QUOTE SHEET
Real Salt Lake 2-1 Houston Dynamo
Rio Tinto Stadium; Sandy, Utah
May 30, 2018
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Mike Petke
On quick response from Houston goal:
“I thought this certainly was our best first-half performance of the year. I think 70 minutes of this game was excellent for us; there was 20 minutes in there that was a little limbo. A guy like Bofo, who is a bit hot right now, a guy like Plata coming on, we know how capable he is, it’s natural they were going to have a response. Going into this game we knew what to expect from Houston. Very much a counter attack team and we handled it well for 45 minutes. Then we sat back a little bit but we have the quality there so that goal was almost a wakeup call. You can see it on the players’ face – the anger in them. A guy like Bofo with his ability and a guy like Plata with his ability, individual brilliant performances sometimes and moments are a huge part for a team. They didn’t connect on the goal but their response was excellent.”
On Kyle Beckerman:
“Kyle wasn’t the easiest guy to go talk to yesterday to tell him my plan. I mentioned it to him a week ago and he kind of laughed it off and brushed it off, we had a joke about it, but this was the plan all along. For him to come on in that situation and not only hold down the fort a bit but get the winning goal was amazing. Kyle is our engine; he is our leader. The work that he does, if I showed you the printouts of the workload that we track throughout the week, he is far above the hardest worker on this team and I just needed to force the rest for him.”
On the midfield:
“70 minutes, I think it was very good discipline in our block defensively. I thought Sunny and Nick connected very well, especially early on in the game. Nick is somebody who is very disciplined and I know what I’m going to get out of him. As far as Bofo and Savarino go, Bofo had his way with Houston’s right back, and Savarino had a very good day with Beasley and Beasley is a very good player, a veteran defender. I thought that the work in transition – which was the main thing for me, to get back and back press and get back in the block – for 70 minutes was excellent. Damir came on against Seattle – which was a planned rest against Seattle – we put him on at virtually the number 10 role in Seattle and pushed Albert higher, he did great holding the ball up, connecting passes. Going into this game it was discussion whether it would be Damir or Luis at that position. We thought this was a game suited for Luis as our 9 and he got a great goal and Damir did some great stuff.”
Forward Sebastian Saucedo
On the assist:
“I think I had to give whatever I can for the team to win. I think it’s most important getting a team win than anything else and I think everyone battled out to the last minute and most important was the fight, and that's what we got at the end, a result; three points.”
On thoughts before the assist:
“Shoot. First thing is wanting to shoot and score a goal, but I saw Luis wide open and I think if I’m not mistaken if it goes over Luis there was another player in the back so maybe we could have gotten a goal either way. But I’m super happy for him; first game back and he gets a goal and I’m happy I could get the assist and he got the goal.”
On the team's ability to bounce back after the equalizer:
“The good thing that everyone had was a positive attitude and I think we build up from that. No one let their guard down and we fought till the last minute and Beckerman was a huge key coming in and being able help us get that win. I’m super happy for him to get the goal.”
On Beckerman’s ability to step up in key situations:
“Well obviously his leadership. It gives us a boost, for everyone, just seeing what he’s done for this club and everything in general. I think him coming on adds just a little bit more energy like I said and we saw that against L.A. last year and I think it's important to have him on the field to help us on the field with whatever challenge we have.”
Midfielder Kyle Beckerman
On coming off the bench:
“He told me he was going to rest me. I fought back a little bit, but he’s the coach so you respect it and get ready to do whatever you can to help the team. That’s what the mindset was.”
On his goal:
“The ball was coming in and Damir called me off. Credit to him, great composure in the box to just chest it down. Then it laid there perfect for me. I gave it a strike and luckily it went in.”
On winning two straight:
“We’ve been marking this on our schedule. To get that win last week and then with a chance with two at home, this week was super-important to climb up the ladder. It was big to get three tonight and now we’ve got to get focused on the next game.”
Houston Dynamo
Head Coach Wilmer Cabrera
On the game:
“We didn’t have a very good start in the game. We started off a little bit lethargic. They scored once because they had more intensity and in the first 20 minutes they were more intense than us and they gave more. We were lethargic and we didn’t have the intensity that we have been having throughout the most of the games and when they scored we kind of woke up and we started to play much better. In the second half we started off trying to get better and then we scored. I think it was much better in the second half from our side, but then to finish the game, closing the game we were really soft in the set piece situation and that was basically the most important chance they had. Despite the linesman on our side he was always late, he was always late on every play he was behind the play and we were trying to tell him, but you know he didn’t have a great game. In the corner, we lost all the marks and one of the players showed up by himself and from a tough angle to score and that’s it. So, we have to regroup now and we have to look forward for the next game, Saturday against Montreal because today was a day that we did not have the performance that we are used to have lately in all the games when we play away.”
On positive takeaways:
“Well we have to use Adam Lundqvist at right back. We have been having difficulties with our defenders, they are all getting injured, but they are trying to step-up. Adam tried to step up. Jared was playing and he got hit in his head and now has a concussion and Kevin went in so we have been trying to go through this momentum. Where we have to just bring someone to play because we have been struggling right there, but hopefully we can get out of this situation because it’s also a situation from the players they are getting injured and its difficult for them when that occurs.”
On scoring on the road:
“We continue creating options, but we received two goals away the last game and every game we play away we receive two goals. It is still not good enough for our defensive side as a team we are not defending very well, but that is something that we have to continue pushing. We all need to do better, but the positive thing is that we continue scoring. We have to look forward to bring the defenders healthy and at some point, come back in terms of defensive possibilities.”
Defender Adam Lundqvist
On making debut:
“I’m very happy to make my debut for this team. It’s also a bittersweet feeling; I wanted a better performance for myself and for the team as well. We just keep on going and look forward to the next game.”
On what can be improved:
“We have so much quality in the team. In some part of the movement, the passing, but also defensively we need to be sharper. We can’t allow two goals and it’s easier if we play better defense.”
On positives to take away:
“It’s my debut and a new experience and just everything around the experience I’m going to take with me. I’m going to look at some positives and also the negatives to keep on building. I want to play better, and I know we as a team can play better. Keep on improving, look forward and head up high.”
