NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL

I don’t think the goalie could’ve gotten to any of (the penalty kicks), but we should have wrapped it up before that. We probably had four chances that should have been put away … But we can’t complain – we’re through and we won the game.

On the team’s confidence …

I think that has a lot to do with the fact that we haven’t lost for [six] games. They just feel as though when things go against you, we can keep going and keep going. That’s what we did.

We had to try to win this game, and looked to start (Cory Gibbs). But he’s missed five weeks, so to ask him to play three games in a week was going to be tough. So we figured we would be solid without him … the fact that we are allowed four subs in this tournament helped make it possible to (sub him in at the start of the second half).

I think (Kenny Mansally) got his confidence from Saturday – he came on and worked real hard and caused (Philadelphia) problems on Saturday and then just carried it into tonight. When you score goals, obviously – if you don’t take confidence from it, there’s a problem.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER SHALRIE JOSEPH

We had the win in penalty kicks. Matty (Reis) was huge in penalty kicks, as usual, and (Kenny) Mansally the winner, so it was a good win for us tonight. We are going to the finals!

I think Kevin spotted me up to play the through ball to Kenny (Mansally) and [Kevin] played the ball perfectly in my stride. Once I got it, I wanted to push forward and Zack (Schilawski) made a great huge run off the ball where he was able to open up the space for Kenny. Kenny was just in the stride and I tried to play the ball a little ahead of him and he took a great touch - he stumbled a little, but he was still able to create a great finish.

I think the last five or six games is all about keeping the 11, 12 or 13 guys on the field and staying healthy. Unfortunately tonight we got a little banged up with (Marko) Perovic and then Kevin (Alston), but once we have the same core guys on the field, we try to keep them on the field for 90 minutes because it helps our confidence and our chemistry and we want to transfer that to the MLS games.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD KENNY MANSALLY

I think SuperLiga helped me a lot since last year. I didn’t get a lot of chances during the league but when the SuperLiga came, I just stepped in and tried to prove myself. It helping me to get back to the way I like to play with more confidence.

I got all the confidence when Matt (Reis) saved that ball. I said let me just go and do it. I had a couple chances that I missed but when I scored the penalty, I think everything was okay.

NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER MATT REIS

Each one I got a little bit closer. The first one I went the wrong way, but all the rest of the ones I was clicking closer and closer. He stutter-steps and I just tried to stay as long as possible. We were taking good penalties. I think everyone hit really, really good penalties and in this kind of situation, that’s what you need, so it only took one save.

It was very similar to the goal in Philadelphia where it was a bit of a scramble and somebody comes around and hits it. It went through - I think – Darrius (Barnes’) legs, and there’s a question of a handball on the guy, so it’s unfortunate. I think that it’s something we have gotten better at, but it’s something that has plagued us in the past - giving up goals after we score one.

I think a lot of us had tired legs out there and we covered for each other. We had a couple guys go down, but we weren’t giving up too much, weren’t really scrambling too much, and we were making a lot of saves, so all-in-all, we’re still defensively playing well.

PUEBLA HEAD COACH JOSE LUIS SANCHES SOLA

Felicidades al equipo ganador. Muchas felicidades al equipo ganador. Gano bien. Y Gracias. Con permiso.

Congratulations to the winning team. Many congratulations to the winning team. They won well. Thank you. Excuse me.
PUEBLA MIDFIELDER FELIPE AYALA

Creo que fue un partido cuando los dos equipos buscamos ganar, un partido donde los dos equipos tuvieron oportunidades para resolver antes de los penales. Desafortunadamente para nosotros, no conseguimos el segundo gol que nos daria la tranquilidad para manejar el partido. Y bueno, en los penales, cualquier cosa puede pasar, alli ya depende mucho de cualquier detallita para ganar. Esta vez nos toco perder.

It was a game in which both teams went out to win, a game in which both teams had opportunities to resolve matters before penalty kicks. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a second goal that would have relaxed us and allowed us to manage the rest of the game. And when it comes to penalty kicks, anything can happen. It depends on the tiniest details to win at that point, and well, this time it didn’t go our way.

Fijate que ya conociamos [al Revolution], ya lo hemos visto en video y aqui en la MLS porque estan pasando mas partidos en Mexico. Y bueno, es un estilo un poco diferente con mucha velocidad y esfuerza, quizas no tanto en tecnica, pero es muy parecido un estilo Europea. Creo que ya conociamos bien el rival, pero pudimos concretar bastantes oportunidades de gol para marcar la diferencia.

We already knew a lot about [the Revolution] coming in, we had seen plenty of video about them and the league in general. It’s a little different style of play than we’re used to facing, with a lot of speed and strength and maybe not as much technical ability, but it’s very similar to a European style. I think we knew the opponent well enough, but we just didn’t finish enough opportunities to make the difference.
PUEBLA MIDFIELDER ANDRÉS OLIVERA

Sin duda, es un golpe bastante fuerte. Tuvimos la oportunidad de salir campeones, y nos quedamos afuera. Ahora nuevamente vinimos con una máxima ilusión de llegar a una final y de ganar un torneo que para mi es importante….estuvimos muy cerquita para lograrlo, y creo que en los penales tuvimos la oportunidad.

Without a doubt, this is a pretty strong blow. We had the opportunity to come out as champions but now we are out. We came again (to the Superliga tournament) with a maximum illusion of reaching the finals and winning a tournament that is important to me…we were very close to achieving it, and I think that we had the chance during the penalty kicks.

Si, lo hablamos. Teniamos que tener mas precisión en las pelotas aereas, y mas concentración en las pelotas aereas al favor. Y teniamos que sacar ventaja de una forma u otra. Tuvimos ocasiones y no pudimos completarlas de la major forma y en nuestro favor. E hicimos que el equipo rival tuviera otras oportunidades. Después de 25 minutos en el segundo tiempo, se fueron alantes. Creo que nosotros tuvimos que aprovechar el juego que vinimos jugando en el primer tiempo en el segundo y tartar de marcar el gol lo más pronto posible.

Yes, we talked about that. We had to have more precision on the aerial balls and more concentration of the aerial balls that were in our favor. We had to get an advantage in one way or another. We had occasions in our favor, but we were unable to complete them in the best way. We allowed the rival team to have more opportunities. After 25 minutes in the second half, they went ahead. I think that we had to take advantage of the game that we played in the first half and continue in the second half and try to score a goal as quickly as possible.

Bien, bien. Igualmente creo que este tipo de cancha es una cancha super rápida, así que el balón rueda rápido. En este tipo de terreno de juego, se tiene que jugar con un toque, dos toques y tartar de buscar la movilidad. El equipo rival tiene una situación donde no conoce el terreno, y nosotros de una forma o de otra nos tenemos que acomodar a todo eso. Tratamos lo major possible.

Good, good. Likewise I think that this type of field is a super fast field, so the ball moves quickly. In this type of pitch, you must play with one or two touches and try to find mobility. The rival team has a situation where it is not familiar with the pitch, and in some way we have to accommodate to that. We tried the best we could.

Fue una jugada aislada, y creo que la mentalidad del equipo ha sido no caerse despues de un gol recibida y buscar el gol del rival, y lo encontramos rápidamente. Eso nos ha servido y hemos podido ir alante con ese tipo de actitud. Creo que tuvimos bastantes ocasiones para convertir un gol.

It was an isolated play, and I think that the mentality of the team has been to not fall apart after conceding a goal and to look for the rival’s goal, and we found it quickly. That has worked for us and we have been able to go ahead with that type of attitude. I think that we had enough chances to convert on a goal.