MLS POST GAME QUOTE SHEET
CHIVAS USA 0 : 3 REAL SALT LAKE
SATURDAY, JUNE 16, 2012
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH – JASON KREIS:
Overall thoughts… “I’m really, really pleased. I thought the guys played probably the best match we’ve played this year. From start to finish for me, I thought it was the most complete match. I thought they just did an excellent job on both sides of the ball. I’m really pleased that the guys showed they’re happy to be back together and chomping at the bit for another difficult segment of our season.”
On the return of Javier Morales… “The plan was that he was always going to play. It was a question of whether we would go between 30 and 45 minutes. I was pleased that we got to where we were at halftime and didn’t need to bring him on then. I was definitely wanting to only play him 30 [minutes]. I think he looked pretty good. Of course he’s not 100% fit right now, and certainly not going to be at the top of his game, but I think as we go forward he has shown us over the last week in training and in some moments tonight that he’s definitely still got it, and we’re big believers in him.”
On the return of internationals… “It’s huge. It’s a difficult time to be without them. It’s difficult to go through two-and-a-half weeks of training without those guys, they’re all big-time leaders for our group and they really push things along in every training session. We’ve missed them pretty severely, and I think they’ve missed the group as well, so I was pleased to get them back yesterday, and see them all together tonight.”
On Fabian Espindola… “He really has had a good couple of weeks. During this off period he’s worked extremely hard during the training sessions and scoring goals in every single session. I’m glad to see that translate on to the game-field, because it doesn’t always… I’m really pleased that he reaped the benefits of all his hard work the last two weeks.”
REAL SALT LAKE FORWARD – FABIAN ESPINDOLA:
On his second goal… “When you’re on the field, you try stuff. Sometimes it happens, sometimes not.”
On whether he got frustrated after missing his first few chances… “No. I’m trying to keep going when something bad happens, and [that’s] going well. [You have to] keep going and going, and today I scored, so it’s going good.”
On the break and return of international players… “I’ve been training well in this ‘mini vacation’. We had a good ‘mini preseason’ and I think that was good for us- for the entire team… [Now] it’s great having the entire team back and healthy, and I think that’s good for us.”
REAL SALT LAKE MIDFIELDER – KYLE BECKERMAN:
On the first game back after the break… “We were real excited to get back together; we all missed each other for the month or so. We got a good day of practice yesterday, and the guys have been working real hard these past couple weeks. [Tonight] we wanted to get rewarded for the hard work.”
On the first goal… “It was a pretty even game [at that point], we were going back and forth. Jonny Steele got the ball, held it up and played me a ball. I just took a touch and whipped it into a dangerous spot and Fabian [Espindola] put a great header on it. It was a great start and something we really wanted to go into halftime with.”
On the second goal… “It looked like he didn’t have any angle, but he’s something else. He’s able to finish a lot of chances that some other forwards can’t. We hope he can continue that for the rest of the season.”
On how the team will move ahead… “It’s a great start to a three game week, but it’s a quick turnaround. We have to put this in the past quickly and get ready for Wednesday.”
CHIVAS USA HEAD COACH – ROBIN FRASER
Thoughts on the game… “I thought it started as a pretty even affair. I thought there was a lot of work in the midfield by both teams. As the game wore on, it became a bit of a game of mistakes and we paid the price for our mistakes for sure. At times it was very good, but it’s a 90 minute game and it’s not good enough for it to be ‘just good’ at times. In the end, as I said, we became a victim of our own mistakes.”
On not creating chances out of possession…“Well certainly we have players that we think are good players and we have to be able to execute. Tonight I felt like we didn’t execute the attacking end. We took stretches of possession and didn’t turn them into dangerous chances.”
On getting back to action Wednesday…“I think we have something to prove to ourselves. We’ve had a decent run. At times tonight it was good, but the execution wasn’t good enough and certainly that is something that we, as a group, need to get back to sooner rather than later.”
On starting the second half… “I told the team that we should keep our heads up because we were toe-to-toe with them. We really gave up the goal through a mistake, but I thought that it was a pretty even game to that point, and we just needed to execute a little better in the attacking end.”
CHIVAS USA GOAL KEEPER – DAN KENNEDY:
Thoughts on the match…“Disappointing, just disappointed. We actually were very much in the game. We really gave away the first goal and then from there you push up the field and you’re trying to fight for that goal back and when we gave up another goal, that’s kind of where it went wrong.”
On RSL’s first goal…“Yes, it always does (set the mood). It changes the game.”
CHIVAS USA MIDFIELDER – RYAN SMITH:
Thoughts on the match…“I think we were beaten by a better team. We didn’t really create that much and they did, so they deserve the win.”
On RSL’s first goal…“With one goal you’re always in it. You put a goal back and then it’s there for the taking. Obviously to concede, it’s a blow but I don’t think the first goal killed us at all. I think it was the second, and definitely the third at the end.”
On Chivas’ offensive performance…“Lack of cut and edge in the final third, I think we can definitely be there the stats show it, so hopefully we can improve on it.”
