New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps
I think it was a hard fought game both ways. I thought the game was in our favor the first half of the game, and we did everything right. We had some chances that we did not finish; and eventually it came down to 1 or 2 of those chances that could have helped us win the game.

I think when we came in at halftime, one of the main things we tried to stay away from was fouling near the 18 yard box. We knew that (Federico) Higuain can hit that well. Obviously, it was a tough way to go in at halftime after we broke the game plan a little bit. With that being said, I think that we came in with the right energy after half time and got the goal. I also think we had a couple of more chances after that could have ended in goals that didn’t. I got to go back and look at the film because I think the game stretched the right way for us during the second half and we were able to penetrate well inside the 18. With that being said, we have to finish our chances.

I think when you look at Diego (Fagundez), Diego is the type of player that needs service and he needs to help along the way. I think guys were looking him for him a little more tonight and he was getting more of the ball. While he had a nice night, I think that he had a couple of more chances that he missed that would usually end up in goals if he was at the top of his game.

The adjustment (on our corner kicks at halftime) was to do an out-swinger and get away from the keeper.

I think when things don’t go well for you, you lose certain little things along the way. In this circumstance, Chris (Tierney) was a big loss for us because he helps us offensively a lot. While he works hard defensively, it is his offensive technique that spreads the game for us and helps us get forward.  It hurt not having his left foot.

What are you going to do, complain about it? You have to roll up your sleeves and keep going forward. It’s awful and tough, but at the same time, you have to keep a perspective and keep going forward. We have a really young team – and we know we can win games in this league; it’s just a matter of finding a way quickly.

New England Revolution forward Teal Bunbury
Yeah, I mean it was big time from A.J. (Soares), he had an excellent game. He came through for us and that goal was very important. I felt like we had a very dominant game and unfortunately we didn’t get the win. But, that goal from A.J. was big-time. It lifted all of our spirits and I think in our mind we thought, hey we’re going to win this game now, no question.

I mean right now we’re not scoring like we have in the past and we have to be more clinical and just have a killer instinct and everyone has to take ownership when they have their opportunity to bury it. Myself included: when I have an opportunity, I need to be able to finish. That’s my job is to score goals and I haven’t been doing it so I take that responsibility. But, I feel like all the guys gave great effort tonight. Obviously, it’s not going our way right now but we got to try to stay positive, we got to stay together. I feel like all the guys put everything on the line, can’t be disappointed with everybody’s effort, everybody’s will and trying to work together. Mistakes here and there, they happen, we have to move on.

For us, it’s just coming into training, keeping our head up knowing that there other games to play; knowing the season isn’t over; pushing each other in training; being competitive; trying to be leaders out there and knowing that it’s got to turn around. We’re all professionals and we know what it comes down to. Everyone hates to lose but we all love to win so it starts with training and it starts with the team. We have been enjoying all the support from the fans, our families, everything like that but it starts with the inside. Everybody needs to be on the same page and moving forward that’s our mindset.        

New England Revolution midfielder Scott Caldwell
We played pretty well obviously. We’ve got to put away our chances and we gave up too much at the other end too, so that showed. The final score line is not good enough, so we’ve got to do better.

I don’t think it’s the effort. We’ve got to put the final touch, the final pass together. Someone has to step up. I think it will come, but we’ve got to really get that goal or something. One result will turn it around, but that’s the toughest one to get.

It comes down to, as much as the play is in the middle of the field and back and forth, it comes to down to what happens at each end of the field, and we’re not doing well enough at each end and we’ve got to change that.
Wednesday night can’t come soon enough. We all want to get back out on to the field and turn it around.

Columbus Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter
Overall, I’m pleased. Obviously, New England has quality up top. They have a lot of versatile guys that move around and make it difficult. I think we defended well and created enough chances to win the game. Overall I’m pleased. You need these games to build the team. You need to be battle tested, and games like this battle test you.

I felt it was coming. I really did. I felt that we had a bunch of set pieces that we were extremely dangerous on, a couple of good runs in the box that we were really dangerous on. I felt like the goal was coming and the goal itself was a fantastic move. We talked about it at half time: the outside guy moving from the outside to inside, getting behind the center backs. It was exactly what we talked about. It was great execution.

I think Ethan (Findley) did a great job of that. He was dangerous all night; him, together with Bernie (Anor) and Federico (Higuaín). they’re a handful. They’re difficult to play against, and then when you talk about (Adam) Bedell and (Aaron) Schoenfeld, they did a good job. Good job.

I have such high expectations for (Wil Trapp) that it’s almost unfair. It’s true. I judge him to a different standard than a lot of players. I think he’s been up and down this year; and that’s by the standards I’m judging him. But he’s got a great future ahead of him, and we’re working with him. All the time, we’re working with him to improve him and get him consistent. He’s doing a great job. At his age, to be playing these minutes in the league, he’s doing a very good job.

It was good. (Federico Higuain) needed that. He needed that goal. It was a fantastic free kick on turf. To hit a ball like that is pretty special, and he has that ability in him. And we’re getting him there. He had a tough week last week with three games. He played all the minutes in those games. It wasn’t easy for him, and this was a great response I think.

I think closing. I think we had opportunities. If you look at the Portland game, we should have gotten three points out of that one. If you look at the Toronto game, we should have gotten three points out of that one in Toronto. In these games, we’ve closed. In the Montreal game, we came from behind and then the last stretch we had to grind it out and we did it. This game, same type of environment and we did it. That’s the difference right now.

We think (Justin Meram) can be a guy that starts the games. But when he doesn’t, we know what he can bring. We know how dangerous he is, how talented he is and he can make a play. So we put them in purely to win the game. We made two subs and we didn’t want a tie. We wanted to win. That’s the attitude we have. That’s what type of soccer we try to play: be aggressive, be offensive. We make moves like that to win.

Columbus Crew defender Waylon Francis
We are just hungry, because we haven’t been wining. We had a couple tough ties and a really bad lost against New York. We are looking to win and that’s exactly what we did today.

Our coach told us to trust each other and be patient, which can be difficult because we’re always looking for the long ball. We need to move the ball better and I think that comes with time. We did a good job today moving the ball side to side and capitalizing on our opportunities.

Columbus Crew midfielder Ethan Finley
The ball came from the left side, a nice pass from Justin (Meram), just out of the reach of Darrius Barnes. I was able to bang it home past Bobby (Shuttleworth).

It’s great for our confidence going forward. Obviously this is a game we wanted to win against a struggling New England Revolution team and that’s exactly what we did. I think when he calls it a team win, he means the defense was fantastic all night. Steve (Clark) was great in goal, and overall the entire team played well.  There were a lot of things we had to overcome tonight and we were able too.

You have to be able to withstand the storm. They came out strong in the first half, getting several awesome opportunities but we held on and were able to get a goal before halftime. They have a lot of guys that are tricky and able to do one-two’s, which made our job harder today but like I said we were able to withstand their storm and come away on top tonight.

If you look at all my goals, I’ve had great set-ups. I’m not just being a team guy, honestly the ball tonight was unbelievable. It’s just me making runs and my teammates picking me out. I hope I can return the favor later in the year.