QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 1-0 PHILADELPHIA UNION
RIO TINTO STADIUM; May 27, 2017
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Mike Petke
On the satisfaction of a 1-0 victory:
“I think it is more satisfying, the 1-0 game, the shutout and holding on and showing character, grinding it out at certain points. I thought the first half we played some of our best soccer I thought at times, I even thought the second half at times as well. We managed the game well and that was a big thing that we talked about coming into this, about managing the first 15 minutes specifically, because of the last month and half of giving up early goals and making mental mistakes. But we talked a lot about it and they managed it well and got the goal and then held on. We played some good soccer around it.”
On the passing game:
“I am never satisfied; I want 15-20 passes, god’s honest truth. I think on the goal, even the opportunities that we had I missed half of it because I was turning around and yelling at my assistant coaches. It’s the god’s honest truth. Maybe it was beautiful but I think we can be better I honestly do, and I am not saying for next game. I am not saying we will be better next game or the game after but I see potential in a lot of these players that even though we got the goal, I think it could have been better.”
On Plata’s performance:
“I could single out him, Albert, Savarino, I could single out everybody but those three in the attacking half of the midfield. I had some words with Plata over the last couple of weeks over a goal will come, and once the goal comes then it will open up a bit for more goals to come. He was getting frustrated and I didn’t want the frustration to affect his game and I am very happy that he got the goal tonight because he deserved it. He played a hell of a game and now this is going to do something a bit more for his confidence.”
On Savarino’s defense and offense:
“He is good offensively and defensively. He is dynamic with the ball; he isn’t scared to go forward which I like. From the start, when he came in here when he gets the ball he goes forward immediately. And defensively he is not afraid to get back and put some dirty work in. And help out someone, especially like Tony, who is coming back from an injury today. So he is to me, again I look at guys like Jefferson and Albert who come over from a foreign country and there is always an adjustment period. And I think Jefferson, right now, what people have to realize is he is doing well but he could be so much better once he gets adjusted to this league. Albert went through a bit of an adjustment period and now we are seeing a lot better out of Albert. So I am thrilled with Jefferson over the first couple of games that he has been here.”
On Tony Beltran’s return:
“Well we covered this a couple of weeks ago. I don’t remember the game at all, I really don’t. I am on the sideline screaming and losing my mind. So I don’t remember what inclusion Tony had in the exact goal, Tony to me, the experience that he brings. He has played in this stadium, he has played with this team for so long to get him back, the leadership that he brings and the experience that he brought, he calmed things down for sure. And he is clean on the ball, and I think just when we talk about a process getting these players back we are taking a step in the right direction with Tony back.”
On Sunny’s Performance:
“Well we talked about, I spoke to you about this in all of my press conference that it doesn’t matter who is there, Kyle is our captain, Kyle is our leader. But if someone else like Sunny steps in, we have gone over this for five weeks, he know exactly what I expected of him in that position, and we have done a lot of talking about that with Sunny this week and he did exactly what I expected. He was there to break things up he was concentrating on the number ten and playing simple when he had the ball and playing forward. It is not a luxurious job that they play the six, it is the unsung hero type of role, and Sunny stepped up today and he was huge for us.”
On Silva:
“I am never satisfied with any of their games to be honest with you because they can always be better. But Louis brings something special, he is so dynamic with the ball just like Jefferson, Plata, and Albert. He can drop back in there and combine. He is a tireless worker and you know him and Yura in that position they bring something different to the role. Yura is a number nine; Louis is not a traditional number 9. But what that gives us is being able to come back and combine and open up space behind him. I think for the most part he did well and I was happy with Yura when he came on, his work rate as well.”
On the win with the upcoming schedule:
“It was huge, you know, it was huge. I think I am at the point now, you know early on results, as competitive as I am, results were not the main thing for me the first 5, 6 games. It was about instilling my philosophy as much as I could in the short amount of time, it was about getting them up to speed now on play with the guys of the future. But looking at a three game week home, then to Houston and Dallas. I didn’t tell let this onto the players or the staff but this was vital, these three points. So I am very glad we got them now it’s just concentrating on Houston and Dallas, which is going to be very tough.”
Defender Tony Beltran
On Mike Petke writing his name on the starting 11 for the first time:
“I’ve been waiting to work with Mike (Petke) and work with my teammates. Feels phenomenal to be back and contributing again, to be back playing soccer and it was a great start to the second half of my season this year.”
On contributing to the goal tonight:
“It’s just working hard. I didn’t do anything else. Joao and Jefferson did everything else on that play. That goal is phenomenal, maybe a goal of the year candidate. Their movement, their combination, I just chased down the ball and that’s that. Credit to them.”
On Sunny’s performance tonight:
“Sunny has been very good for us this year. His consistency in keeping the ball and moving it from side to side and always being an option for the backline; it’s important to have your six always being an out right there. Him and Luke worked tirelessly to break up plays and you see that. It helps us tremendously and is a big boost to the backline as well.”
On Plata’s performance:
“Joao is fantastic. His best performance in recent memory and he has had a lot of good performances so that is saying something. He has so much passion so much desire to win. His commitment to sprint back 60 yards and win the ball and then be up in the final third as well; credit to him. I’m sure he’s happy to get that goal and I’m sure there is more to come.”
On the satisfaction of a 1-0 win:
“That is the most satisfying score-line. Schuler and I were talking about that the other day. I’d rather win 1-0 than 5-0. In soccer you have to suffer and in a 1-0 win you have suffer in the game and fight. That’s what it’s all about. That’s why I love playing defense. The commitment from the boys exemplified that.”
On this game spring-boarding the team forward:
“It should. That should be the mentality from the back four, or back six to get the shutout. Commitment to making teams be under it when they are here, to not give them an inch, to not given them momentum, the crowd is on our side and the altitude is on our side and that is when we are really dangerous at home. Something to build on for sure.”
On keeping an up-and-coming Philly team under control:
“They’ve been on a good run. Four wins in a row. They’ve got a good group. I think they’ve put together a very athletic team, especially in their front five. Chris Pontius is a very good player, CJ Sapong is as well. They move the ball well and they’re dangerous, especially when they are crossing the ball. We knew we had to be organized and in good spots early tonight to not give them an inch. I thought we did a pretty good job and that’s why we got the zero.”
Midfielder Albert Rusnák
On the win:
“That’s the nicest win I think in football. To win 1-0, maybe ideal is 2 or 3, but 1-0 is the perfect win. It’s 3 points, it’s a cleat sheet, it’s a goal scored. We had more chances to score but today was about the hard work we put in and the 3 points, that’s it.”
On the team’s connection against Philadelphia:
“Yea definitely one of the better ones. I think it was the best performance from us as a team you know. Not just attackingly but also defensibly. It was the most, uh, everything was above good. So yes, to do that at home and to get the three points after a tough lost last week in Seattle, it feels great. We have a game coming up on Wednesday so it will lift our confidence and we are looking forward to the next game.”
On Sunny’s performance:
“He broke down every single attack that they had and he was really strong. He was connecting passes really well. He was that connection between the defenders and the attackers you know. A great performance from Sunny today.”
On gaining momentum before going to Texas:
“Exactly like you said, some momentum and a bit of confidence. Going away is always a bit tougher to play on the road than it is at home. And especially we are on the road Wednesday and Saturday so yea a big three points for us tonight. And what we have to do next game is basically what we did here today at Rio Tinto Stadium. There’s nothing else about it. It’s going to be another game against Houston. They are a good team, they are doing well this year but we have to look at ourselves and not worry too much about them.”
Philadelphia Union
Head Coach Jim Curtin
On the result:
“Not a good enough performance from us on the road. For whatever reason, we couldn’t get out of first gear. We were a little bit sluggish and slow to win second balls. We did have three good chances in the first half. We got in behind them a couple times. When you don’t take your chances on the road, it can come back to get you. Credit to Salt Lake, they were tough to break down on the night. Just overall, not a good performance to get points on the road. A good run of six games comes to an end for us now. We’ll have to look forward to starting a new streak as we go away to New York City next week.”
On how the first half goal changed the match:
“We’ve taken pride defensively. We’ve done a really good job [since] we’ve only conceded one in our last several games so from that standpoint we’ve been good. When they do break us down and get a goal, maybe we are shocked a little bit and didn’t really recover. I thought we were sloppy on the ball overall. Part of that is the defense that Salt Lake played, but also we could be cleaner with our passes. I think we rushed trying to play forward too much, playing into their strengths. Their big center backs winning aerial duels, we just need to be more patient on the day. Once they scored their goal, we didn’t have a good response.
On what needs to change:
“Anybody in this league can beat anybody. You look at the results today, it’s an example. There’s no easy games in this league. Form kind of gets thrown out the window each week. If you think you have a good team, you get humbled pretty quickly. It’s a league of runs. Teams get hot, teams cool off. You want to have consistent, solid performances as you get later on in the season. I know we have a very good team still. It’s a tough 1-0 loss on the road in a very hard place to play at altitude. We’ll regroup. We still have a very strong group, and it was a very successful last six games. Now we have to start another streak.”
On playing on the road:
“Playing on the road is hard in this league. It’s tough. You’re not going to get any favors. You’re not going get any help from the crowd - those little breaks. To be honest, we had some chances at the very end. On different night, maybe we could squeeze a draw and steal a point out of it. Overall, just not sharp enough from everybody as a group.”
Goalkeeper Andre Blake
On the match against RSL:
“Obviously it’s tough playing at high altitude and it’s one of those days we had a few opportunities early in the game and weren’t able to capitalize. This is a part of soccer sometimes you don’t score your chances and you’re made to pay for it and it’s just one of those nights for us.”
On his season high in saves against RSL:
“I think it was a good performance, obviously I got scored on so for me it's not the best but it's good that I was able to make some saves to keep my team in the game and to keep it at 1-0. It's just tough luck that we weren't able to get one back. We haven't lost in a while and so the guys are kind of getting that bitter taste again so we're going to be hungry. We are going to go back to the drawing board and hopefully we’ll be ready for the next one. We were flying on the counter attacks and as I said before it’s just tough luck we weren't able to score one of our chances.”
On Marcus Epps’ debut:
“He came in and he did great, he had a few big plays for us and again as I said, it's just unlucky that we weren't able to put one in the back of the net.”
Midfielder Marcus Epps
On his MLS debut:
“It was a great experience, would have loved to get the result for the team. Personally it was an honor to step on the field. Coach gave me my instructions to be attacking and get at them and it was good to come in and make an impact and share this moment with the team.”
On his responsibilities entering the match:
“I was looking to go at players whenever I got the chance for one on ones, get crosses in, get in attacking positions to get our team to get a goal. It’s just great to know that I have the first one in my pocket and it’s encouraging for confidence as well as experience so I’m going to use that to try and push myself even further to help the team even more.”
