REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On substituting off Zack Schilawski at the half …
We were getting totally out-played through the middle of the park. They were just rolling balls in between us through the middle of the field. It was only a matter of time before they scored if we continued to let them do that. I thought we had no choice. We went ahead and we certainly didn’t deserve to be ahead, but we were. So we thought we had to make it more difficult for them and that was how we had to do it … I wish I had a crystal ball to carry around so I could know what was going [to happen]. I certainly didn’t expect Kheli to get sent off, particularly for that sort of challenge. Then you have to adjust all the time. You’ve got to think on your feet and adjust and do what’s best for the team to get results … And that’s why we did what we did. We couldn’t continue to let the game go the way it was because they were just in total control. The fact that we were one up wasn’t a true reflection of the game … then the whole thing blows up.
Effort-wise tonight – absolutely fantastic. What more can you say? Nine men? They had a couple of chances, but you should when you have a two-man advantage. Preston (Burpo) made some good saves. The back four were solid and did a decent job, threw themselves in front of shots – you name it. Everybody played their part. Truth be told, we didn’t play well, even when it was 11 v 11, but we fought hard and we rode our luck. But certainly the effort was phenomenal.
The one thing that actually hurts us as much as anything, never mind having to play with nine men tonight, is the amount of games we have this month. We play Wednesday, we play Saturday. We’ve got 10 guys, nine guys, who have effectively played an extra 25 minutes and that’s going to affect them on Wednesday. We’re not only getting punished for tonight, but we’re getting punished on Wednesday and Saturday, as well. And that’s not good.
We’ll get a damage report Monday morning or tomorrow morning and then we’ll go from there … I don’t know what’s wrong with [Seth Sinovic], but we took him off because of the injury. As I said, we’ll get our damage report tomorrow.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER PRESTON BURPO
A big problem for us since the beginning of the year is keeping the ball. Even before the red card situation, we’re under pressure way too much. It’s a long season. This is a work in progress. One of the thing we keep stressing during the week is when we have [the ball], let’s not give it away cheaply. When we do, and play against a team like Dallas, they’ve got guys that are good on the ball. Out wide with Atiba (Harris), and Brek Shea tonight. When we lose it, they get it out there, get balls in. Before the red cards, we keep putting ourselves under way too much pressure.
It was amazing. We were what? Nine guys with 20 minutes to go. (Pat) Phelan in the center. You had Khano (Smith) come in and step up. Cory Gibbs and Darrius (Barnes) in the middle were amazing. Everyone put a lot into it in the last 20 minutes, which is what we needed to preserve a tie. All things considered, to walk out with a point, I think everyone is content – sure as [anything] not happy – but content would be the best way to say it.
It sure was a strange one with all the cards being tossed around.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER PAT PHELAN
We shouldn’t put ourselves in that situation under any circumstances. I think the ref got himself into a bit of a predicament to start having to give cards for things he might not have otherwise. At the end of the day, we’ll take the point. It’s pretty clear they had the run of play for most of the game. I’m a little disappointed that we didn’t to work on keeping the ball more than the last couple of games because we put ourselves in that predicament going two men down.
Once he starts throwing the first couple, he’s got to be consistent and he was. I was far away from both the red cards, but I guess that’s part of the game. You’ve just got to accept it and maybe we put them under too much pressure and it kind of backfired on us on terms of the referee. We were getting into space, getting them upset. I don’t know how many cards we got but it was too many. I was surprised I didn’t get one, so I guess that’s positive.
We had a lot of problems in the midfield. They gave us trouble with five in the midfield and they were first to a lot of balls. They were calm on the ball; they’re skillful on the ball. We did a good job of not letting them penetrate straight down the middle, but once the ball got out side we were too slow closing down and they’ve got some good individuals who can get by their man and put the ball in the box. If we’re a little tighter in denying service, then our backs have a much easier job.
FC DALLAS HEAD COACH SCHELLAS HYNDMAN
We look at the positives. We came back from being down a goal — a pretty soft goal. I thought that we played extremely well in the first half. We controlled the tempo, we went through the midfield and we created a lot of scoring opportunities.
With [the Revolution] being down a player and then two players, we had a tremendous amount of chances. But this has been our Achilles heel this year, from preseason all the way until today. We’ve not done a real good job on the finishing part. It’s not like we’re playing a 4-1-4-1 and we’re not getting scoring chances. It’s just that a lot of people are getting the chances; They hit a first-timer when they should be getting a third to take a touch and when they get a touch, they should have been hitting it the first time.
I know that our players feel terrible because this is becoming a continuing saga for us. Against New York, we dominated and ended up losing, so this was another one of those games that was something that we’ve just got to put behind us and keep going forward because we’re doing a lot of things well.
FC DALLAS MIDFIELDER DAX McCARTY
It’s really tough to put into words. I think everyone that was involved in this game, that saw this game kind of saw when it was 11-on-11 that they had no answers for us. It’s just frustrating. We started off the season last year kind of slow — instead of draws, we were getting losses. I guess you can look at that as a positive, but it’s really frustrating. We’re doing everything right. You could probably say we’re playing some of the best soccer in the league in terms of our possession and our build-up play. We’re really just not finishing right now.
We’ve got to figure it out. We’re five games into the season, but we’re dropping points that we should be collecting. I think that if you look at our games played, we probably should have won every game, except for the Seattle game … But it’s frustrating. We’re going to keep our heads up and keep fighting and hopefully the results will come.
FC DALLAS MIDFIELDER DANIEL HERNANDEZ
Obviously, the ball’s not falling our way right now. I’d like to say that we’re extremely proud of the way that we’re playing because we’re playing great soccer, but unfortunately we don’t get points for playing great soccer. We have to figure out a way to win points.
It’s frustrating when like tonight against New England when we’re up two men and we can’t put the ball in the net. It makes it worse when you know how well you played. But it can’t get any worse than it’s been so far. We playing great and it can’t get any worse.
I’m satisfied with the way that we’re playing soccer, it’s just that we have to figure out a way to get three points, whether it’s at home or on the road. Again, we don’t get any points for playing pretty soccer.
Against your old team, you always want to win those games. Honestly, right now at this point though, we’re just trying to win our first game — that was the most important thing.
POOL QUOTES FROM REFEREE JEFF GONTAREK
On Kheli Dube's 56th minute red card...
We saw studs exposed, knee locked, directly into the other player's leg. Serious foul play.
On whether the game became more physical after Dube's ejection...
The teams continued to play the game of soccer.
On Joseph Niouky's 72nd minute ejection...
Violent conduct. The ball was away and he tackled him from behind.
