Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 0-1 FC Dallas
October 17, 2015; Rio Tinto Stadium
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On what had to change to score a goal tonight:
“Putting it in the back of the net. I thought we got ourselves into good spots all night long. Missed a little final ball, were a little unlucky, great save by the goalkeeper, it was multiple reasons. But we got into those positions and if it was different time in the year you would say ‘let’s keep continuing to get in there’ and over a stretch of a year you would get the results that you wanted. But obviously we are not in that. We needed to get points. We needed to get a result at home and we didn’t do that. There are times in a game when you need to capitalize and we didn’t do that. Dallas was bending all over the place in the first half but they didn’t break; we didn’t make them break. We didn’t put it in the back of the net. We fell asleep on a play and we paid the price.”
On if there was a hangover from Wednesday:
“No. Because usually with a hangover you are bad at the beginning but we were very good at the beginning. I thought our energy was great. We asked a lot of a few players who played on Wednesday to Saturday. I thought the commitment was great. I thought the last 15 minutes got a little bit desperate. We were stretched out and it became a free-for-all. Yes, you do need to roll the dice at times but you also can’t give up a second and things like that. I thought our players did a fantastic job; worked their tails off. Wanted to get a result for the fans, and we came up short.”
On what happened on the goal:
“I need to look at it again because it was really unacceptable. It’s a throw in. Two simple balls and then two simple passes and it is in the back of our net. I think we tuned off for half a second and we paid the price.”
On experiencing so many shutouts this year:
“We created enough chances to score and to win. I am sure there are a lot of things and we will have to address those at the right time. That’s it.”
On choosing Javier Morales and Kyle Beckerman for this game:
“I went to them and we talked. Everyone is professional and wants to have a good showing for the last home game, besides the Champions League. They want to be out there for the team, for the fans, for their families.”
On if the omission of Luke Mulholland and Sebastian Jaime was health related:
“No. That was a coach’s decision. You can’t rest everyone. I mean I could. But we also wanted to go out on a good note at home. But all of our players are feeling good. Yeah they are a little bit tired but they have three days to recover where we are not going to be doing a lot on the field. We’ll be ok.”
Defender Tony Beltran
On the Dallas goal:
“You know, I am going to have to look at it again. I haven’t yet. It happened pretty quickly. I just know that possession was turned over and then it seemed like one pass and they were behind us. So obviously our line wasn’t good enough. Marking wasn’t good enough, spacing wasn’t good enough and overall wasn’t good enough.”
On falling asleep for one play on Dallas:
“They are a quality side with quality players who can finish. All they need is one chance. That’s really all they had. So it’s disappointing in that aspect. We were unlucky not to knick one several times. We fell asleep for one second and now we are here.”
On being disappointed to lose the home finale:
“Of course, disappointed doesn’t even cut it anymore. Yeah it’s just not good enough.
On it being difficult to prepare for Tuesday’s game:
“We are going to have to have short term memory. We are all professionals, this is our job. When we lose we have to move onto the next game. We know it hasn’t been good enough in the last two games. We know we are going to be held accountable for these last two losses. Now we are in a must win, or must tie situation on Tuesday and that is all that matters now.”
On being shutout so many times this season:
“I don’t want to put that on our attack whatsoever because I think that our attack is quality. I think we have outstanding players in the attacking half. That doesn’t fall just on their shoulders it falls on everyone. Maybe it’s not one thing maybe it’s a combination of luck and bad timing and this and whatever.”
Goalkeeper Jeff Attinella
On this result being a fair result:
“No, but at the end of the day you have to finish your chances. We missed a couple good ones and their goalie made a couple of good saves. For whatever reason it wasn’t finding the back of the net tonight. They made a really good play on their goal and after that we were chasing. Obviously we deserved to win. I felt like we played well and I felt like responded from Wednesday. But at the end of the day it is 1-0 and that has kind of been the story of our year. But we are not going to hang our heads. We have a chance to advance in CONCACAF on Tuesday which is a huge, huge game then we finish our season with Seattle. There is no time to hang our heads.”
On if losing will rattle them before Tuesday’s match:
“No I don’t think so. I think you could kind of see it from us all year when regular season wasn’t going that well, we kind of switched it on and took on a different mentality for a different tournament. We have a chance to advance in the biggest tournament that MLS has to offer so that is what we will try to do on Tuesday. Get a good result on Tuesday, take a positive from the end of the season and take a positive heading into Seattle.”
On what he saw on the goal:
“I will have to re-watch it. I think it was a little disjointed in the back off of a clearance. I think our center backs were a little bit split and then one ball beat us. I have to do a better job myself coming off my line. But I need to re-watch it. I am just kind of going off what everyone has been telling me. That kind of stuff happens so quick you don’t really remember what happens, just what I could have done better. But I’ll re-watch and hopefully learn from it and take it moving forward.”
FC Dallas
Head Coach Oscar Pareja
On the team’s performance:
“The boys did a great job, especially in the second half recognizing that this type of game needs to be played like that. I have to give them the credit. Their reaction in the second half was incredible. They were a team, it was tough to play against and most important we create some chances that could extend the result. I’m very proud of these young men and their willingness they have to win. Important certainly to have the boys in in the West, a very difficult conference. They know they want more. They know they can do it. Today was a good demonstration of that. The team won against a team that needed to win. The weather was hard. It was a game that was very difficult to play. It’s a good rival there. They showed a lot of character and personality. Many moments that were not very pretty, but they understand the game now. To win is going to require moments like tonight.”
On how the team coming out stronger in the second half:
“It’s a group that is getting, or developing some personality. That’s helping us a lot on the job that we did. Obviously we tried to correct some stuff, but all that kind of take comes within there.”
On Mauro Diaz setting up the goal for David Texeira:
“Mauro comes out with those plays and believes in it. I’m happy for him, happy for David, happy for the group. That’s the result of a unit effort. Everybody’s doing it. They help us to attack. Everybody helps too. It’s a group that is developing that unit, that’s good.”
Goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez
On his performance:
“It’s a huge performance by the whole team. We had to do what we had to do here and luckily we win.”
On first-half saves:
“I think that they were big saves. I think they helped us stay in the game. They were pressuring us to win the game.”
On going into the playoffs in first place:
“It feels great especially to get that confidence. The whole team has that confidence…”
Forward David Texeira
On the second half:
“It’s a really big win today for us. We didn’t really play well mostly in the first half. We did a good job, but this is soccer. Sometimes you play good, sometimes you play not good. Today it happened. We didn’t have many chances. In the other half we played a little bit and then I scored that one.”
On the mentality shift at halftime:
“We spoke in halftime that we have to win the second balls, we have to win the duels. It’s not easy the second half. The second ball was the key for the game. Once we started getting the second balls we started playing. We gave the ball to Mauro and Mauro started making us play, so it worked for us.”
On the importance of this win for the team:
“It’s really important for us, for the club as well. We’ve got to keep going. We just make the first goal for us to win the conference, but we still have one game more and we’re fighting for the Supporters’ Shield, so we’re going to keep going. We’re going to keep focus this week for San Jose at home.”
