“I don’t know; I really felt like that was one of the most complicated games I’ve coached against. Some of the tactical positions that they were making were stuff that we just don’t see in our league too often. In our league, we don’t see teams come and try to be that aggressive as they were here. We get into the second half and they are playing three forwards, and three defenders, and four midfielders and completely switchable shapes. I just think of it as a tough battle for us tonight, it was tough as a coach to try to solve that as well.”
Thoughts on it being a refreshing game or not tonight:
“Yeah, I think if you didn’t enjoy watching that game, you probably think about not watching soccer anymore because these were two teams that just went at it. It was end-to-end for a while tonight, probably not my ideal situation but for a general soccer fan, I hope that they would have enjoyed it.”
Thoughts on Javier Morales:
“Awesome for him to come back after so many difficult injuries over the past couple of years and get his first start at home tonight to get the goal that wins the game for us is huge. He also played quite a few nice passes, probably another night we score three or four and he has those assists.”
Thoughts on handball call in the first half:
“That’s four weeks in a row. Four weeks in a row I feel we’ve had penalty decisions go against us. All of them questionable; I don’t like it and if I had refereed that I wouldn’t have made that call, but I don’t referee, I coach and hopefully I’ll stay that way.”
Thoughts on Nick Rimando’s penalty save:
“Huge. Awesome. Incredible moment from him… and that was a huge, huge moment for us because we had gained so much momentum in that first half. Lucky not to score and we would have really been in for a hard battle had it gone into the back of the net.”
Thoughts on Olmes Garcia and Alvaro Saborio:
“They both played well. In my opinion both were unfortunate not to score; Garcia hit the crossbar twice and Sabo had diving, lunging efforts from both defenders and keeper to make saves on his attempts. So we like what we see out of that combination and just our attacking options all night were pretty nice.”
Thoughts on Luis Gil:
“He has been struggling a little bit with his ankle. He picked up a pretty severe ankle injury the last time he was with the U-20’s or actually I think it was the time before, so he has been dealing with this injury for a while. I think he must have cranked it a little bit there early in the first half, but he gave it his all. We pushed it probably a little bit longer than maybe we should have, but I felt he has been doing well, he’s been in a good moment, and he had a really nice game tonight I think.”
Thoughts on Chris Wingert getting his first start soon:
“Close, real close. It’s not easy. As we hopefully get players healthy, it’s going be very, very difficult to make decisions both in the starting lineup and in the eighteen. It’s going to be a little bit cutthroat.”
Thoughts on defensive form improving now compared to the beginning of the season:
“I do, I do, and I still think it’s coming together. I really felt that there were still too many clear-cut chances against us tonight in the first half. I think there was one or two that were really clear-cut against us; I think that you are ready for that when you’re winning a game and its late in the match, but if it’s happening in the first half then I think we need to look at it and say how can we tighten the ship up a little bit.”
Thoughts on Robbie Findley:
“He was a coach’s decision, because he is fully fit and he is ready to go. But we’ve tried to be fair and make decisions and say ‘okay, the forwards that are in form those are the ones that will start’ and we literally made that decision after training yesterday. Friday I watched them both and said okay they both have looked very sharp this week, but Garcia scored last week so he gets the nod.”
Thoughts on Yordany Alvarez:
“Super, super good. He was also hobbled with a little bit of an injury situation and was very concerned, but he got along and he pushed through it and had another really strong performance. I thought he was great last week coming off the bench against Vancouver as well.”
Real Salt Lake MF Javier Morales
On his overall reaction to the game:
“I think they play different than other teams in MLS, but I think our score and a couple of other chances that we had at the beginning of the game was good. I think we played hard, and I think we deserved more than 1-0, but that’s how it is in this game.”
On his fitness and his injury recovery:
“I felt good, but I’m not there yet. In the last ten minutes of the game, I got a little tired. I know I have to keep working, but I’m happy that I helped the team win tonight.”
On his game-winning goal:
“I think it was a great play by Saborio, I was just in the box. He’s a star, and he showed how great he is by putting the ball there, and I just made the shot.”
On playing the whole 90 minutes:
“I think I played an okay game. That wasn’t my best game, because I know that I have to keep working just to get better – every week, every game.”
Real Salt Lake GK Nick Rimando
On the feel of the game:
“It was good to get the monkey off of my back and help my teammates in a must win. We wanted 3 points bad, and to be home after a long stretch feels great to get those 3 points and contribute the way I did.”
On the penalty kick save:
“I kept on second guessing myself on PK’s leading up to this one today. I kind of stuck to my guns and really committed to myself to go to my left. He kind of opened up early and I was there for the save.”
The importance of starting the home stand with a victory:
“We don’t want to chase three points too much, especially at home. We have to keep on going, though. This is only one game out of a three game stretch. The goal is nine points, but I don’t think it’s out of our reach if we continue to play like this.”
Real Salt Lake MF Ned Grabavoy
On his overall reaction to the game:
“There’s some good stuff, but there’s obviously some stuff to work on. It’s a bit sloppy for my liking, being up 1-0, but at the same time, we still created a ton of chances to put the game away.”
On the “new” Chivas USA:
“That team works really hard, that’s probably one of the hardest-working teams we’ve ever played against. It’s 100 percent the difference between last year and this year for them. They have good soccer players, and they’re all in the same place in how they try to play soccer – play to the forwards’ feet, then get it back, guys are running off the ball – but those guys are scrappy. They stepped up and crushed us. They made it difficult for us to play our normal game.
On the Mejia red card situation:
“I think he just came late. He’s knows I’ve got great touch on it, so he just sold all out at that point, took his forearm up to my neck section. That’s just whatever, it happens in games, and it is what it is.”
Real Salt Lake DF Tony Beltran
On adjusting to Chivas USA’s three forwards:
“It was difficult. We did our homework, so we knew what to expect. The way they play is much more different than any other team in the MLS. It’s somewhat of a gamble. I think our shape was good and limited their chances. We knew we were going to expose them on the counter attack.”
Chivas USA
Chivas USA Assistant Coach Isidrio Sanchez
On the penalty kick taken in the first half:
“In the first half we did some good things with the ball while we had it and that was one of them. The keeper just made a great save and that’s what there is to that.”
On the exchange of words between Javier Morales and Coach Sanchez:
“I really don’t know what was being said between them two. I wasn’t there to hear what was going on.”
Chivas USA GK Dan Kennedy
Overall thoughts on the match:
“I feel like if we continue to put in performances in like that we’ll look at ourselves in August and we’ll be in a good spot. I think it was a good performance tonight. Obviously it hurts to miss a penalty kick, that’s a massive momentum changer for them. And we still created some opportunities, obviously this is a hard place to play in this league. I think we came close to shutting them out, it really came down to one or two mistakes.”
On the goal scored by Morales:
“It was pretty hectic because they just had that through ball that slipped through and was chipped onto the crossbar. I know we possessed out of it and then we must have turned-over at some point and they came back down and Saborio broke down the right-hand side and we weren’t marking in the box. I mean, that’s step number one. The minute the ball’s wide you pick up the marks in the box. It’s unacceptable and we all know that. At the end, I think we’re disappointed because with that being said, there was still something in this game for us. I think it should have been 1-1, probably would have been a fair result.”
On attitude in the locker room:
“The attitude’s great. The new coaching staff has done a tremendous job in really changing things. That’s what needed to happen at the end of last season. You have to remember, at the end of July last year, we were in third place in the Western Conference. We had a lot to play for last year too. So it’s early days you know, I’m happy for the grit that we’ve had. We’ve had a decent start, it’s what it is now, it’s a decent start. It’s important that we take care of our performances at home too. So now we’re going back home to face San Jose and that’s all the more important because we didn’t get anything here.”
On marking in the box and players losing focus:
“Well, we play with three in the back, so it’s a lot of responsibility on the guys in the back. When someone breaks down on the side we have to slide a defender out, so then we are at two. That makes it all the more important for a midfielder to come in and pick up the maybe two, maybe three. That’s what happened. We didn’t get picked up tight enough, so guys like Javier are going to punish you. That’s what they do, that’s what they make their living off of.”
Chivas USA FW Tristan Bowen
Overall thoughts on game:
“In my opinion I thought we played decent. We had a few opportunities to score a goal and we didn’t put it away. As in any game in MLS, there are opportunities. There’s chances where a play breaks down and there’s one or two mistakes, a misplaced pass or someone doesn’t cover their guy and a turnover can lead into a goal and that’s what happened today.”
On the mindset playing RSL at home:
“It doesn’t change from game to game. At the end of the day it’s “go out there and fight and do what we know how to do.” We did that for the most part, it was just a few mistakes that occurred and that’s where we had the breakdown. With a good team like Salt Lake we’re going to pay the price for that.”
On the impact Chelis has had on the team:
“He’s got the guys believing again and the guys are fighting. I think those are the two major things that point out in my mind. But we still have a long way to go and I don’t think you can properly give a concrete answer on how he’s affected the team at this point. You know, he’s definitely a personality in the locker room and the guys are responding to him. So we just need to get a little bit cleaner on the field and the results will come.”
On maintaining possession better in the first half than the second:
“I think we just relaxed a little bit more. We realize that if we can maintain possession for a few seconds and get it wide we’re going to have opportunities in front of goal and that’s what we were doing in the first half. The second half we had a few chances but obviously we were down a goal we have to push up a little bit more and take more risks. So I think that’s what happened in the second half. With that being said, we still had a few decent, decent looks at goal, still half chances but obviously we have to take some risks being down 1-0 away from home. “
