MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 2 : 0 COLORADO RAPIDS
SATURDAY, JULY 21, 2012 – RIO TINTO STADIUM – SANDY, UTAH
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On the Result…
“Yeah, I’m pleased with the initial response. I’m pleased that the guys really took last weekend’s result to heart. The guys worked extremely hard this week in training. That was the best training we’ve had in a very long time. Good to see it translates into the match tonight. I felt the guys came out and started off fantastically well. We’re unlucky probably not to create a little bit more than they did. I thought that Colorado was very, very disciplined and very difficult for us to break down. Sometimes you need to score goals in different ways; it’s nice to see that we did that tonight- Fabian pressing to create the first one and Sabo pressing to create the second one. Sometimes when you play teams that are very compact and very organized, the best way to get at them is to win the ball in their half and be quickly towards their goal.”
On having to motivate the team…
“I don’t know. Of course I want to pat myself on the back, right? I don’t know, it’s an interesting thing, maybe if I hadn’t said anything and we hadn’t had our meeting the guys really would have taken that last game to heart; I believe that they probably would have. I’ve often times said that I’m not sure they really need me. Just don’t tell our owners that.”
On their defensive effort…
“I think for whatever reason we were a little bit flat most of that second half. Perhaps that’s due to a little bit of fatigue, perhaps due to the heat today, I’m not exactly sure, but we certainly need to continue to strive for a better performance for all of the 90 minutes because I did think we were under it there for quite a while.”
On looking ahead…
“I think that it’s a step in the right direction, but honestly we had a very good result 2 weeks ago didn’t we? And we came out and got our butts handed to us so I think it’s going to be very important for the guys to remember that we need to stay humble about remember what it takes to get results and if we don’t do that we won’t get results and when we do that, we will get results.”
On the Rocky Mountain Cup Rivalry…
“I think it’s a fantastic rivalry and has been since day one. They were our opponent in the very first game in Real Salt Lake’s history back in 2005 and that was a tight affair which we won. I think that it’s always been an emotional game. Colorado fans there tonight, the same thing happens when we go there, our fans who drove show up and are quite loud and passionate, so it obviously means something to our fans. It means something to our fans and it means something to us as well.”
On the team’s work rate…
“We feel that we are at our best when we are the team that’s really pressing the game and that starts with our forwards. When they’re willing to chase down lost causes, when they’re willing to go pressure any of the four defenders, when they’re willing to make 30 and 40 yard runs, that means that everybody on our team gets to step up the field and typically we win it in their half and as I said earlier, when we win it in our opponents half, often times we create good chances.”
REAL SALT LAKE DF NAT BORCHERS
Overall thoughts on the match…
“This is just a really satisfying win for us, after we gave up 5 goals on the road to San Jose. We really put a premium tonight on defending well. This is the time of the season to stay healthy and hungry.”
On winning the Rocky Mountain Cup…
“It’s just satisfying. I think we’ve got a great fan base and great rivalry. It’s great to have that pride and keep the cup in salt lake.”
REAL SALT LAKE FW ALVARO SABORIO
Overall thoughts on the match…
“Good game…I think we should always pressure our rivals…that’s how we got our goals.”
On his 11th goal…
“I’m very happy I can help the team. It was an easy goal for me…great pressure by Fabian, and we have to acknowledge his effort.”
REAL SALT LAKE MF WILL JOHNSON
Overall thoughts on the match…
“Good team effort…two good goals, good defending…that’s how we win games. If we build upon that, making sure we get shutouts, defend as a team, work hard together, work for one another…a lot of good things will happen.”
Thoughts on his goal…
“Good pressure by Sabo…the ball went to the center back and we went and pressed, thought we could try and nick it there, and Sabo did a great job winning it, and popped it right to me. I took a touch and tried to hit it hard and low to the back post, and fortunately it went in so we could all take a sigh of relief. It was nice to get that 2nd one, guaranteed that we got three points.”
REAL SALTLAKE GK NICK RIMANDO
On placing to 2nd place MLS All-time wins with 132 wins tonight…
“Right now that’s not as important as the win. The team won today, I didn’t win. On off-season we could talk about awards, stats, etc., but tonight the team won, and I’m happy because it was much needed. We want to continue to move forward we don’t look at stats, we look at how the game goes, we were organized and fought hard.”
REAL SALT LAKE DF CHRIS WINGERT
On now winning seven Rocky Mountain Cups…
“It was a great effort by the guys I thought. We worked really hard. Beckerman I think is the only one that’s still got me. He didn’t play tonight, so maybe I’ll tell him I’m right behind him with this win.”
REAL SALT LAKE DF JAMISON OLAVE
Overall thoughts on the match…
“We had a good game, we all knew we had to win, we played well. First half was all about possession, the 2nd half went smoother because we already had the initiative, but again, overall we played well.”
REAL SALT LAKE MF NED GRABAVOY
On the importance of these results…
“Really important…especially with some of the results we’ve had at home in the last two months or so. I don’t think we’re in a slump, we’ve just been inconsistent. It’s a little bit funny… I looked at the team before the game, and it was maybe the most relaxed I’ve seen them in a long time. I think that says a lot about the guys. We’re never too low when we lose, never too high when we win. You have to keep thinking in results in this league, because there’s not much difference from team 1 to team 19. No one’s used to seeing us lose at home or seeing bad results like the one last week, but I think the guys here are confident, and the reaction from everyone tonight was great.”
COLORADO HEAD COACH OSCAR PAREJA
On his opinion of the game...
“I just had the feeling that we had seen this game before. It was a solid performance from our boys but in the end it was just two big mistakes that ended up killing us. We showed a lot of character but the same mistakes have killed us in these last couple of games.”
On the team’s three consecutive losses…
“We’re not going to feel defeated after this game. A lot of guys that usually don’t have a lot of playing time played very well today. There are some things that are improving but at the end of the game, we need three points.”
On the last 15 minutes of the game…
“We were attacking and had some good chances but I think our team just got a little tired towards the end. The match got really tough in the end and we were showing a lot of patience, but we could never find the goal we were looking for.”
COLORADO RAPIDS MF BRIAN MULLAN
On how the match went for Colorado…
“Obviously not well. Anytime you’re on the bad end of a 2-0 loss, especially with the type of goals they scored, you’ve got to start wondering if there is some curse on you.”
On how the team responded after the goals were scored…
“This season has been tough for us. I think after the disbelief wore off, I think that the team played well. We were unfortunate to get that last goal scored on us. A couple of key players being gone for us tonight didn’t help our cause any.”
On what they need to do to turn things around…
“We need to catch a break. We need to get a win. We need to string two wins in a row and then keep going with it. We need to get some confidence.”
COLORADO RAPIDS FW OMAR CUMMINGS
On how he is feeling after coming off the bench after left ankle sprain…
“I’m feeling better and it’s coming along. It’s still not there yet to 100%, but I guess we’ll have to work with it for the rest of the season.”
On the team effort from the Colorado Rapids…
“Honestly I think that we gave it our best effort tonight. I think that guys did well that started. Unfortunately we gave up two goals but apart from that I think that we did well throughout the game.”
