowed Salt Lake to do whatever they wanted to do, and they had two soft goals. Throughout the game we still had two or three really good chances, and if we could have scored on one of them earlier we could have had a chance to get something out of this game.”
On his roster
changes due to schedule congestion:
“The experiment that I had with the group tonight didn’t work. Hopefully we will learn from this and the next game we will come to play from the first minute. A lot of our guys played long minutes this week. We were hoping to keep it tight and keep it the score at zero for the half and then change things around and get some more offense in the second half with our guys who had fresh legs.”
On walking the
fine line between being aggressive but not committing fouls:
“I don’t think we committed hard fouls, but sometimes we committed stupid fouls. We talked before the game that the key was going to be not give up too many set pieces, and throughout the game we gave up way too many set pieces. If you give away too many you will eventually get punished.”
On stacking up against
the defending MLS Cup Champions on the road:
“Let’s not forget that we just played the team that won the MLS Cup last year, and I don’t think we fully embarrassed ourselves, especially in the second half. I thought our guys played with more pride and more commitment. “
TORONTO FC CAPTAIN
DWAYNE DE ROSARIO
Thoughts on the
match:
“I think we are a bit disappointed that we didn’t come away with a tie. We had some chances in that could have easily tied the game. In the first half we were in a formation that we are not used to playing in. We had to get our jitters out of the way in the first half and then we got back to our regular ways in the second half. We got back into a formation that favored us more and we responded in a way that Preki wanted us to react in the first half.”
On playing in the
Rocky Mountain altitude:
“Preki spoke to us during the week about our fitness and about our tough battle against Montreal that had a lot of running and a lot of work. He told us that it would be tough to turn around and play in this altitude. I think he hoped to open the game with a defensive-minded formation and then come into half and squeeze out a result. Unfortunately it did not go as planned in the first half – they scored two goals, and it could have even been more.”
On a grueling
upcoming schedule:
“It’s a long season and it’s going to be a tough month in May. I think that May is our most hectic month, and we have to be mentally and physically prepared for the challenge.”
