Postgame Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 1 vs San Jose Earthquakes 1
May 1, 2015; Rio Tinto Stadium
Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On the game
“I have to be honest. I am a fan of this league and I want the fans to enjoy the game. It was just a choppy game. I thought there was too many stoppages and obviously we didn’t play exactly the way that we wanted to, but I want to put a product out on the field and I want the fans to enjoy themselves and tonight was a hard night for them to enjoy themselves with so many stops and starts.”
On Wondolowski’s goal
“I looked at it at half time real quick, and there’s a rule in there that if the player is in an offside position, but it comes off your team and if it’s played to them, and I think that they deemed it that we played the ball to Wondo, so factually that’s correct, but I don’t understand it. Playing in an offside position and we didn’t pass it to him, it deflected off of one of our players and two men in an offside position, so it is what it is. The guys really fought hard until the end of the game and I’m proud of them for that.”
The status of Javier Morales
“He, I believe, is being taken to the emergency room, if not there already, and concussion-like symptoms. I think he’s getting a cat scan or an MRI, so it’s not looking good. I hadn’t spoken to the trainers or doctor about it, but it was clear that after he went back onto the field that something wasn’t right. He was a little bit disengaged from the game and we decided to make a move for his safety.”
On his substitutions
“I thought they were brave. I thought they were aggressive and brave and that’s something that we talk to them all week and at halftime, and I really liked that, that they were not playing timid. They were trying to make an impact on the game, and I thought that all three of them did a great job.”
On the goals
“I kind of look at it that they are goals and there were two not-pretty goals. We were pressing and we put them under pressure and that’s what we need to continue to do going forward is putting teams under pressure, because when you do, they make mistakes.”
On the upcoming Galaxy game
“I like quick games and it’s fine. We have a lot of players who are contributing this year, so I’m not worried about fatigue or anything like that. They’re missing some players. I don’t think they’re missing as many as we’ve missed this entire year, but they’re still a dangerous team and very good. Bruce is obviously a fantastic coach and they’ve been together for a long time. They have got some young talent up top, so they’re dangerous.”
Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando
On the game
“The most frustrating game I’ve ever been a part of, for sure. It was just so boring and I felt bad for the fans. It felt like a basketball game, so many whistles. We couldn’t get our rhythm going. We had trained to get our rhythm going and I really don’t know what to think. There was no rhythm play.”
On Wondolowski’s goal and the officiating
“For me Wondo is behind the club and it trickled between Kyle’s feet and it went straight to Wondo who hit it and I thought that it was definitely offsides, but they said that it wasn’t. This was a boring draw. I don’t know if I’m happy to get a draw here, because we want to get three points, but to get a draw like that, I mean I don’t know. There’s no feelings about getting a point after that game. We want to give the fans so much more. It’s on television. The soccer wasn’t great. Lots of whistles and tick tack fouls. I’m excited to go see my daughter’s game tomorrow and see games get played off a little bit. Players just want consistency. That’s all. One game’s played this way, officiated this way, going to be officiated another way. We just want for it to just be consistent and we’re out there playing and trying to play soccer, and I think they have some camps and stuff that these refs go to try to make this better for us and the game and for the MLS, and I think you see that it does work sometimes, and sometimes it doesn’t.”
On Wednesday’s quick turn around with the Galaxy
“They’re a great team. They’re going to be better than San Jose for sure. We just have to get our head out of this match and move forward and get healthy, get our ways back, and be ready for a team that you make one mistake, and they’re going to put their chances away. We need to concentrate on ourselves. Let’s pay attention to the details, and let’s get to the drawing board and look at the video. What we do right, what we do wrong and correct it before Wednesday.”
Real Salt Lake defender Tony Beltran
On the match
“A waste of 90 minutes. It was a strange game. Those were the most fouls I have ever experienced in a game, especially in the first half. It was so stop and go, stop and go. Both teams struggling to find possession and keep the ball, so I’m sure a disappointing spectacle, but overall just not great soccer.”
The take away from the game
“There’s always things to take away. We’re not doing a good enough job, getting results at home; it’s apparent in the last few games, but we will have to watch the video and find the positives and negatives, and with the negatives build the positives. Fortunately with a quick turnaround to Wednesday. If we get a win there, then we get a spot.”
On Javier Morales
“We did the right thing taking him off. I could tell that he was pretty dazed out there, so we got a great medical staff, and they’ll take care of him, and hopefully he’ll be ok. The refs do a pretty good job stopping the game for head injuries. There’s been a lot this year. I feel like there’s been one in almost every game. There’s been a pretty serious collision, so that’s somebody’s life right there, so it’s the right decision stopping the game.”
On facing the Galaxy
“We circled the calendar when the schedule comes out in the beginning of the year. It won’t be about redeeming our self. It will be about where we’re at and the fact that we need three points against a western conference opponent.”
On the subs
“I think Jordan Allen is an incredible talent. I think the sky is the limit with him. It’s unfortunate for him last year, but he’s worked very hard to get back to where he is. He’s got big things in front of him. I like having him on the field. He’s dangerous. He’s a problem for defenders with his speed and his skill. He’s only going to get more posh as time goes on. Bofo and Devon. Bofo with unfortunate circumstances the other week, but is at a young age. Devon’s been arguably the sharpest player throughout preseason and throughout the year, so it’s always a boost when he comes out on the field as well. It’s good to have a deep bench as well, especially in a week where we having three games.”
San Jose Earthquakes Head Coach Dominic Kinnear
Overall thoughts
“I feel pretty good. It’s a difficult place to play – they’re a good team. We are both fighting for every point we can get right now. Any time that you come to Salt Lake and you get a point, it’s a positive. I thought at 1-0, we had a couple of chances to go a little bit farther ahead, but that wasn’t the case. All of a sudden, a mix up in the back, we share the points.”
On if it’s disappointing to lead late and not come away with a win
“We were defending a lot. We were a little bit “leggy” there at the end. I thought that we won the balls in good areas, and with a little bit more sharpness, maybe we’re looking at 2-0 instead of 1-1. [Nick] Rimando makes a good save. Other times, we went a different way than possibly the one that gets us to the goal.”
On Wondolowski’s goal
“To be honest, from what I saw, it looked like he was offsides. I know that there are these new offsides rules that, I think, are confusing to a lot people. We were the benefit of that rule tonight, but from what I saw on the scoreboard, he was in front of everybody.”
On the chippiness in the first half
“I think the goal, and the manner in which it was scored, raised the intensity and the temperature a little bit. These are grown men out there – you have to remember that – and they’re proud, and sometimes the game does get physical.”
On what he saw on the own goal
“It is something that is definitely correctable. If the play were to be done again, maybe two minutes later, it would be a different outcome, but that’s just the way the ball bounced – it bounced wrong for us in that situation.”
San Jose Earthquakes Forward Chris Wondolowski
Overall thoughts
”It’s always tough to lose a lead and drop points. If you had told us that we were going to get a point, [we would have been] not ecstatic, but we’ll take it and learn from it and grow from it. I thought that we could have come away with three points if we did a little better.”
On the chippiness of the game
“I really didn’t think it was too bad. There were a lot of fouls called. I think that the teams just played hard and were playing well. Both sides were just going for it. There was no malice intent. There was nothing really.”
On if the chippiness makes it tough to get into a flow
“Yes, it’s very tough. It’s horrible as a player, and both sides – Kyle [Beckerman] as their captain – we were talking to him: let’s keep playing, we want to get into a flow, we want to get in there. He kept wanting to talk to everyone; he kept wanting to slow down the game. Both teams wanted to play. We want to get out there, we want to try knocking it around, try get in a flow. It was very tough to establish that. “
On having scored more goals against RSL than any other club
“I didn’t know that, but Salt Lake has a great defense. It’s just one of those things where it happened to go in. Thinking back now, there were a couple of times when they were a man down, and we took advantage of that. It’s just one of those things.”
San Jose Earthquakes defender Cordell Cato
Overall thoughts
“It was a great performance by the team. We came out ready. We’ve got three games on the road, this is the first one, and we needed to come out with the right attitude. I think we did that. We moved a lot, and we played for each other, and we created a lot of chances.”
On if it was disappointing to surrender a late lead
“This is football – that’s how it goes. You’re always in danger when you score early and it’s only 1-0 going into the game. The other team is giving everything trying to get a goal back. Unfortunately, with a bit of luck, they did it today. I can’t be too mad about it, because we’ve got a game on Tuesday, so we’ve just to refocus as team and be prepared for that.”
