REAL SALT LAKE
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS:
On Sandoval’s goal:
“The soccer doesn’t change that drastically, the level of play that we have doesn’t change that drastically, so if we can make up the differences with our effort then often times we get results, and Devon is an essential guy for that. He’ll give you everything he has and that helps you win games.”
On the team’s success with the system:
“Us being able to put anyone on the pitch and still win games is one of the large benefits of having a philosophy of playing in a system that we stick to 90% of the time. We train all of our guys in that same system, we train all of our guys against opponents system’s within ours. So we know our weaknesses and we know our strengths, so we believe that if we put in the right effort that our strengths will come out.”
On if today’s win will give RSL a boost ahead of Tuesday’s U.S. Open Cup Final against D.C. United at Rio Tinto Stadium:
“I hope so, you know we said for the next six weeks that the most important match for us is the Open Cup final, and yes we want to compete for the Supporter’s Shield, but for me the chance to win something in a one off game has to take precedence. We are also very excited for the opportunity that we have, and really excited to play that matchup in front of our fans.”
REAL SALT LAKE FW DEVON SANDOVAL
On the win:
“This result was huge for us. Yes, this was our “second team” if you want to call it that, but we’re dangerous still. We were confident going in the game that we could get three points. We were coming off two straight losses and finally got a win. I think we’re back on the right foot and we’re ready for Tuesday.”
On his goal:
“Lovel [Palmer] played a perfect ball, I made a front post run, headed it. I give all the credit to Lovel; that was a perfect ball.
REAL SALT LAKE GK JEFF ATTINELLA
On getting the start in goal:
“It was fun. It’s a group that doesn’t normally get to play a lot, but we have a lot of talented players. It’s a great result, to come out here and get a result and kind of right the ship; hopefully the momentum carries into Tuesday.”
On the team’s performance:
“I thought we played really well. I thought we had more of the possession. We got the early goal, which was huge for us, we got off to a fast start and then to hold that lead on the road against a team that loves to put players forward; I couldn’t be happier.”
On his save on Russell Teibert:
“He had a good hit on it, yeah. Any goalie can make a good save but to be able to manage a game well is the part in which I’m most happy about how I played today.”
Overall thoughts on the match:
“I thought Vancouver played pretty well, I don’t watch a lot of Vancouver’s games so I’m not sure how their game was compared to the norm but I did have to make that one save and defensively we played really, really solid. I feel like defensively we did a good job of not giving them that many good chances.”
REAL SALT LAKE MF SEBASTIAN VELASQUEZ
On the team’s performance:
“I thought we played an excellent game. From what I’ve heard we’ve never won here and to get so many new guys on the field and even though we had a whole different team there was a lot of experience on the pitch. We played together, we defended as a unit and to get a 1-0 result here is an incredible thing.”
On the importance of the win:
“It was great opportunity for us young guys to get our team back in the race for the Supporters’ Shield. That was on the back of our minds the whole time and we wanted to prove that while we’re here. It gives us an opportunity to be successful.”
On looking forward to the U.S. Open Cup final:
“We’re all excited. It’s a big game for all of us. We have an opportunity to make history. We have a chance to know that we all contributed to hopefully winning the U.S. Open Cup.”
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC HEAD COACH MARTIN RENNIE:
Thoughts on the match:
“For the third game in a row, we started the game badly, which is really frustrating, and it’s something we’ve worked on. We made sure we were focused and ready to go. We put ourselves in a bad spot to start with, and I just thought our quality was really poor. It was a disappointing performance, especially given how well we’ve played in our last two games. We’ve all got to look at it and see how we can do better. We’ve now put ourselves in a difficult spot as we go forward. But we’ve still got plenty of time to get the wins that we need. We need to turn it around starting next week against Portland.”
On the double substitution strategy:
“To try and change the game, we weren’t creating any chances so we wanted to put on a couple of forwards and try to make it more dangerous. Darren had half a chance in the box and that lifted us for a little bit, we started to go forward and create some more opportunities, but in the end it wasn’t enough.”
On what needs to be improved:
“I can certainly say today, the quality in the final third wasn’t good. There was no good movement, there wasn’t good connection of passes, there wasn’t any good balls coming into the box, there wasn’t sustained pressure, there wasn’t winning second balls when we did put balls in the box. I can definitely pin-point those things for today.”
On David Ousted’s “Man of the Match” performance:
“He made a number of big saves today, and probably was our only player that we could say did well. I don’t think anyone played well today apart from David Ousted. I think it was a terrible performance from everybody. That means it’s a terrible performance from the coach as well. It was a real let-down and way below our standard.”
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC GK DAVID OUSTED
Thoughts on the match:
“Definitely not a result or performance we will look back on with joy. I think we weren’t there today and conceded a bad goal. We weren’t able to create the chances we needed. It’s an important stage of the season and we should be able to come out and perform better.”
On his performance:
“We’re here as a team, so when you talk about the team it’s 11 of us and I’m in there. I’m not happy with the way we performed, myself included. We should’ve done better. [On the goal] I think I should’ve come across and tried to take the ball in the air. Maybe I get there and maybe I don’t, but at least try and take the header away from him. I’m not happy with that goal.”
On the impact of the substitutions in the second half:
“I think we had a great opportunity at home with a team that maybe had their mind elsewhere. I can’t explain why we’re not there and not taking an opportunity like this.”
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC MF NIGEL REO-COKER:
On the match:
“They were the better team, they had the desire today, and we got taught a lesson. We have to be honest with ourselves, I have no idea what happened, I have no explanation, I’m going to make up no lies, no nothing. They’ve got a system that they play, we struggle with their system, we struggle with it regardless of who they play”.
On lack of sharpness:
“I don’t think there was any change of mood on the pitch. I think we may have tried to overcomplicate things on the pitch, and we missed out on the simple things. We’ve got to be careful, just because they left their starting 11 at home doesn’t mean they’re going to change the way they play, and it shouldn’t change the way we play.”
On his goal scoring chance and boost of subs:
“It was a difficult one; just a bit of a heavy touch it’s as simple as that. I thought it helped, but we didn’t play well with each other well enough, we didn’t give each other enough options on the ball. ”
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC DF JAY DEMERIT
On the team’s performance:
“The managers make the best decisions they can, but the players are the ones that play the games, and the players are the ones that need to play, and unfortunately we didn’t take care of business tonight.
On the upcoming schedule:
“We know how important this game is to us, we don’t need to put extra onus on our rivalry. Whether it’s Portland or someone else, even in the Eastern division, these games are all must wins, and we’ve got to make sure that we reflect that in our performance. We just didn’t do that tonight.”
