“I think it’s pretty remarkable actually for Javier [Morales] at his age. The stuff that he’s been through this past week. He went 90 [minutes], 120 [minutes] and 90 [minutes], and only two players on our team can do that - him and Kyle Beckerman. My hat’s off to both of those guys. That was not an easy task. They both did extremely well.”
On the RSL midfield:
“I think our midfield has shown a real commitment to getting into attacking plays. They’ve been into some dangerous spots and even the number of times they end up in the box. Ned Grabavoy is inside the box. Javier Morales is in and around the box to finish plays off. It’s higher than it has been. When we struggle I feel we don’t get the numbers in the attack. When we create chances, we have three midfielders, two forwards, and typically one outside back and sometimes two. For me it just takes numbers, and that takes commitment from our midfielders and outside backs.”
On his team’s confidence:
“They feel good about the chances that they have been creating over the last couple weeks. Tonight was the first time when I remember that we finished just about all of our chances. The ones that should’ve been finished, we finished. If we had done that in the Chicago game and the game on Tuesday night, we aren’t even close to overtime. That’s the difference between tonight and the games where we’ve struggled.”
On RSL’s familiarity with San Jose:
“Tactically we have an idea of what San Jose wants to do. We also have a good idea on how to hurt them. Tonight, in particular, we were very good with our depth. And we were tuned in at the end of the game too. We were fortunate that [goalkeeper Nick] Rimando was so on his game. Otherwise I think they score one or two goals. We were fortunate with the score line. It could’ve been and probably should’ve been 3-1 or 3-2. It’s a team that we know and we’ll battle. I don’t need to motivate my team.”
On the combination of Robbie Findley and Joao Plata up front:
“When both of them are on their game, we’ve got two players who do so many different things. They have great control with the ball. They can bring it down They both have excellent speed behind and so defenders need to be wary of them. They both finish well. When they are at the top of their game, they can go at defenders one-on-one and make things happen. They are both just very versatile players.”
Real Salt Lake FW Robbie Findley
On his goal:
"It always feels good to score a goal. The defender had a poor clearance. He hit it straight to me. I had my mind set when it was on its way to me. I took a touch and hit it. Thankfully it went in."
On his form and playing coming back from injury:
"It felt good coming back from that injury. Now I feel good and confident. It's just a matter of getting minutes back into me. Tonight was a good performance by the whole group and we’ve got to move forward from here.”
Real Salt Lake MF Ned Grabavoy
On his goal:
“I shouted, but I’m not sure he (Plata) heard me, or maybe he saw me before he made the run but I mean plays like that for me are super unselfish. He could’ve tried to strike it first time with a guy on him, but to make a hard run and get some space and leave that ball was a great play by him, no question.”
On how fun it was to be a part of the first half:
“Great! It was great. We said the right things at half time: Don’t let up, keep doing the same things and it gets difficult sometimes. They (San Jose) change formation, they step up and pressure us a little bit and so the soccer wasn’t really there in the second half. It was a little bit sloppy. But in saying that, I think we battled hard with some big guys in our team and some dangerous balls into the box. And those things, for our team, are just as important as the attractive soccer going forward and creating chances. Shutouts are important and that’s why we were so dominant there for a few years so I think we need to get back to that.”
Real Salt Lake MF Javier Morales
On playing three games inside of a week and his fitness level:
“We are a very professional team and we take care of our bodies. Especially after playing 120 minutes on Tuesday I am pretty happy. I’m 33 years old so I am pretty happy for that. Finally we played a good game and we beat them 3-0.”
Thoughts about his fitness:
“Jason didn’t ask me today, but sometimes he’ll ask me how I feel and sometimes I have to tell him I feel 100 percent. I feel like I can play 90 minutes, especially after playing three games in a week, I think that helped me a lot.”
San Jose Earthquakes
San Jose Earthquakes Head Coach Frank Yallop
Overall thoughts on the match:
“It was a pretty poor defensive effort in the first half. To go down one goal is hard enough, but to go down three in the first half is not good.”
On trying to change the tactical system:
“It doesn’t matter, if you go down three goals you got no chance of winning the game, so no.”
On what exactly happened during the double substitution in the first half:
“Well we realized that Sam Cronin was injured, but we were going to take off Walter (Martinez) and Adam (Jahn). We had just noticed that Sam was struggling so we had to take him out.”
On what is plaguing the San Jose squad currently:
“Confidence, mental approach, just all those things that you need to be good and we are not doing it right now. You know we just have to sort it out and it’s my job to make sure we get it figured out because right now it’s not going good.”
If the three road games have been a determining factor in the lack of success:
“We are all pros and I have been coaching for long enough to know that it really doesn’t matter that much. You have to come to play in tough places. But for us to lay down in the first half and just sort of take it…Salt Lake had five really good chances and they scored three goals and that’s the game. They just didn’t take their foot off the gas and they just cruised through the game.”
On the emergence of Brad Ring:
“Brad is a tough kid that usually plays in the middle, but he has played a lot of games in that position and I felt that he did a good job tonight. Obviously defensively the whole unit didn’t get it done. I haven’t seen the goals again yet but I think Brad did ok.”
San Jose GK Jon Busch
Overall thoughts on the match:
“It was terrible, horrible. I mean, they beat us in every facet of the game, from the beginning of the game.”
On tactical changes they made:
“I don’t think it’s a tactical thing. It was, you know, just work. Getting on tackles, energy, it wasn’t a tactical thing, they just wanted it more in the first half and it showed in every facet. You know, winning second balls, playing the ball, keeping the ball. We couldn’t pass the ball tonight and they could. We got going in the second half because obviously we had to and partly because they sat back a little, up 3-0. But we can’t wait to be down constantly and that’s what this season’s about right now and you can’t do that. You can’t get behind the 8-ball every game and then try to pull yourselves out. We’ve got to be going from the first minute of the game, and we weren’t and they were. End of story.”
On having three road games in a week:
“No excuses, no excuses. You know what, we get paid to win games – period – doesn’t matter how many you have in a week, you get paid to win games and we’re not winning games.”
On there being any silver lining with the team’s second half performance:
“No, none.”
