Revolution head coach Jay Heaps
I think that it’s cliché to say “baby steps,” but that’s what we’re doing. It was a kind of tale of two halves. We weren’t particularly sharp the first half. We definitely started to wear them down, started to play better. What I was excited about was that we got 90 minutes for some key guys.
On Shalrie Joseph …
For me, he’s really good offensively. He wins a lot of one-on-one challenges and everyone knows how strong he is. What I’ve asked from his this year is we’re starting him more high-up – we started Clyde (Simms) under him in the first half – to get in the box. You can see he penetrates real well and he’s a target at all times. As the games goes, Shalrie gets stronger and stronger and that’s what we need from him.
On the team’s perceived desire to attack more …
That’s what we’re really want to put as a fundamental of how we play. You can’t always attack; you have to be smart. But at the same time, it’s a good time for us to work on it in preseason. We’re moving the ball, we’re not giving it away just to get it around. The passes we’re making are penetrating balls to keep us moving up the field.
On Kelyn Rowe’s two goals …
The one thing about Kelyn (Rowe) is he’s a gamer. Every week, or every day, I love working with him. He just wants to get better. He’s one of the guys who just loves the game and I think it shows. But his goals were very good. The first one was Saer (Sène) keeping it alive and Kelyn just being in an advanced position. He has a sense for that – as a right midfielder, he’s inside the six for that ball for the goal. The second one, I’d like to say I’ve seen him do that a couple of times. He’s got a very good left foot …
On Kelyn Rowe’s versatility …
He’s very smart; he’s a soccer player. He can play anywhere in the midfield and I wouldn’t hesitate playing him anywhere.
On Saer Sène …
He’s not 100 percent fit yet, so we’re working his minutes and running him through strength and conditioning with Nick Downing and getting him to full game fitness. But, yeah, I really like the different dynamic he brings. He’s long, he’s slippery – he’s certainly difficult to defend … yes, he gets knocked around, but in the end, because he’s so skinny and tall, he’s elusive, as well. Soccer players, you put too much weight on them and it doesn’t work out. But he’s strong physically. He doesn’t look all that strong, but he’s pretty strong on the ball.
Revolution goalkeeper Matt Reis
What he saw on the field tonight …
It looked alright. It took a while for us to calm down and find our rhythm but we were in good defensive shape for most of the game. We really weren’t put under too much pressure, and it was only a matter of time before we broke through.
I think every season you want to win everything you’re in. Especially for us, it’s important for us to get back to a winning mentality and a winning attitude, and any time you can take a tournament trophy home, it’s only going to help you. Winning is contagious, but so is losing. So we need to get sick with winning.
I think we have a lot of players who are good on the ball, and capable on the ball even when people are around them. So we’re trying to get better passing and being calm while we’re passing, not just blasting it and not just kicking it away. That’s going to be a work in progress and we’re starting to get better and better every game.
Revolution midfielder Kelyn Rowe
Describing his goals …
The first one, it was a scramble in the box, it got away. The players did really well to get it in there in the first place, get it scrambled around and it popped out to me on the right side and I put it away. The second one, the ball came into the forwards and (Saer) Sène had a great little flick with the outside of his left (foot), right to my foot, (I) took a touch inside and thought I’d try it with my left and it went upper corner.
On his torrid presason pace (four goals, four assists in five games) …
It’s definitely something I’d like to keep up, and the team hopes so, as well. We want to win and it’s helping us right now, so as much as I can help the team, I’m happy to do it – whether it be a goal, an assist, even just keeping the ball, I’ll do it.
On his experience the last six months …
It’s been great. UCLA’s a great place to be and to go to school and to play soccer. I had a great experience there; I have nothing bad to say about it. Then I got a place like (New England) and I have guys around me helping me every day – I have UCLA guys around me helping me every day – I’m coming into a great team and we’re starting to rise up and do very well and you can see it in the performance. Two wins against great teams, so it’s been a great six months.
On playing with Benny Feilhaber …
Having Benny (Feilhaber) on the team has been great. Like you said, he’s from UCLA so him and I connected right away. We played against each other on the National Team, and that was great. It was the first time we met. So there is definitely some competitive sense in practices, but in games we play so similar and we look for each other every time we get the ball, and we’ll look to play off each other with a third man running, so it’s a good little combo we have.
On the team’s attacking dynamic …
We want to go forward – it’s one of the things we’re good at. Our midfield is very strong, our forwards are starting to get strong and we saw today with two assists. We’re looking to go forward, definitely. Benny (Feilhaber) Shalrie (Joseph), even Clyde Simms, myself and the forwards are definitely wanting to go forward and make some chances, and you’ve seen it the past two games when we’ve gotten those chances.
