QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 2-5 SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES
ESPN WIDE WORLD OF SPORTS COMPLEX; KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA
JULY 27, 2020
Head Coach Freddy Juarez
Overall thoughts:
“We are going to take a lot of positives from this. I know it doesn’t feel like it when you take five goals. But the guys fought their hearts out. The only thing we can saw is we fought and we were in the game and that’s all you can ask for from the guys. We just weren’t able to get enough goals today.”
On the first half:
“We get the goal from our possession and passing from the kickoff. We struggled a bit in what we talked about. We fell into a trap of playing a lot of short passes. In the second half you saw us adjust where we weren’t trying to play the short pass but trying to create passing lanes to try and get higher up the field for our forwards to play with their back to goal to find guys spinning out underneath. I thought we got a lot better in the second half. Now, in the first half, we wanted to come out and get into their half and press them a little bit higher. San Jose is a good team. Sometimes when they get the ball, they’re moving all over the place and we had to adjust to bring our winder into the press. Again, they’re a good team and did it go exactly how we wanted it to? No. But I thought we had decent control of the game and we got the goal from where we thought it would come from and I think we could’ve been a little sharper on some other plays. But I did think we got better in the second half. We were playing some good soccer when they got their third goal and then the game changes with the red card situation. It’s tough because our guys fought and played with a lot of determination because against San Jose you can’t be on the back foot. You have to take it to them and scrap for everything. I thought we gave it all the way to the end and still created some chances. This is a tough game to get possession in because it’s just so fast and if you’re not crisp, you turn the ball over a little more. Overall I thought it was a good game and held more positives than the result actually shows.”
On the game being so open:
“The game was open, yes. Two penalties so let’s not forget that. The game was open, and San Jose capitalized on theirs and we capitalized on a couple. I thought there was a couple moments where I thought we could’ve dealt with things a bit better. It’s easier said when you talk about it tactically. It’s tough in a game this – the fourth game of a tournament – it takes every ounce of energy to try and control those transitions. You try and get two players around each ball so when you play to a teammate can he release the ball quick? Sometimes because of a little fatigue, they win the ball and they’re off the other way. San Jose is very good at that. It was a tough game. I thought our guys handled some moments well and punished them on the other end and could’ve created more chances. Again, not as good as we would’ve liked.”
On Douglas Martinez’s goal:
“I thought he was a big-time player for us today. I’m very proud of our guys and him and Pablo [Ruiz], our two young guys who we put in there and they played very mature and with a lot of energy and hunger to help the team out a lot. When you separate someone like Douglas, he did a lot of work, a lot of running and battling to get into dangerous areas. He’s going the right direction in his development. He gets his first goal and it almost seems like he was involved in every opportunity that was going to come up towards goal. I’m very proud of him and I know the players love him to death with how much effort he puts in for the team. I think you heard him before. He has to stay humble and continue to work because he has to become that player with the same work ethic. We just need to polish off the finishing or getting shots off and quick combinations so when he’s in dangerous areas he can really punish teams when he’s in on goal.”
On moving forward:
“I don’t know what’s coming next because we haven’t been told yet. I know we can take a lot from a tough tournament to come into for every single coach, player and staff member. It’s not easy and you have to sacrifice a lot. And from our team, we showed a lot of character. You saw some young players emerge. Players like Douglas and Pablo, Jeizon [Ramirez] got a taste of things. We cycled some guys in and I think we used 20-something players in this tournament. We see what works and maybe what doesn’t. When I look back, I see a team that came and played a very good group – probably one of the toughest in this tournament and we got four points out of it. Everyone had to scrap for points, and we were one of three teams that made it out. We showed we can compete against anyone and we know we have to continue to get better and creating chances and today I thought we were aggressive, and we really wanted to create those chances running in behind and battling. This builds character. When you go forward you have to grow as a team, and you have to take the lows and the highs. And when we take the highs we feel like the best team in the world and when we take a loss like todays – you take away some of those goals and I think we put in our max effort and fight and created chances. I thought we competed very well at times in there. There’s a bunch of positives from me and this team you can look at it one way or another. I choose to look at it like we can grow. This is what shows true character. When the battle doesn’t go our way what do we do, throw our toys? No, we don’t. We go out and we’re ready to train the next day. That’s how this group is and it’s how we’ve always been. We’ve had some bad defeats in the past and we always bounce back from them. It starts with our leaders. From me, Beckerman, Damir, Albert, Marcelo. They’ve been there and they know it’s not time to pout but a time to play and get better. We’re sad to be leaving the tournament but we’re excited to go see our loved ones and recharge the batteries and look forward to what’s next.”
Forward Douglas Martinez (via a translator)
On scoring his goal:
“It was a play that we practiced very often in training with the ball going through and I was able to score fortunately enough. Unfortunately, we lost this match, but we will continue to work hard as a team.”
On the long path to first goal with RSL:
“This is the beginning of my career. I try to be better day by day. It’s not easy, because it’s one thing when you are working hard to be good and it's a different thing to stay good and maintain yourself in that way. I will continue working hard every day to be better and to build trust, and that is something that the team has given me. Unfortunately, today we had a negative result, but like I said before we will keep working hard to turn the situation around.”
On what the team learned throughout the tournament:
“It’s a little difficult for us because the first matches we didn’t allow any goals and the last two we did allow goals and we had many mistakes defensively. It’s not easy to see how you get five goals scored against you and it really cost us not only the match, but also the tournament. That’s soccer, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. We have to keep moving forward. In the meantime, I would like to wish the best of luck to San Jose.”
Forward Damir Kreilach
On if fatigue played a part in the first half:
“I think the first 15-20 minutes we did very well, we pressed them higher up the field and they just kicked the ball long. After going down 1-0 it was a great response from us, at the end of the day, Douglas goal for 1-1 and then after that we went a little bit deeper and then San Jose had some control. But it wasn’t something special that we were aware of because they didn’t create so much. Because of that I told our squad I saw our chance by one even at 3-1 and then 3-2. Overall, we created the chances and we did very well. Unfortunately, we lost this game and we have to see our mistakes to see what we can do better and look forward for the rest of the season.”
Disappointment of allowing five goals:
“Of course we are disappointed when we concede five goals but we know that San Jose is a tough team to play against. We were prepared greatly for this match, we saw our chance to go through and beat them, but unfortunately, we didn't and now we have to leave with that. We have to stay positive and of course, it’s not nice to concede five goals, but also a couple things didn’t go our way. It is what it is. We have to be positive and stay looking forward.”
On moving forward:
“It was a tough loss to give because we didn’t imagine we would lose it this way, but I agree with what Douglas said, we are going to be working hard to prepare us for the rest of the season.”
