Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On the result:
“I think at the end of the day it was a fair result. I think they had several half chances and we had a few very good chances. It was a hard fought game, it looked like there was two tough teams out there competing extremely hard and we just have to do a better job of focusing and closing out games.”
On getting a point instead of three on the road:
“At the end of the day I am happy with a road point. I think there was three points to get, but I am happy with one, happy to stay undefeated and excited about coming home.”
On the penalty awarded to RSL in the fourth minute:
“To be honest with you I do not know, and that is the honest truth. It looked like it was a pretty careless challenge on [Olmes] Garcia and the referee saw it in the box.”
On remaining undefeated and getting points on the road to start the season:
“It says that we have a lot of fight, a lot of pride in our play right now and I think we are going to get better and that is what really is exciting. We are not playing our best soccer right now, but we’re still getting results and that is up to me to get the guys going.”
On entering today’s match not having allowed a goal since March 22 against LA Galaxy:
“We just wanted to come out with an aggressive mentality this game. We were not talking about streaks or goalless streaks or anything like that, just talking about being aggressive and to impose our will on them. I thought we did that for the most part but we got caught, we got caught on a counter attack and we got caught on a set play.”
On whether or not trying to keep the lead by playing back led to the equalizing goal:
“I do not think so – they just got a corner kick. I think we were dealing with a few long throw-ins, corner kicks, and I have to look at the play again but we just got to be better at closing out the game.”
On getting to the championship game last year and whether teams treat them differentlynow:
“I think that every team recognizes that Real plays good soccer, good possession soccer. Philly wanted to come out and disrupt that tonight and they did a good job of that. It is a credit to them, but it was just two teams that were fighting hard.”
Real Salt Lake MF Luke Mulholland
On the result:
“In a way I’m a bit disappointed we did not get the three points – getting the lead twice and on the road. We are six games into the season and we have only played a couple of games at home and it’s a proud feeling we are still undefeated. Obviously, at the same time looking at it, taking the lead twice it would have been nice to get all of those three points.”
On whether or not the foul on Garcia that led to a penalty was inside the box or not:
“Yeah definitely, I think it was just inside the box. It was a clumsy tackle by the defender. I did not think there was any need to do that and it was definitely a free kick or a penalty. I felt like the initial contact was inside in the box, the momentum could have took him outside, but definitely a penalty for me.”
On staying unbeaten and getting road points:
“Mentally it is good for us. I think it shows that we are a hard team to beat, even though that is possibly two points dropped because we have taken the lead so late on. It just shows our expectations that we have for the whole season.”
On whether or not the goal for the team has changed from last season:
“It’s my first season with the team, so I cannot really comment on how the guys felt from last year. Definitely feels like they have continued the way they were playing and each game that we go out there we are expecting to win.”
On his goal:
“Yeah, we all have confidence in Sabo [Alvaro Saborio] scoring those. Penalties do not always get scored so it is important to follow it through and just be in the right place at the right time. All I did was just try to re-direct it back on goal, fortunately enough to find the corner.”
Real Salt Lake MF Ned Grabavoy
On the game:
“Obviously, it is tough to get a tie on the road usually in this league, so you’re feeling good about yourself. We have had this two times in the first six games where we had leads really late in the game and we cannot seem to pick up all three points. I thought we played really good soccer and I thought we got ourselves in front of great positions in front of the goal. I thought we had some good combination plays in the midfield, which ultimately has us up 2-1 with seven or eight minutes left in the game and we couldn’t close it out on a set piece.”
On ensuring they pick up three points in the future:
“It is difficult because teams are throwing so many guys forward with five or six minutes left when they are down like that. Set pieces are really important in this league. We see it week in week out, multiple games. The way the games end like that – we have to close up the small details on set pieces.”
On whether or not the foul on Garcia was inside or outside the box:
“You know to be honest with you, from my angle, I could not really tell. I think it is one of those it is right on. He is either going to call it a PK or he is not going to call it a PK, certainly a foul. He thought that the contact started in the box, but to be honest with you I have not seen the replay, so I do not know how it looks.”
On getting points against Eastern Conference teams on the road:
“I think we are unbeaten, so we are picking up points along the way. Still I feel like this group expects a lot. Our expectations are very high from our coaching staff on down to our players. We think that we can go most places, play soccer and win games. We have been putting ourselves in great positions to do that, we have won a few and we have let a few slip away for ties. But I still feel we can clean some of these things up and it is early in the season.”
Philadelphia Union
Philadelphia Union Manager John Hackworth
On subbing out Carroll and Le Toux:
“It had nothing to do with who they were as much as just tactically. The first sub set up the second half. We were thinking we had to get back into the game and move Mo [Edu] back and have two attackers. We thought we could put Leo in the middle and Maidana wide. I thought we needed Conor [Casey] on there, especially if it was late and we were going for that equalizer. We thought those two changes were kind of setting each other up and that’s what we were thinking.
On the way the Union played in the second half:
“We played some good soccer throughout the game. We possessed the ball, went side to side and made them do a lot of work. Eventually that wore them down a little bit. The hard part for us was I don’t think we were really strong without execution.”
On Austin Berry’s performance:
“It was tough. Austin is a good player and a great kid. I know that he is going to learn from this experience. He’s probably going to take it hard, but he can look back on a couple of plays and know he could do better.”
On Andrew Wenger’s debut:
“You score a goal on your debut in front of your new home crowd and I think that’s fantastic. He shows some good qualities of how hard he works, that he can hold the ball up, get in the box and make a good run. That ball from Nogueira was sublime to give it to Andrew. It was a great run by Andrew to finish, but there was some good build up on that play. In fact, that ball Sheanon played inside, there was a tiny little window between a couple of Salt Lake players. We had some moments where we played some really good soccer. It’s frustrating for me that we didn’t put as many of those good moments together with some execution in front of goal.
On the team’s character:
“I don’t ever question the character of our team. I know our guys, I know what they are like. I was as impressed when we were trying to control a couple of things in the back. Sheanon [Williams] was having problems cramping and we almost had a game winner off of a good cross by Chaco and Casey [Conor] misses just sparingly.”
On Wenger’s pressure of being number one overall pick:
“He has a new lease. I think he knows that we believe in him. It’s going to be really important for him to be here and play the way he just did.”
On MacMath’s performance:
“Zac was really good, he kept us in the game a lot. It’s really unfortunate that our guys don’t react better on that penalty kick. Zac was pretty good. He was good off his line, he cleared the balls and made some really good saves. I’m a little disappointed that he had to make that many.”
Philadelphia Union MF Maurice Edu
On the game:
“It’s been interesting to say the least. I think we’ve shown that we are capable of being a good team in this league. We’ve shown we can play, we can beat the best teams. We’ve also shown that we have to be able to play 90 minutes. We had a lapse today where we dropped off a little bit and they got a goal. We showed a lot of heart and character to get back in the game and now we’ve got to go that extra step. We’ve put ourselves in good positions to win games and now we’ve got to go out and actually do it.”
Philadelphia Union MF Cristian Maidana
On being able to play after missing a game due to injury:
“I feel really good to be back in the field, especially after not being able to play last week. It’s good to be back, but I am disappointed about the result.”
On his set pieces and their importance:
“It’s something that I have always done well, and I feel it is really important. Luckily enough, Maurice was able to head it in today but we have to make sure we work harder so we don’t have to depend on set pieces. We need to work in both attack and defense to be able to secure the points for us.”
Philadelphia Union GK Zac MacMath
On coming back against a team like Real Salt Lake:
“Yeah, obviously coming back against a team like Salt Lake is a big boost for us as they are one of the best in the league for sure. But I think we are overall disappointed as we probably were the better team out there, and we deserved the three points.”
On his game interventions:
“That is part of the season. You have games where you don’t touch the ball and other games where you have to work more. It’s about learning to balance that and making those saves to keep my team in it.”
Playing at the same level against a team like Real Salt Lake for most of the game”
“Yeah, I would hope so, to know that we are able to play at that level and that I was able to keep us in the game when it was a bit against us… that gives the team and the defense a boost and hopefully we can continue to do better and win games now.”
