NEW ENGLAND HEAD COACH JAY HEAPS
On his overall thoughts on the game: “We are a little bit disappointed on how we played the majority of the game. We did a good job at times possessing, but our balls weren’t good enough. It was probably the first game that we couldn’t sort anything offensively. That’s said, our five were really good, and we never gave up, we never stopped knocking on the door and of course we got through, Chad [Barrett] came in and changed the game. I thought he has done a good job before, he really changed the dynamic, his touch was on, and he moved well.”
On Chad Barrett: “When we brought it on, we made the decision because we knew he can finish. And in training he finishes well, in practices as well, so we knew that if he could stay more central, we went into a 3-5-2, or a 3-4-3 whatever you want to call it, anyways in pushing forward, we knew that the ball would eventually come across, and Chad would do a good job, and he did.”
On breaking Chivas’ defense: “It’s tough. And it’s tough when we are not playing well. I mean I think that there is something that it is nice when you just don’t play as well as you want to and credit to them, I think their Coach Jose [Luis Real] has done a great job of organizing [them]. They were certainly all over us. They had two guys following Lee [Nguyen] whatever he went, and really they defended well. So it was going to take a little bit of extra squad to be able to get away, and we did.”
On getting Clyde Simms back from injury: “I don’t know really if the minute was timed, if it was going to be 60 or 70, we weren’t exactly sure, but it was a hot night, he was working really hard and bringing Scott [Caldwell], I think at the time it was a little bit tactical because Scotty can do a nice job with passes forward. So he was going to do a nice job finding our wide play and switching it forward.”
On preparing for next home games: “The DC game is gone and for me that was a little bit of a tough game for us we didn´t play well at all, and this game I thought the fight was there but still wasn´t clicking the right way, so we go back we have a full week of training and we get back to basics of what we are good at, and prepare our selves for San Jose.”
NEW ENGLAND FORWARD CHAD BARRETT
On his goal: “I was put in ten minutes before the end of the game, and there’s pretty much one thing that you’re supposed to do: score goals, be dangerous and create chances. Diego [Fagundez] got the ball on the right, punched it when I went in. Diego put a good ball in, the guys were pretty tight on me and I just wanted to put it at goal. I really can’t tell you what happened. I think it hit me, the post, maybe it hit me again through my legs, I have no idea, but I’ll take credit for it.”
On Revolution’s fight despite going down a goal: “We had good chances. I had two headers that I thought I was going get a clean look. [Dan] Kennedy got one of them and one of the defenders did well on the other. We can’t say we just didn’t take our chances, or say that we didn’t deserve to win this. I think we deserved to come away with three points; this definitely feels like a loss, you can tell the guys are disappointed by it, which is good, but now we have two home games coming up and they’re must-wins. We have to start taking full points at home and get some results.”
On breaking down the defense: “It was tough, but just watching the game, we had a few good looks, some good chances. It just seemed like we were hitting Dan Kennedy in the chest. As a good enough keeper, you put in anything within his wingspan, and you know it’s not going to go anywhere in. My goal was fortunate enough to beat him; it always seems like I can always score against him, I don’t know why. He probably hates me for that, but he’s the top goalkeeper. I think we started a little slow today, taking the rest out of us. Obviously two weeks off, some guys put in D.C., but it’s different, it’s a big field and I think that I just wanted to make sure when I got in, put some runs behind and turn their team around and force them to work. Overall, I think we had the better run today. Even though I think they defended well.”
NEW ENGLAND MIDFIELDER DIEGO FAGUNDEZ
Thoughts on the match: “It was a pretty hard game to go through the defense. We tried getting that goal and it was just one piece missing and it was the last ball. And finally in the 88th minute we got to finish that last piece by Chad [Barrett], a good shot by him. Just overall the way we developed that play was good – we really needed that play.”
On trying to mount the comeback: “It’s hard, but you need to figure ways to do it. You can t just go long every time, you need to try and go wide or get crosses in. You need to do something to break them. We just couldn’t find that thing until the 88th minute. If only we had a couple more minutes, maybe we could have done more. It was too late when we figured it out.”
On his performance tonight: “I always try to get width, as someone who helps out the midfielders and to take players one-on-one. Every time I was going wide the field is just so big you would think you were near the box but you were forty yards away and it was just tough with the dry air here and it was hard to develop. The fight was definitely there. We were trying to win everything. Even though it wasn’t a clean performance we leave with a point. We’re not happy with it but we have to take this point and move on to San Jose.
CHIVAS USA HEAD COACH JOSE LUIS REAL
Thoughts on the match: “For me, I was happy with the first half. I was thinking that maybe we could’ve scored one more goal. But in the second half, the opponent was very difficult. The changes in our team were not the best and the other team was better than us.”
On going from victory to draw: “I’m very happy to have seen the face of every Chivas USA player, because they all came into the locker room with angry faces because we had the score to leave home with a victory and we let it go. But I also have to recognize that the opponent had a better second half than us.”
On not subbing Burling into the game: “When they put in four attacking players, my intention was to have five defenders to annul those attacking rival players. But then we were told that there was one of our players with some discomfort in the midfield or front line. We had two players that could have possibly needed to be subbed out, not in the defense. So we were forced to keep Burling from entering the match and leave Borja as central defender, which was the position that Burling was suppose to cover. In that moment, the backline was Borja, de Luna, Vilchez, Delgado, and Soto.”
CHIVAS USA GOALKEEPER AND CAPTAIN DAN KENNEDY
Thoughts on the match: “The performance in the first half was really really good, but in the second half we got a little too passive. They just got too much of the run of play and had a handful of opportunities. The goal that they scored was so incredibly lucky. Marky [Delgado] cleared it out and I think it hits Chad [Barrett], hits Marky and Chad again and as I’m coming across I think it sneaks between my legs. Heartbreaking to give up that goal. All in all, taking into consideration in that three, four weeks now we’ve completely remodeled this team in terms of formation and tactics and you can tell we are improving on our tactics.”
On the team’s improvement: “I think you can see that in the first half we had a lot of the ball and we were definitely creating more chances than them on goal. It was a real building block. Now it’s about putting not just 45 minutes of that play together but 90. I’m pretty happy with the performance; obviously the result is heartbreaking just because you give up a goal late in the game. The guys have to keep their heads up because we have a big road trip coming up.”
On coming away with a point: “I think we dominated the first half. Second half I think they had the run of play. You would like to think that at home you grind that result out. We just have to have the courage to go out there and continue to play and believe in the system. A lot of times you play a little more passive because you’re up a goal and we’re defending the lead, for obvious reason. We need to get comfortable playing with the lead and not let it affect the way we play.”
CHIVAS USA DEFENDER MARIO DE LUNA
On coming away with the tie: “Unfortunately we didn’t come away with what we wanted, which was three points and a victory that was very important after many losses. What we can salvage from this game is that we added a point and broke out of the slump.”
Thoughts on the match: “We played very well in the first half. We were in the attacking third; we possessed the ball well and created a lot of chances at goal. In the second half the team moved back a bit when the opponent was in search of the equalizer. We shouldn’t sit back; we need to do the same as we did in the first half.”
On the new strategies that have been implemented: “We’ve worked very well the last three weeks that [Real] has been here. So we’re seeing the good results of that work and the performances. We have possessed the ball well and little by little we’ll keep seeing the positive results. We’re mad that we had the three points, it’s painful. But we know that with the team we have and the coaching staff along with the institution that the results are going to come.”
