QUOTE SHEET
TIGRES UANL 2-0 REAL SALT LAKE
FEBRUARY 24, 2016; ESTADIO UNIVERSITARIO
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On the result
“We’re obviously disappointed with the result. But the effort from the guys was really promising. There are areas that we definitely need to improve on, but I thought we created a lot of opportunities on the offensive end. We showed a little bit of fatigue towards the end of the game, which is only natural. I saw 11 players fighting hard for each other, substitutions that came on and made a difference and still we were pushing all the way to the very end with the chance that we had there. Obviously we don’t want to give up two goals on set plays, which is an area that we need to improve on and an area that were actually focusing on. But I’m really excited about playing in front of our fans, putting pressure on them and seeing how they react.”
On defending a strong Tigres team
“It’s a very good team that we’re going against – one of the best not just in Mexico, but South America. What I saw was guys dealing with a lot of difficult decisions. They have great movement. They can hurt you a lot of different ways. But what I saw was a cohesive unit dealing with a lot of tough things.”
On what he tells the team between the two matches in the series
“We’re going to get ours. We showed that tonight at their field. You can look back at last year when Pumas played them in their aggregate series. Tigres won 3-0 at home, then Pumas went back and beat them 3-0 at home. We think Tigres is vulnerable in some areas. We have to exploit them, make them pay for it, then we have to make sure that we’re good and sound defensively and not give up a goal at home.”
Midfielder Kyle Beckerman
On the Result
“I think we’re a little disappointed that we didn’t get a better result because we had some chances to maybe take the lead a couple of times. But it was a good effort. We’re still in it. We feel like it’s only halftime. We just have to get home and get back in it.”
On what needs to happen in the second leg
“We created some chances tonight. We feel like we can create even more back at home. We just need to finish. If we can finish them, we’ll get right back in it and anything’s possible then.”
