MONARCAS MORELIA HEAD COACH TOMAS BOY
We had done well in the first half, but we hadn’t generated a ton of shots on goal. But in the second half, we were a little bit more precise in the final third of the field. And our first goal opened their defense and (Miguel) Sabah’s goal – he is an unpredictable goal scorer who can score any type of goal. After that, [New England] scored a very good goal that put us in a real fight. They risked everything will almost five forwards, like you would expect for a final. But in the end, we were able to weather the storm of their attack.
This group for me, is a very good group. We’ve been coming together over a long period of time. So for me, it is extra special to win a championship with this group. We have almost 12 guys who are under 22, and with the collective personality that we’ve developed it makes me very happy and is a good sign of things to come.
I think that the level in MLS has improved considerably. … We enjoy playing against the North American teams. They motivate us and they are capable of establishing a good rivalry.
I don’t know about the other teams. Maybe for the big teams with big names, maybe [SuperLiga is not as important]. But for a team like ours that cannot always draw the highest talent … for us, it’s very important. For at least 10-14 clubs in Mexico, they really see the value in this rivalry.
I like this format [for SuperLiga]. I understand that some would like to change it to a more compact tournament, but this way we are able to plan better and use it in our preparation. But maybe for the public, they lose a bit of the emotion between games with them being spread out, but this way with a group phase like UEFA Champions League, is good.
I very much appreciate the kind words of some of the other coaches about our style of play. … the MLS clubs play a very tactical game, sometimes a rigid tactical game, but they know how to take advantage of opportunities and it’s not easy to play against them. … I think they’re not far away from reaching an even more competitive level.
MONARCAS MORELIA FORWARD MIGUEL SABAH
Estamos muy contentos obviamente porque hicimos un gran torneo desde el primer partido que participamos en este torneo. Lo tomamos muy en serio y en el final tomamos una gran actitud, una gran personalidad y creo que por eso lo mereciamos.
We are obviously very happy because we played well in this tournament from the first game in the tournament. We took it very seriously and brought a great attitude and personality to the final and I think that because of that, we deserved it.
Como delantero es importante, es importantisimo aparecer en los momentos complicados. Tienes la presión encima, pero uno tiene que saberla llevar. Estoy muy contento por los goles pero creo que mucho más contento por todo el trabajo que hicimos dentro de la cancha.
As a forward, it is important, extremely important to appear in the complicated moments. You have the pressure on you, but you need to know how to take it. I am very happy about the goals, but I think I am happier about all of the work that we did on the field.
Vas midiendo la jugada. Se te presenta el balón en el aire y sin pensarlo, lo intentas. Tiras al gol. No sabes adonde puede salir el balón. Le pegas queriendo que entre donde sea, asi fue, no?
You start measuring the play. The ball presents itself in the air, and without thinking about it, you try for it. You don’t know where the ball can go. You shoot on goal and strike it (the ball) wanting it to go in anywhere (in the net). That’s what happened.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
The game hinges on two things. Kheli Dube has a great chance that could put us ahead, then obviously the mistake for the penalty and the goal. That’s the difference. They were better on the ball than we were, but saying that, the only thing that caused us problems were our errors from bad play, which there were too many. We kept at it. But those two things are huge in the outcome of the game. If we can get a nose ahead, it’s a different ballgame. Instead we make a mistake and get a penalty and it changes the whole game.
We hadn’t cleared it, and to be honest, from where I sat, I can’t really see much. The was pulled down. Had it been in the other penalty box, we would have been rooting for it, as well. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t get them. On this occasion, they got it … A lot of the good things they did boiled down to basic errors we made and they capitalized, including the penalty.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD ZACK SCHILAWSKI
I think Shalrie (Joseph) kind of bypassed me and found Ilija (Stolica). I just kind of peeled off and got the ball facing goal and saw Kevin (Alston). The whole thing happens because he makes a great run. He’s aggressive getting out of the back and finished it well.
I thought we looked like we were a little more energized after that. I thought we were going to get the second one in. To be fair, we had some chances – it just didn’t fall for us.
It’s tough. I think it’s always tough when you feel like one mistake here, one mistake there and we could correct it and get the victory. We’ve just got to keep focusing on those little things and just try to get those better.
NEW ENGAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER MATT REIS
It’s a penalty that, if it happens to us, you’re calling for a penalty and if it happens against you, you’re not. Darrius (Barnes) fell down and the guy just kind of fell into him and fell over. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way it goes.
It’s always going to be tough and especially the way we’re playing right now. We’re usually only scoring about a goal a game. In order to [win tonight], it was going to take something special and we got close, but not close enough.
It’s tough because guys at this level can kind of go anywhere and they can lead and see where you’re going. So I try to stay big as long as possible and get a read on it. But he went right up the middle … They can go up, low, high and they’re just reading the situation and a good forward can wait until you fall down and pick either side.
At that point, it was still 0-0 and we weren’t playing the best. We played well in the beginning – probably the first 25 minutes – and then the second 20 minutes of the first half we didn’t play very well. We’re trying to just get our shape right and making sure we didn’t give up too many chances.
We have a handful of games left and we’re pretty far out of the playoff picture but we really ought to hunker down and get some results. We’re probably going to have to win 90 percent of the games left.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION DEFENDER KEVIN ALSTON
(Scoring my first goal) feels good, but we lost and it doesn’t really mean much. So it goes both ways.
It was one of those things where the ball’s coming to me and the first person I see is Zack (Schilawski) so I figure I’d lay it off and try to open up. They teach you that – to lay it off and try to find the space, so that was my first instinct and it worked out.
I thought we were decently organized. Any time you play a team like that where they like to possess the ball, you can pressure them but it’s playing into their game because they want to move the ball – they want to make you run, so we tried to stay organized. The first goal was tough but the second goal was an amazing goal; you can’t do too much about that.
Even when we were down two, we never gave up. We always believed that we could come back. We had chances – Cory (Gibbs) had that chance in the end, Kheli (Dube) had a chance. There were just chances all around, so it’s tough that we couldn’t do more.
You can’t dwell on it. We know that we have a tough task ahead of us. We need to start getting points, the playoffs start now. That’s all we’re thinking about now – forget this game.
We talked about how in the first half – for maybe 20 minutes – we were playing our game and then the next 25 minutes we were kind of playing to their game, just chasing and not staying focused, letting them make runs off the ball. We weren’t staying with them. So we just talked about coming out into the second half, we needed to come out with a little more intensity and a little more focus and organization and start playing our game.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER SHALRIE JOSEPH
We had chances. I had a header, and then Kheli (Dube) had a shot. Then Khano (Smith) had a shot too. We were just trying to push to find the equalizer, but it didn’t come for us tonight.
Defensively, we made two mistakes. Darius (Barnes) should have cleared that first one, but he got fouled. It didn’t go our way with that call, and then the second goal was just a brilliant finish. It caught Matty (Reis) off… And then the game was more about defending. We were trying to create chances. I thought we played well, but we just didn’t score the chances we had.
I think with playing a Mexican team, they teach us about organization, they teach us how to defend well as a team. They keep the ball so well and possess it. And then Saturday, we’ve just got to worry about creating more chances and trying to be smarter and getting back into the MLS season. We did our best in SuperLiga, and we’ve just got to look forward to the MLS.
I think we started really slow when we came out and we didn’t put enough pressure on the ball and they move really well. We were giving them way too much space at times. They were cutting us off and in the second half, we tried to limit their space, limit their chances. And that would help us if we do that a little bit more in the first half. I think we just need to create more chances and just put them more on the backs of their heels. Start bumping balls forward a little bit more, and we did that in the second half.
