Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jason Kreis
On the team getting its first win in Canada, and the atmosphere in Toronto:
“It’s good, it’s always been difficult. This year for some reason it’s been very, very quiet. It seems odd to me because the first couple years you literally couldn’t talk to anybody because it was so loud. So the atmosphere’s become a little bit more playable for us. Maybe that has some contribution to the win today.”
Does it mean anything to get that monkey off your back getting that first win in Canada?
“A little bit. It’s not something that we’re overly concerned with. It would be another thing if we had a team that knew how to win in other places and a team that has gotten enough wins over the years to be considered a successful team. Maybe then it’s a different situation but we haven’t been concerned with it. But having done it now I guess it feels good.”
On the performance of former TFC players Joao Plata and Aaron Maund:
“I thought Plata looked a little bit rusty. We let him go home to Ecuador for about a week. So hasn’t done any training for a week. I think he lost a little bit of his level. But I think he is an extremely good player. It wasn’t his best night but he put in a good shift and worked hard. Aaron in particular, it was only his second start for us. He played in one Open Cup game. He really showed some nerves in his first performance. For him to come back tonight the way he did was outstanding.”
On the tactical changes he made at the end of the game:
“Yes we had to shift shape, when you go from 11 to 10 players you have to think about how to handle that situation, so we dropped into a 4-4-1 with four midfielders. I don’t know there would be any other way to handle that situation differently.”
Real Salt Lake DF Aaron Maund
On playing in Toronto again after spending his rookie year of 2012 with TFC:
“It’s good to see my old team mates and stuff like that but when you step on the field it’s all business. For that 90 minutes it’s a war, but it was good to get a result here. It was a tough game and I think we did well with it.”
On playing in Salt Lake:
“I love Salt Lake, I have adapted well since coming here. Toronto was great, but I am enjoying Salt Lake a lot. I like group of guys we have and the coaching staff has been great. Salt Lake has been a really good place for my development.”
Real Salt Lake GK Nick Rimando
Thoughts on playing in Toronto:
“I love Toronto. They have great fans. They have some good one-liners out there and you know the goalkeepers have to sit there and listen to all the fans. They are good to play in front of, they have some good fans. The field was a bit slow for me this time. It seemed like a hot heavy slow field. We couldn’t get the rhythm that we wanted to. You could tell the game was slow, I don’t know if it’s because the weather or the field just didn’t take the water in. But I love playing up here it’s a great city with great support and the fans are awesome.”
Toronto FC
Toronto FC Head Coach Ryan Nelsen
What are your thoughts on today’s game?
“Our performance was probably not as good as it has been in the last few games. We had a stone cold penalty and we are stunned that the ref does not give it. He has also missed a clear sending off, the player has gone past him and has his knee clipped. The killer blow is that the guy hits a wonder strike outside the box and then at the end, as you guys probably saw; there were many chances in the last 10 minutes.”
Did you think if Henry doesn’t shove Tony Beltran that you guys go up 1 man to finish the game? Did you think it was a bit of a maturity thing with Henry?
“We definitely would have gone up a man. I’m sure all of us, when we were 20, probably would have done the same thing. He has tried to protect his teammate. His teammate has just been shoved to the ground from behind and his instincts as a young 20 year old was to do that. What it the right thing to do, of course not.”
Toronto FC DF Darren O’Dea
How frustrating was that when you guys out chance them but come up on the losing side?
“It’s frustrating alright, we did play well but I thought we could have played a lot better. We have another massive game on Wednesday so there is not much time to feel down as we need to pick ourselves up and go again. We need to play better against Montreal and if we do I think it will be enough.”
How important is it for the whole team to keep their cool and not lose it at certain points of the game?
“It’s very important. Doneil has just gone in to help out his teammate and to be fair the other player had pushed one of our players as well. For a push, neither should have been sent off but that’s the way the refs saw it. He’s a bright kid with a head on his shoulders, there is nothing wrong with Doneil. He has a good temperament about him, he just needs to manage it a wee bit better.”
Is it good to have a quick turnaround to get past this game?
“Yeah, it’s very good to get back out there. We’ll be back in here tomorrow and we have just gone up against the best team in the West. If we play the way we know we can we can definitely win.
Toronto FC FW Jeremy Brockie
What were your thoughts on the game?
“We had more opportunities and chances and we should have probably won this game. They had one real opportunity at goal and scored.”
How did you find player with Danny up front?
“Good, he is a big lad up there and has a good presence. Obviously we haven’t worked too much together but we are understanding each other more and will work together.”
Given the frustration in the last few minutes of the game, are you happy that you don’t have to wait another full week between games?
“Yeah, definitely, all we want to do is play games and when you have a disappointing result like that the next game can never come soon enough. We will be back in here tomorrow and hopefully we can get a big crowd in here on Wednesday and get the three points.”
How important is it to keep a calm, cool and collective head when you are down a goal trying to persevere?
“That’s it right there, the last few performances have been very good results. Like I said, we created more chances but unfortunately it didn’t roll into the back of the net. I don’t think we are going to dwell too much on this result as we need to get our heads right for Wednesday night. Montreal are a good side and we need to take the three points off them.”
