"For me this is the most complete match we’ve played the entire season, and I think it’s fantastic that this comes a day after I challenged the group. I feel like we’ve done a lot of good things this year in every single match. We’ve also done some pretty bad things in every single match. So tonight I thought it was the most complete performance we’ve had in a match this year, and it comes at the right time because we’re at our most critical stretch. We have a lot to play for and a lot to look forward to. We needed to put some confidence behind our boot and that’s exactly what we got."
On Ned Grabavoy’s performance:
"Ned Grabavoy is my hero. Just in the locker room, I had no idea that he wasn’t feeling well. He was extremely disappointed to come out of the match, but he came off because he was in yellow card accumulation point [trouble] and I wanted to make sure he would be available next weekend. He put in an unbelievable amount of work, and he was extremely good with the ball. It was a tactical decision to take him off of the field."
On his team’s defensive effort:
"It was super good. The very positioning when we had the ball, how well we pressed them back in their half and how little space we gave their players especially running. I think it was our positioning when we had the ball. [Federico] Higuain, we know can be so dangerous. It was critical for us. It was just an aggressive mentality and decision making that messed with their players. There’s no room to move, there’s no room to turn. It may have been the best defensive effort we’ve had this season."
On playing three games in seven days:
“A huge amount of credit has to go to the players that played 90 three times this week. That was [Nat] Borchers, [Chris] Wingert, [Tony] Beltran, and [Javier] Morales who went 90 in all three. I thought they had fantastic energy down the stretch, so I’m really pleased for them. Again to do that same situation, where I think we made five or six changes from Wednesday to Saturday, and we get the right number of fresh players on the field, it’s how we can play a high intensity match like we played tonight. Big credit to the guys that played three 90’s, but also credit to all of the fresh players who contributed.”
Real Salt Lake Captain Kyle Beckerman
On whether this was RSL’s most complete game of the season:
“We’ll just continue to improve. It was a home game, we wanted three points. We wanted to reward ourselves for the effort the guys put out on Wednesday, to come back and reward ourselves with a good game and do something in front of our fans. I think we were able to do it tonight.”
On having two goals tonight:
“Goals are just fun. They’re fun to score. It’s a great feeling after it happens, and it’s always good to get on the stat line to help the team in that way. We’re just going to continue to try and get better. I think that we can get even better than we were tonight and keep improving, keep our head down, keep working hard and get ready for the playoffs.”
Real Salt Lake MF Luis Gil
On his performance tonight:
“I feel like I brought a lot of energy. I feel like I had a lot on both ends. But I feel like they gave us a lot of space in the midfield. Kyle was always open so it spread the game out a lot.”
On how this helps the team going into the match with Portland:
“It’s a huge result for us when we get a shutout, especially at home. It’s a big thing for us and now we can move on to the next one.”
On how RSL can continue these types of performances:
“I think we just need to go in with the right mentality. The ball was flowing a lot and moving around a lot and if we can keep that going our rhythm will just keep getting better.”
Real Salt Lake DF Tony Beltran
On the RSL backline:
“There’s no big secret to it: It’s just four players who are all on the same page. That’s a big part of playing defense is moving for each other, being in the right spots, covering each other and knowing each other’s tendency’s. Those four I think this year we have played consistently the most, so it helps. Obviously with Brandon [McDonald] and with Lovel [Palmer], l and Abdoulie [Mansally], we’ve got guys who can step in as well and do the job. We needed the shutout tonight. It was encouraging. I thought the back four did very well.”
Real Salt Lake DF Nat Borchers
On whether or not this was RSL’s best game of the season:
“I think it is definitely up there. We were good on both sides of the ball. We were really active in the midfield and created a lot of space. Defensively the goal tonight was to keep the ball away from Higuain and I thought we did a pretty good job of that. In the first half we gave away a couple of chances on the counter, but fortunately [RSL GK] Nick [Rimando] was there to save us.”
On if the goal at the end of the first half changed the complexion of the game:
“It did. I think that we put a lot of pressure on them and we created a lot of chances on set pieces. Sometimes you’ve just got to be lucky on those things. I think when you score at that point in the game they go into halftime with their heads down and it gives us a lot of momentum.”
Columbus Crew
Columbus Crew Head Coach Robert Warzycha
On the result:
“Coming into the game, we knew how they were going to play, but we didn’t match their intensity, and they were first to the ball. Especially in the first half, even though they only scored one goal, they were much sharper. Unfortunately for us, the first two goals were very unfortunate I would say. The first one got a deflection off the wall in the last minute, and during the second one, the goalkeeper was injured, basically, and couldn’t save it. After that, we tried to come back into the game and make some subs. We got some possession, but not really clear chances.”
On how the goal at the end of the first half impacted the rest of the game:
“I think that giving up a goal going into the locker room is always bad. Obviously, you regroup at halftime and you can something in the second half after you go down in the last minute. I thought that Chad blocked the shot, and I couldn’t see if his hand was over there or not. I didn’t think that the free kick should have been awarded. But unfortunately for us, a free kick was awarded in the last minute, and that’s what happened.”
On how missing Bernardo Anor and Justin Meram affected his team’s play:
“We had built some confidence winning the last two games at home. We had had two very good games – we scored 4 goals and didn’t give up any. I’m sure that the absences changed the guys’ mental approach a little bit. Danny [O’rourke] is a good player, and Ben [Speas] is a good player, and they have played so many games already that I don’t think that that should affect our performance. I just have to say that RSL was much sharper today than us.”
On losing Federico Higuain for the next match:
“With two games coming up at home, this is a big loss for us. He’s our engine, and he’s scoring goals. Unfortunately for us, he got the second yellow card at the end. Even the first one put him over the top already, but that’s a big loss for us.”
Columbus Crew DF Chad Barson
On the result:
“It’s definitely a tough one to swallow. We could have played better all around. Especially after winning two games in row, to come and have a performance like this is disappointing.”
On RSL as team:
“They are definitely a talented team. They possess the ball very well, are organized, and have a lot of movement off the ball. If you don’t match their intensity, you’ll get punished.”
On what the Crew did differently tonight compared to the previous two matches:
“I don’t think that we kept the ball as well as we had the past two games. It doesn’t help when you give up goals – and give up as many as we did – and I don’t think that we created as much. Overall, there’s no single person to blame, but as a team, we didn’t do enough to create chances and to keep the ball out of our net.”
Columbus Crew DF Josh Williams
On the result:
“I think that they proved tonight why they are in first place. They are really good on the ball possession-wise, and we just couldn’t keep track of them. It seemed like their guys were running all over the place. They are a very offensive team, and I don’t think that we matched their intensity, and we just totally got out-played.”
