QUOTE SHEET
Real Salt Lake 1-2 Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Saturday, October 10, 2020
Providence Park; Portland, Oregon
Head Coach Freddy Juarez
On his message to the team:
“We’ll talk about it later. You want to make sure to look over the game before you say something. Keep our head high was basically the message.”
On what RSL has been missing:
“You look at Seattle and you look at LAFC and you understand that they are top teams and you need to be at your best. It wasn’t a pretty game. It was tough to really get into a rhythm. A lot of whistling going on out there, but the guys fought. They got that goal exactly how we wanted to. I think we even created another chance before that one that Damir had at the top of the box that was close. We just didn’t start the second half off with enough energy. Then we were unlucky with the own goal. What tends to happen when teams are in situations not winning a lot of games, you kind of second guess yourself. I just thought the second goal was very sloppy. Very sloppy. Very preventable and sloppy in the way that we handled it. Then we just showed the fight that we have and I’m never going to question that. There was a lot of fight and we’re chasing the game and serving the ball. A lot of it was due to desperation and they were preserving it and they did a good job and they were able to.”
On staying in the playoff hunt:
“You’ve got to be men and you’ve got to not put your hands down. That’s life. There are situations that aren’t necessarily going your way and you can’t put your hands down and stop doing what you need to do to move forward. We need everybody to respond and a little bit of luck here and there. Last game didn’t have much luck – the last goal was offside. Today we score an own goal. We’ve got to start off better to not be in those situations. We knew they were going to look to score – that was one of the biggest things I mentioned at halftime. Try not to do unnecessary fouls in our own half because that’s the only way they can get in the game. Exactly what I said ended up happening. We score an own goal and all of a sudden it’s a game. They’re going to fight. The Canadian teams are out of their country right now, sacrificing. So whenever they feel like there’s actually a chance they are going to give everything. They are suffering more than anyone else right now and they are sacrificing the most right now. So they are going to give every ounce of energy they have and determination and we just didn’t have the finishing touch to put the game away.”
On Justin Portillo:
“We know that he’s a good player. He’s someone that deserves a chance. He’s been fighting and grinding. He did a good job, he was sharp in Seattle and was very good today. I wish it would have gone another way. We were planning to make some subs in there in the middle, but we couldn’t because all of the sudden we were chasing the game. We took Pablo out because he’s been playing so much to see if we could get a little bit of freshness in there. Portillo gave everything he had today. He was very good on the ball, runs himself and is very intelligent. I wish we would have had him at the Academy and he could have been with us sooner. He’s a very good player. At that age, you’re a very mature man. He’s played a lot of games in the USL so you know what you’re going to get.”
Defender Justen Glad
On the mood in the locker room:
“Obviously very disappointed. I think the whole team felt like we had that game and then it just slipped away from us. The own goal was super unfortunate. We’ve just got to close out that game.”
On the second half:
“We didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that we did create. We haven’t scored a lot these last couple games so that’s got to be something that we fine tune. We’ve got to drill it into ourselves to finish those chances. Then we have to stay sharp defensively and don’t let them get anything. I didn’t really feel like they had any clear-cut chances either. But they scored two and we scored one.”
On what RSL can improve on defensively:
“The first goal, that’s just unfortunate. I think if you give him that opportunity to try and hit it like he did, I don’t think he would. That’s just a little bit of luck for them. Then the second goal, I’d have to see how it started. I think it was a missed clearance and then a scramble in the box. On those you have to be focused 100% and get that ball out as far away from the goal as you can. We didn’t do that and they put it in the back of the net.”
On the playoff hunt:
“It starts tomorrow. It starts in training. We know we’ve got games coming up. We know we have opportunities to climb back up the table. We know what we’re capable of. We’re not a bad team. We can play. We can compete. It’s just about moving forward, keeping that positive attitude and working and willing yourself to win. There are six games. That’s six more opportunities to get points. That’s six more opportunities to climb up the table. That’s how we have to approach it and attack it.”
On Portillo and Ruiz:
“Pablo and Portillo have been fantastic for us. They both came in this season and have everything we could ask them to do. They are both technical players. They both connect the dots for us. I’m very happy with both of them. They are both talented players. They’re good players. They’ve stepped up when we’ve needed them to and I think they’ve done well for us.”
Midfielder Damir Kreilach
On losing to Vancouver for a second time:
“It’s tough. It’s frustrating. But we’ve been in this situation the last two years and at the end of the day everything was good. The first half we did well. We did exactly what we wanted. They didn’t create a lot and we were leading 1-0. Second half, I don’t know what happened but we didn’t get a good reaction and that’s what cost us the posts. We have to keep our heads up. We have to be positive and we have to give everything to win the game against Portland. I know it’s a tough situation, but sometimes in a tough situation the best comes out. We have to be positive and give everything against Portland to get three points.”
On the second half:
“We had a plan to control their backline. They had some ball possession, but they didn’t create a lot of chances. Then they had a set piece – again what happened against Seattle – and you have to be more concentrated and more focused and you have to be ready to defend the ball. A lot of games are decided because of the set piece. Unfortunately, this is why we lost so many points the last couple of games. We had just two mistakes and this is why we lost the game tonight.”
