Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 2-2 Columbus Crew
June 27, 2015; Rio Tinto Stadium
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On getting goals but not results:
“Yeah, I mean, we’re not there yet, as a team. I think we’re getting better but we’re doing things that you can lose games on and we need to correct that in a hurry. It’s hard to score, if you start giving them opportunities to score, whether it’s not keeping 11 people on the field, PKs, poor choices, it’s going to come back to haunt you, and it did today. With that being said, the guys showed a ton of character and fight today and I was extremely proud of them. I felt pretty good, we had enough chances to win this game, we put it under control, we put it out of reach when it was 2-1, but we paid the price.”
On six red cards through 18 games:
“Well, you know, I have to do a better job of making sure my team is disciplined, and making good choices. I don’t want this to be a team that’s erratic and wild, I want us to be smart and disciplined and very aggressive when it’s time to be aggressive. I think, making some poor choices, and a lot of that can be with poor positioning beforehand, so you’re not putting yourself into those situations. So we’re going to do some positional video on Monday, we’re going to do some team video on Tuesday getting prepared for Portland. But there’s a lot of coaching points to be made, and that falls on my shoulders.”
On the set piece goal:
“Yeah, that’s something we’ve been working on in practice. It’s a certain play that has to be kind of the right area and credit to the guys for figuring that out, and running that play at that time and they ran it to perfection. You know I think it’s going to be a beautiful thing for us to see success on those kinds of plays so we can concentrate on knowing that we can get good opportunities from dead ball situations. We could have had probably another couple goals off of corner kicks and free kicks so I think we’re moving forward, which is good.”
On Sebastian Jaime’s goal:
“That was fantastic, I mean I thought it was a great ball from Abdoulie (Mansally), you know, if you’re going to have an outside back that’s that aggressive that’s the choice, is that ball into the channel, that was a great ball, it was the right ball, and it just show’s what Sebastian’s about, you know. We watched him play down in Chile, he did that over and over and over in the games that we watched and he can be relentless with his work ethic and I think the fitter that he gets he’s going to continue to create problems and score goals.”
On Phanuel Kavita and Boyd Okwuonu making their debuts:
“I thought they did a great job. OC flew in today from Arizona because when we found out Javi’s card didn’t get rescinded we flew him back from the Monarchs tonight so credit to him for being able to go with that and I thought him and Phanuel had very strong games. Again, it’s not an easy team to defend, so I was really proud of those two.”
On RSL’s misfortune:
“We’re paying for our mistakes. We’re not punishing teams when we can, and I think our record reflects kind of exactly where we’re at. But with that being said, I’m really excited for the second half of the season when we get everyone back from Gold Cup. But I think we’re really starting to see what we’re capable of, and the guys are starting to see that. It was a little bit tough at the beginning, but tonight we were very very aggressive, and how can we still be aggressive and not be naive defensively? And we’re going to get better, I firmly believe that and…. I’m really excited, I’m a little frustrated as I’m sure the players are, but the spirit of the team is good right now, and that’s the most important.”
Defender Abdoulie Mansally
On responding to Columbus’ equalizers:
“I think we responded good. We scored and then they got a goal. It’s like a 90-minute game so we keep going and get a second goal at the beginning of the second half, so I think we can just hold them there. We had a couple chances but still today wasn’t our day. We have to be strong. ”
On preparing for Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup game:
“I think it’s tough. We have been having the same thing in the last two weeks; 3 games in 8 days, so it’s not easy. Most of the guys who played 90 minutes were regular. This game feels like a loss to me. We should be getting 3 points but that’s the game.”
Defender Aaron Maund
On playing at home:
“I felt like we got a lot of chances. Obviously, we want to bury them, unfortunately, we didn’t.”
On Columbus:
“They picked their time for sure. They killed the game when they wanted to kill the game. Then they spared that one, then they felt like they could score.”
On Phanuel Kavita’s debut:
“I thought he did really well. It’s not an easy battle with (Kei) Kamara, so to be his first start in the league I thought he did an excellent job.”
Midfielder Luke Mulholland
On the mistakes and red cards in the game:
“Not doing ourselves any favors. The red cards are definitely a big concern and tonight the second goal mimicked the first goal. Obviously, there is going to be time where the opposing team gets in dangerous positions, but once that happens, we’ve got to not have an easy tap-in. There is plenty of times when we get into those positions for ourselves. We don’t have that easy tap-in to the back post, so we’ve definitely got to have a bit more desire to get it from your players.”
On the set-piece goal:
“Give all the credit to the coaches on that one. We practiced that a few times last year and this year and it was Kyle (Beckerman) who chose to do it, and then learned it on the practice field. The first time we tried it and it came off, so I think it was awesome. I think it was all surprises to each other that it happened. It was a delight for Olmes to tap that in. It is just annoying though that we’d taken the lead twice in the game, then we only came out with a point. It just shows how hard it is in this league now to pick up three points. You need to work your ass off for 90+ minutes to grind out a result. You can’t take one play off, otherwise you get punished. We got to recognize that and learn from our mistakes.”
Columbus Crew
Head Coach Gregg Berhalter
Overall thoughts on the match:
“I’m proud of the guys, I’m proud of the effort they put forth. It’s not easy in these conditions, and getting back into the game. We’re proud of them. We could’ve been better in some stages of the game but we did fine.”
On his team’s play after RSL were down to 10 men:
“I thought we pushed. I thought the ball movement could’ve been a little faster. Perhaps created some more chances. The one the player [Maund] cleared off the line was a good play. We had some other opportunities. Overall we’re pleased. “
Thoughts on his team equalizing twice in the game:
“It’s not easy to play here. Traditionally it’s a very strong home team. To go down twice wasn’t easy. But I think it was determination by the guys, with some good ball movement and we clawed our way back into it and got a point.”
On preparations for the upcoming U.S. Open Cup game against Orlando City:
“We’re going to rotate some guys. We’ll get some different guys in there. A lot of teams are dealing with the same thing. Jeff Cassar’s team is dealing with the same thing here. They’ve been playing a ton of games. They’ve come from the east coast and have to play. The heat’s the same for them, the altitude is the same. It’s a level playing field and you know, we’re fine with that.”
Defender Hector Jimenez
On the first goal:
“It's a play that went right to left. I was able to find Ethan inside and Ethan did a great job of laying me off and I was able to see Tony and Justin in the box and it was a good goal that carried us into the second half. Unfortunately we started the second half on our back foot. Luckily we got that second goal and were able to leave with a point.”
On how the midfield played:
“It's not easy playing against a hard possession team and I felt like they didn't have an answer for the way we were moving the ball in the midfield.”
Midfielder Ethan Finlay
Overall thoughts on the match:
“I think it was a good game. It was kind of a crazy first half. I think once we settled in we played our style and found our identity. Credit to them, they were really good on the counter tonight. We were disappointed with the result. After they got that red card we thought we could nic one late, but we'll take a point and go home.”
On his goal:
“When I saw the ball getting picked up on half field there Kei pulled himself, good movement, out wide, and at that point I recognized just to get to the middle in case a one-time ball gets through. Earlier in the game Rimando picked one of those off like he does so well, but we were able to get one in.”
