QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 3-4 COLUMBUS CREW SC
MAPFRE STADIUM; MAY 28, 2016
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On why he was unhappy at the end of the game which resulted in an ejection:
“I hadn’t spoken to the fourth official all game long. I was displeased with three minutes of extra time. We’re down one, we deserved much more time than that and that’s what we needed, obviously. I thought the communication from the fourth [official], to me, was extremely poor. In fact, there wasn’t any. I had said there was no way there could be three minutes. I didn’t lose my temper at the beginning and then there was just no communication and I lost my cool and said something I shouldn’t have.”
On his thoughts on the match:
“Columbus throws a lot of numbers forward, makes it difficult, makes you really test your strength mentally and what you’re doing. We did well at times. I think if we went into the half at 2-2, it’s a little different game. Then we have to start pushing and open ourselves up a little bit more. But, it wasn’t bad. There was a lot of good things that we did and I think we could have done better on some poor turnovers, really can hurt you against this team. I thought we had a few of them. But, there was still a lot of fight left in us and I’m really proud of that.”
On Ola Kamara:
“We spoke about him. We didn’t know a ton about him, obviously. But, we knew what he was capable of. He works hard, he’s got great movement. The service into him tonight was very good as well. We knew he was a good player.”
On if the weather delay attributed to the play:
“No, it’s just a hindrance. Both teams had to deal with it. But it’s a couple games we had to deal with it. It messes up a little bit of your preparation. I thought the guys handled it well.”
Forward Jordan Allen
On the match:
“Obviously it’s disappointing because we are walking out of here without any points. We really wanted to come out of here with a result, so at the end of the day we can talk about it but we didn’t do what we needed to do.”
On the momentum towards the end of the match:
“Yes, we felt like we get chances throughout the game anytime but they were good on the attacking end and we paid for it. We gave ourselves too big of a goal to dig out of unfortunately.”
On if there was shock from the two quick goals scored by Crew SC in the first half:
“I don’t think there was any shock because we knew what they were capable of. They were getting chances of our mistakes in the midfield. Not really any shock, just lapses really.”
On the difference it would have made if Steve [Clark] did not stop the PK going into the half:
“We could always talk about what-ifs, but we have confidence in Joao [Plata] and he responded well after the miss and I think that’s most important.”
On how tough this road trip is:
“Obviously it’s always tough but we have high standards for us as a team and individually. Right now I have to say we haven’t met those standards.”
Midfielder Luke Mulholland
General thoughts on the game:
“It was a weird one. I think we didn’t really figure out in time how to deal with the Columbus style of play. And, we didn’t move the ball all around the field. We introduced the outside backs and didn’t really prepare as we were doing a lot of running off the ball. I think the result of this wears down on the players throughout the game.”
On letting in two goals after scoring:
“You go one nil up, and then before you know it it’s two for the other team. It’s a dagger. Then obviously, we stay in the game, we draw a penalty and it’s a totally different ball game if we had scored that right before the half, and come into halftime 2-2. But, it is what it is. You’re down 2-1 at the half, you come out in the second half and follow the game plan. But, we still couldn’t figure it out. I think the damage was done before we started our comeback.”
On the chance of equalizing the game in the last few minutes:
“Of course. You always feel optimistic when you score a couple of goals and shorten the section just like they did in the first half. We’re always going to fight to the final whistle. But, I would say the damage was done, and they deserved the win.”
On his goal:
“Every once in a while a blind squirrel finds a nut.”
Columbus Crew SC
Head Coach Gregg Berhalter
On what he takes from this match:
“I was really happy with the offensive output in this game. We were creating a lot of good goal scoring chances and I think that’s important. Some of the discrepancies between last year and this year have been getting shots on goal, and we had enough of them today to make a lot of goals, so I’m very pleased with that. I think that judging the defensive performance, in a way, isn’t necessarily fair with some new guys in the backline, and dealing with that, but having said that, I think we battled. To win games in this league, you have to battle, and we did that.”
On holding the lead tonight:
“They brought in some quality players, let’s not forget that. When you’re bringing in [Javier] Morales, [Yura] Movsisyan, and [Juan Manuel] Martinez, it was interesting what they did. They have that much firepower ready to come in the game. We knew it was going to be difficult, they are a very good team, but I think it was the will in this game. I think we controlled the latter part of the game and we handled it pretty well even though we only had a one goal lead.”
On if he made the trade knowing about Ola Kamara’s talent”
“I think you have to make an educated decision. Watching Ola in training and watching his movements, we felt very comfortable. It’s difficult as a striker when that pressure is put on you but Ola has been handling it extremely well. His hat trick was a result of the guys tonight, the positions they put him in, and he finishes it off nicely, but the team is really looking to get him in good goal scoring positions and that’s important.”
On what three points does for the team’s confidence:
“Everything. Three points is big. Anytime you get three points it boosts your confidence. You can tell the group we’re on the right track, keep going, keep pushing, but to really get that comfort you need to win. And I think part of it is the work you put in over the course of the weeks in training. You want to see the results. You want to see the outcome. And it’s nice to get a win.”
On what he expected from Real Salt Lake:
“I guess we had the lineup wrong. We would’ve predicted a couple other guys in the lineup. But they still have tricky guys. [Joao] Plata’s a very good player. [Jordan] Allen’s a very good player. We thought they would play out of a 4-2-3-1, which they did, so that wasn’t much of a surprise. But overall, when we play home games we want to put the focus more on what we do, and I think that no matter who we’re playing the focus is on us at home.”
Forward Ola Kamara
On getting his first goal and the hat trick:
“It was a weight off my shoulder, of course. I felt really good today before the game and I felt like I was going to score. Since the last game against Toronto, I have been feeling better and I felt like the chemistry is better between all the players, so I felt today was the day and I got the hat trick which is an unbelievable feeling.”
On having the first Crew SC hat trick in 12 years:
“The first one was a really simple goal; I just had to be there. It was an unbelievable assist from [Justin Meram]. The second one was a great cross from Waylon [Francis] and the third one was a corner from Pipa (Federico Higuain). It was a good feeling to see them go in.”
Midfielder Wil Trapp
On Kamara’s hat trick:
“We’re happy for him. It’s huge. Gets us off on the right foot.”
On Steve Clark blocking the penalty kick:
“Incredible. Incredible. When you need a guy to stand up and be counted on, it was excellent. It saved us. It’s one of those plays where it’s kind of an interesting call because you don’t know if he’s going to call it or not. But Steve [Clark] stepped up and made an excellent save.”
On Real Salt Lake’s unfamiliar lineup:
“We had a lot of time to think about it, but it was fine. It’s a game. We hadn’t looked at a whole lot of film on those guys but they’re still going to try and play a similar style. But I thought we did a pretty good job of trying to isolate the wings and get the ball down in crosses in the box and that’s why we were successful.”
On Real Salt Lake scoring late:
“Absolutely. You’re up 4-1, and it’s just concentration. A couple plays where we’re not totally focused, it’s not ideal. But those are things it’s good to work on after you get a win. So that’s a positive thing for us to look at.”
