MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
QUOTE SHEET
SATURDAY, MAY 29, 2010
RIO TINTO STADIUM –
SANDY, UTAH
REAL SALT LAKE
4 : 1 KANSAS CITY WIZARDS
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD
COACH JASON KREIS
On RSL extending
its MLS winning streak to five games:
“To have something on
the line, with trying to be the first Real Salt Lake team in history to win
five in a row and to get a little bit of vengeance on Kansas City for being the
last team to get a result against us here last year – to have both of those things
on the line and to come through is important for us.”
On RSL’s red-hot
month of May:
“I am obviously pleased
that our players are not only getting results but are playing with a bit of
confidence now. So even on a night like tonight when the soccer isn’t great you
still feel like our guys are composed and mature and believe in each other and
think that the results are going to come.”
On getting the
result:
“It was not a great
night of soccer on our part – it was a little disjointed. I don’t think we
passed the ball as well as we have on past occasions. But it was good to see
that we made the critical plays and we head out of here with three points.”
On the partnership
of Espíndola and Saborío up top:
“I think that they have
a good relationship. I think they both look for each other and run off each
other very well, and when you include Javier [Morales] in that triangle you see
some really nice combination from those three players.
REAL SALT LAKE
FORWARD ÁLVARO SABORÍO
On his goal in the
first half:
“I was lucky because the
goalkeeper missed the ball. I went in with my foot and got the ball in the
goal.”
On his ability to
always be in the right places:
“This is just the work
of a forward, the work of a number nine. You have to focus and make goals and
be dangerous, and when I make goals I am happy.”
REAL SALT LAKE
DEFENDER ROBBIE RUSSELL
On scoring his
first MLS goal in his 39th League contest:
“I figured since [Chris]
Wingert could do it, I could do it! Really though, it was great for Wingert
getting that goal last week; he really had earned it, he works on it so much
during play. Being a defender and getting a goal is great. If you look at the
replay there is almost a look of surprise on my face. The goal felt great, but
getting a win on top of that felt even better.”
On RSL’s club
record fifth straight win:
“At the beginning part
of the season we had so many difficult road games. We started the season off at
1-3-1 and everyone was kind of concerned. But when you look at those away
games, we were playing the top three teams from last year on their home field.
We really felt like we were in every game and had a chance to win every game.
And then we came into this home stretch and we knew that if we could get a
couple of wins under our belt we would be fine.”
REAL SALT LAKE
MIDFIELDER NED GRABAVOY
On the five-match
winning streak:
“It feels good. It’s one
of those things where we don’t look at it and say, ‘Now we have to get six in a
row, can we get to seven?’ Every game we go into this year we feel like we
should get three points, it doesn’t matter where we play or who we play. If you
look at every game, even the ones we didn’t get a win, you could make a legitimate
case that we could have gotten three points.”
On getting
contributions from different players:
“I think it says a lot
about our depth. It was a big thing last year going into this year that they
wanted to find a lot of guys more minutes. Jean [Alexandre] is getting a lot of
minutes now. A lot of players have stepped up in a lot of games now.”
WIZARDS HEAD COACH
PETER VERMES
Overall thoughts
on the match:
“We gave up two early
goals, and that puts you in a hole no matter if you are home or away. Obviously
if you’re away it’s a little more difficult. It was good to get a goal right
before halftime and sort of get a little momentum back.
“We came out in the
second half trying to tweak a few things and get back in the game. Obviously
the free kick and the ejection of our guy put us into a big hole – a much
bigger hole that was much more difficult to get out of. Whether it’s 2-1 or
4-1, it is what it is.”
On Josh Wolff’s
goal:
“I think the response of
getting that goal was good and we actually had a play there at the end of the
game that we could have gotten something out of as well. Again, you can’t give
up that third one like we did and then getting the guy ejected at that point
when we’re trying to get back in the game just puts us in a big hole.”
On any positives
from the evening:
“It was good for us to
come back and score that goal in the first half. A lot of times teams do give
up when they’re away from home and it seemed like we got back in the game; it
wasn’t like we were out of it.”
WIZARDS FORWARD TEAL
BUNBURY
On the game:
“We came out there with
intensity. Went down a goal, went down two goals, and we fought and got back
into it and got a goal before half. I felt like we came into the second half
ready to go but unfortunately things just didn’t go our way. We had the
pressure on and somehow they found a way to score and we just couldn’t get back
into it.”
On keeping
positive after going down early:
“I think for any team
it’s hard to keep your spirits up, but I think it was easier for us because
we’ve been in that position before. We were talking about it before; you just
always give everything you’ve got and work for the team.”
WIZARDS GOALKEEPER
JIMMY NIELSEN
On the match:
“We came here believing
we could make a good result today, but we made it very hard on ourselves with
two easy goals in the beginning for Salt Lake. It was like a replay from the
last six games of ours. Up the hill, came back, had a good goal and put them
under good pressure, but in the second half we had the ball enough but we
didn’t create enough. In the end we had to gamble and go all in but we lost.”
