Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 2-0 Houston Dynamo
July 18, 2015; Rio Tinto Stadium
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On Plata getting on the scoresheet:
“I think it is going to be great for his confidence. He’s been doing a lot of the right things. He’s been getting into a lot of good positions. Today was great. He came from an out-wide position, took somebody on and had a fantastic finish. I’m really happy for him and hopefully there is a lot more to come.”
On if Javier Morales surprised him tonight with his performance:
“No he doesn’t surprise me. He’s taking excellent care of his body right now. He is showing no signs of slowing down right now. He’s hungry. He wants this team to do well and you can see that he is really putting everything out there for the team right now.”
On what his team did well tonight:
“You know I thought we had a good game but what is even more exciting and a better feeling for me is that we can get better. There are still areas to improve. There are small coaching decisions to be made but right now the team is very unified. They are working hard for each other. Substitutions are coming in and making a difference. When everyone is contributing, everyone is feeling a part of the team we are going to have a lot of success. That’s what I’m most proud of.”
On Justen Glad’s game:
“Both him and Aaron (Maund) were very good. He could have gotten on the scoresheet. But we could have went with Elias (Vasquez) tonight. Myself and the staff had full confidence in Justen coming in and doing the job. I couldn’t be more happy when people get opportunities and they seize them. He doesn’t surprise me either. When you think of solid, you think of Justen.”
On the versatility of Jordan Allen:
“He played fantastic. You could put him at right back and he is going to do a great job. He works on both side of the ball, both offensively and defensively. From that position where he is right now, he’s very dynamic. When there is space to be taken in the midfield, he can drive with the ball and I really like his aggression from that position.”
On the quick turnaround from the Colorado disappointment:
“The Colorado game was very disappointing. But we easily could have, besides the last ten minutes, walked out of there with three points in our pocket. We had a letdown. The team has really come together since then. The team has had a meeting since then. I talked to them about really holding each other accountable and really working for each other. When we get back to that mentality is when we are at our best. It’s not about the name on the back of the jersey it’s about the crest on the front. When we have everyone working for each other we are going to get good results.”
Midfielder Javier Morales
On his goal:
“In that moment I saw Plata play the ball to me, and my first thought was to play to somebody else, but when I turned I didn’t see nobody in front of me, so I said, ok let’s try it. And it worked.”
On getting Plata on the score sheet:
“It’s very important. For me, forwards have to score. We have to keep their confidence high even if you saw I gave him a free kick before his goal to try to score a goal, but I’m happy. I’m happy, because I think Plata the last two games worked hard. He played great and tonight he deserved a goal. I told him right when he was coming back, and I told him, I said the injury I had in the past … it’s tough. It’s tough to come back. It’s not going to be like the first game or second game, it’s going to take a while. I think right now he’s back.”
On RSL getting closer to a playoff spot:
“It’s important to win at home. The last two games that we played at home we won like two-nothing, the team’s playing better, I can see the team a little bit, we’re working hard. We’re fighting for each other and I think it’s very important for us right now.”
On finishing the match with a clean sheet:
“I think defensively we played a great game tonight. Aaron Maund, Justen Glad, they played good. I think it was a great performance from everyone.”
On the team moving forward without key players:
“I’m super proud of this team especially right now, because we’re missing guys for national team and a lot of guys and some are playing great, playing good. We’re winning games now and I think it’s going to be good for the team.”
On the mentality of the team after losing to Colorado:
“I don’t want to talk too much about that meeting, but you know when people talk and say everything on the face I think a lot, and I think right now we play like a team. We’re fighting for each other, we’re working hard. I think now that thing always was around here, The Team is the Star, I think we’re back there right now.”
Defender Tony Beltran
On being named an All Star:
“It’s a tremendous honor to represent my club, to represent my league in this upcoming match. I’m looking forward to playing alongside a lot of those players. Players that are my peers, yes, but that I admire. They’re great players. It should be fun. A good opportunity, but of course I have to thank the coaching staff and my teammates. None of this this is possible without them, without their hard work. The minutes I play will be for them.”
On the urgency of winning at home:
“We’re trying to build off of the win against the Galaxy. That was a big focus tonight. I think that starts with defensively, being focused and keep the ball out of the net. Maund did a great job tonight, Justen did a great job stepping in. Aaron’s been heroic in his performances this year I think it’s really becoming a big season for him. Really it’s an entire team effort. Everyone in front of us as well is committed keeping it zero, that helps. That’s something to build off going forward.”
On Javier Morales’s performance:
“I’ve been here seven years. He’s had a lot of pretty nice goals in that time, so anytime he gets the ball anywhere he’s able to do something incredible, so that’s why we all try to get him the ball as often as we can. Credit to him for the goal tonight.”
Houston Dynamo
Head Coach Owen Coyle
Overall thoughts:
“We’re always disappointed when we lose games. I think the first goal was a self-inflicted mistake, as we’ve seen. We’ve given the ball away in a cheap area and Morales does what he does very well. He’s an outstanding player, and he nestles one right in the corner. So we come in at halftime, obviously regroup. We had one or two opportunities in the first half without being as fluent in our passing as we’d like to. So we come out in the second and half and I’ve got to say I think Real Salt Lake was very fortunate to have eleven men on the park, given the elbow to Alex. I’ve got a player in there with a broken nose – clear elbow – and [a red] is not given. And then all of a sudden we find ourselves down to 10 men when Kofi [Sarkodie] comes in. He actually slipped as he was going for the ball. I’m not sure that’s a red; I’ll have to look back at that again. I don’t think it helped as well that Salt Lake wants to show instant replays. They didn’t show an instant replay when my boy gets smacked with a broken nose, but that’s for the club – that’s their own business. When all is said and done, we’re disappointed to lose. Salt Lake is a good side with some good players, and [Joao] Plata scored a wonderful second goal. He’s an outstanding player. We’re always very balanced; give credit where credit is due. There are one or two things that we don’t intonate that we’re not as pleased about. There we go, that’s the story of the game.”
On how the red card affected their approach to the game:
“It remained the same. We pushed forward; we had a number of chances to get back into the game. Keeper had a couple of saves; they had a couple of brave blocks as well – the resolute defenders – in fairness to them as well. We continue to try and push forward to get the equalizer. Obviously, when we went down two we still continued the same way, except then we would have to give up some possession and chances because they’re a good side, and that’s how it played out.”
On his defense’s play:
“We didn’t defend well enough for the first goal because we had the ball and we gave it away. I said it before: one or two big decisions change games. In terms of personnel, staying on the park, and all, and it certainly went it Salt Lake’s favor.”
Looking ahead to Open Cup game on Tuesday:
“We always regroup. We pick ourselves up and we go again, and that’s what we’ll do.”
Defender Taylor Hunter
On his MLS debut:
“It’s obviously tough with that result, but I just kind of wanted to get my feet wet a little bit. I thought I did that. I tried to go in there and just battle as hard as I could and just give it everything I could.”
On the match:
“We kind of came out a little flat. But we responded in the second half, we played a good second half and we showed fight in the end.”
On Houston’s play after going down to 10 men:
“I think that’s actually when we started to pick it up a little bit. Once we got down to 10 men I don’t know what it was in the beginning but once we went down to 10 men we realized we have to push and give it everything we have for that last 30 minutes. And that helped out in the end.”
Thoughts on the depth of each team playing a role in tonight’s game:
“Obviously when you’re missing five starters it makes a difference. But at the end of the day every game is a game in the MLS and you can’t dwell on who’s not here. You just have to play with who’s here and get the results.”
On the quick turnaround playing at Sporting Kansas City on Tuesday:
“We do the same thing we’ve been doing all season. Regenerate the next couple of days, get on a flight Monday, and be ready to battle again on Tuesday.”
Goalkeeper Tyler Deric
On the match:
“I think the first half we let ourselves down. I think that wasn’t our best performance at all and we just lacked a little bit of grit, determination, and tenacity in the first half. With a performance like that it’s hard to dig yourself out of a hole. But give the guys credit, we really turned it around and unfortunately we got the red card so the hill was a little bit tougher to climb. But overall the first half performance really did kill us.”
On Houston’s play after going down to 10 men:
“There was a fire that got lit up in some people and I don’t know. I think we needed to do that from minute one. We have to have that tenacity from minute one. Red card or not, I think the result was justified.”
Thoughts on the depth of each team playing a role in tonight’s game:
“The Salt Lake starting eleven and the Dynamo starting eleven we have depth, both teams have depth. From our standpoint we have a deep squad. It’s just one of those things where we know Gold Cup is going on and we’re prepared for it. We still have to get results. It’s halfway through the season, we still need to get three points.”
On the quick turnaround playing at Sporting Kansas City on Tuesday:
“It’s a quarterfinal in the Open Cup. It’s a huge opportunity for guys. There’s a lot of great things that come from winning U.S. Open Cup. You can qualify for CONCACAF Champions League which is great. I think that hopefully the guys that play on Tuesday can really learn from tonight and not make the mistakes that we did tonight and we can get a result against Kansas City. They’re going to be a good squad and we have a good squad. So hopefully we can learn from tonight and move onto Tuesday.”
