QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 3-2 NEW YORK CITY FC
YANKEE STADIUM; JUNE 2, 2016
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On tonight’s game:
“It was a really interesting game. Obviously not the first half that we wanted. Coming in at halftime with the score 0-0 on the road was great though. I thought we started off on the front foot in the second half applied some pressure created some opportunities and then we had some very good finishes from Yura and Juan with Javy putting some balls in dangerous areas. After the first half I thought we had some energy. We were more aggressive and cleaned things up in the back half.”
On the current road trip:
“I think that our form has been pretty good. We got two wins out of five and six points; I think that is very important. Anytime you’re going into a stretch of five games it’s not really about how you play, it’s about getting points and getting out of it. We are in a really good position. We are 7-4-2, obviously we have a lot of home games coming up and we can now put our front foot forward all the time in games and see how other teams react. So I am really proud of the grit that the team and staff have shown through what has been a hard stretch, to be fair. I think that we have the best to come in this second half of the season.”
On what sparked the team in the second half:
“I think that we were optimistic with our chances, we spoke about how we wanted to start the game and we didn’t start that way. So the second half looked a lot like what we wanted the first half to look like. I don’t think that goal [by New York City FC] really spurred us on or anything, I thought we started to do some good things before that and showed aggression. When you are able to watch up from above there are things that we need to improve on which is exciting for a coach but we are not there yet, which we will.”
On what changes were made at the half:
“They were playing very direct in the first half and we were playing back too deep which is not what we wanted to do. So when they were playing balls over the top, David and Mendoza were 5-10 yards from the top of our box which puts a lot of pressure on your back four. So can we do a better job of being higher up the field and maybe dealing with those things further away from our goal. I think that we did a much better job in the second half and still probably could have improved. We also wanted the ball higher up the field at times and we do have some very special attackers that can really make a difference in a game and they did tonight.”
On New York City FC’s future:
“I think that we got lucky on a few occasions. At the end of the day David makes fantastic runs and Pirlo plays fantastic balls so you try to limit those opportunities as much as we can. They probably had a few too many in the first half. In the second half I thought we did a better job, especially recognizing the pressure to the ball. They’re going to get their chances; they have some fantastic players and coaches, they do a lot of different things offensively. They had some great substitutions that can make an impact on the game and make it difficult. They’re going to be a fantastic team once they get it together.”
Midfielder Javier Morales
On playing the last 5 games on the road:
“It means a lot because now we get a little break. It was important to go on that break with a win.”
On finding a rhythm as a team in the second half:
“We improved in the second half and we played more with the ball. We scored three goals and we played much better in the second half.”
On team scoring three goals after being down one:
“To be honest we did not get many chances especially in the first half because they (NYCFC) created more chances (for themselves). In the second half we played more aggressive and we created more chances.”
On the NYCFC penalty kick:
“He (Poku) kicked me in the back of my leg. I did not even see it. I was running trying to get the ball and when I passed him he kicked me from behind. It was a weird call.”
Forward Juan Manuel Martinez
On winning after losing previous match:
“It was very important especially since we were playing five straight road games. We needed the win.”
On getting a lead after being down 1-0:
“Things will happen when they are supposed to happen. We found a way to pick each other up and we were more aggressive in the second half. I think NYCFC played a great match especially in the first half.”
On his goal:
“We had a corner kick, I stayed back to see if the ball was going to fall to me and it did and I managed to get the score.”
