QUOTE SHEET
FC DALLAS 2-0 REAL SALT LAKE
JUNE 25, 2016; TOYOTA STADIUM
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On the lineup changes made for tonight's game...
We had a stretch of 6 games in 16 days. It's difficult. You have to manage your players. You have to manage the staff. I thought this group of players did an excellent job working for each other in difficult situations. You can't ever look at just one game when you have a five game plan. You have to look at what happens at the end of it. We have a very important (U.S. Open Cup) game Tuesday, and a very important home game on Friday. I have the utmost confidence in this group of guys to get a result here, but we did show a little bit of naïveté on a few plays, but they got experience that they normally can't get. FC Dallas, at home, is a difficult place to play, and I thought our men handled themselves extremely well.
On the Mauro Diaz free kick that led to the first FC Dallas goal...
Diaz is a very intelligent player, recognized that we weren't really set up. We talk about it all the time, never let someone play quick, and we were a little surprised. Typically, that won't and shouldn't happen.
On the performance of goalkeeper Jeff Attinella...
I thought he did a great job. He hadn't had long to work with this back line, and I thought his leadership was great. He always comes up with big saves for us, and this game is important for our plan moving forward so he should feel very good about his performance tonight and hopefully that will carry on to the next couple of games coming up.
On the MLS debut of Omar Holness...
I thought he was great. I really do. He's had a tough year. We have very high hopes for him and he did not let us down. He looked like he made a big step in becoming a man out there. I thought he conducted himself extremely well, got into challenges, read the game, and still had something left in the tank at the end of the game which is really surprising with the things that he has gone through. He played several full games with our USL team, gotten his fitness which is really important and that showed tonight.
Goalkeeper Jeff Attinella
On being ready when playing time comes...
This is my fourth year doing this, I've gotten into a pretty good routine by now. Obviously I would have liked to have kept the other two out, but that's part of the game. I got that Open Cup game (6/14 vs Wilmington Hammerheads), which was good to get before this one, and a good way to stay as fresh as I can.
On the first FC Dallas goal...
They just caught us sleeping a little bit. They played a quick restart and we weren't all tuned in for it and then once it's two on none it's a little tough, but after that I thought we responded pretty well. The second goal was a little bit of brilliance, you know. (Diaz) plays a bike through ball and Castillo has a small space and he tucks it in the side corner, but outside of that I thought we played pretty well and the guys, especially the young guys, have a lot to hold their heads up about.
Defender Phanuel Kavita
On tonight's game...
It was a good opportunity for a lot of us, but that shouldn't be an excuse for the result. It's good to get new faces out there and get minutes. Everyone should take the opportunity they get. It was exciting for a lot of us and hopefully there is more to come.
Midfielder Omar Holness
On his MLS debut...
It was absolutely incredible. A couple of weeks ago I had a seizure, as everyone knows. It was good to overcome that and build my way back into it, continuously improve and work my way back up form the bottom. It was exciting to be out there for the first time. Obviously, not the result we had hoped for, but I think there a re a lot of good things to take from the game, as well as a lot of things to improve on.
