NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
Yeah it was a good goal. (Iljia Stolica) took it really well. You can see the experience he has, the way he holds people off. A lot of small stuff probably goes unnoticed but makes a huge difference.
Throughout the game we had plenty of opportunities to do things in the final third, but the final pass wasn’t there or someone mad a bad decision. We had enough of the ball in the final third, we just didn’t use it well enough.
It was kind of a strange game to be honest. Both teams were kind of coughing it up to each other. But obviously we had plays, we won the game one-nil, got three points and we’re going to move on.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD ILIJA STOLICA
I’m very happy to score the winning goal. It’s really a great feeling, a great satisfaction for me. I was very happy to hear an ovation from the crowd when I was coming out.
It was a tough game. It was maybe not a good game to watch, but we needed that one, and I think we deserve it more than them. The team that would score first would win for sure. I was happy that we did it.
In that moment you don’t have enough time to think: you just react. I saw the ball coming to my left foot and struck with my right foot.
It was physical and you have to work really hard to get three points. I think that small things make the difference, and the team who wants to win, who works one bit harder wins the game. We have to stay focused and play with this confidence. We are in a good series of winning games
(Steve Nicol) said to me, “You know your job. You’ve been playing professional football long enough and what we need from you is to protect the ball, bring the ball up and when you have an opportunity, try to score.” This is what I did.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER MATT REIS
[The upcoming games] can make or break our season. If we can get points out of these next few games, we can put ourselves in a really good spot to get that final spot in the playoffs. We’re doing things right. Our team defense is great – guys are blocking balls in front of me and the stuff that’s getting through is very manageable … We’re really focused on limiting their chances and by doing that, that’s going to give us a great chance to win. The last couple of games, we’ve done that.
On Ilija Stolica’s first career MLS goal …
It’s great for his confidence to get a goal. He and Marko (Perovic) obviously played well – it’s like they’re speaking in another language up there. So it’s great for him to open up in the first game and get a goal.
On the variation in the backline …
I think we’re used to it now at this point. We’re just plugging holes and we’re doing the best we can.
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
We’re just not scoring right now. The goals that we’re giving up aren’t anything to pat the other team on the back about. It’s a lucky shot, finds the guy right in front of the goal. He misses his kick and it goes right to the guy, and gets a good volley so. Little bit of luck going their way and not going ours.
Their defensive performance was good. A little bit of luck, there wasn’t a lot of action - in the goal mouth action - that we had to deal with seriously, but the one thing that fell their way, they put it away.
(Geoff Cameron) did ok, he looked comfortable - comfortable player. He looked comfortable on the ball … I’d like him to score a couple of goals. That’d be nice, but that didn’t happen.
I think (Cameron) played back (in the defense) very easily, I think he can play midfield very easily. Right now recently he’s played back there. We felt it was probably the best place to give him a run, but I still see him as a midfielder. I still think he can play there.
HOUSTON DYNAMO FORWARD BRIAN CHING
I don’t think we lacked effort. I just think we lacked quality and cohesion in the final third. I don’t think they are a particularly good team and I don’t think they played particularly well. I thought we should have at least got a point out of that, but you know they get as little bit lucky on that with a guy shooting and it going right to another guy and a good finish. Having said that, we didn’t create a whole lot on goal either. But credit to them, they scrapped it out. It’s a game where I think we should have won, but we didn’t and we can’t give up on the season. We just have to keep going.
I just cut the ball wide and made a run in the box and try to get on the end of it. It was a good cross, (I) just couldn’t get there. Like I said, we were just a little bit off and we suffered the consequences for that.
HOUSTON DYNAMO DEFENDER GEOFF CAMERON
It’s always good playing at home in front of the home crowd where you’re from. It’s just unfortunate we didn’t get three points tonight. I thought we deserved it more than they did tonight, and they just got lucky with the missed pass and it went right to another guy who shot it and scored. That’s the way the seasons going right now and I am just disappointed we didn’t get three points tonight in front of my home crowd.
It’s just the luck: the lucky bounces aren’t going our way right now and that’s tough to overcome. Hopefully we get one goal and then they start coming in bunches. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
First and foremost, we’ve got to keep the shutout and make sure that we get the opportunities and that we put the opportunities in the back of the net.
