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New England Head Coach Steve Nicol

On conceding goals:
I think defensively we were decent. We got ourselves into the playoffs. We had some good defensive plays. People make mistakes; Osei made a mistake. It’s just unfortunate that we were just punished at the wrong time.

On the defensive effort:
We were solid enough. We didn’t give them a whole lot. At the same time we didn’t create a whole lot for ourselves, either. Edgaras [Jankauskas] hit the bar and Pat’s [Phelan] header at the end. But we really didn’t create much. But I don’t think they did either.

On the playoff intensity between the Fire and New England:
We know each other as well as we possibly could, so there’s going to be an awful lot between these two teams and it just takes a wee bit of a mistake that’s going to decide it and unfortunately it was us tonight, it was a mistake that decided it.

New England Goalkeeper Matt Reis

On the last goal:
It was a microcosm of our whole season. More times than not if we look back on our losses, we’ve beaten ourselves more than the other team has beaten us. We made a mistake and it cost us. We fought, we fought hard but we didn’t have it. Once again it’s a mistake of our own doing.

On the Nyarko run that led to Blanco’s goal:
It’s hard in that situation; you can’t leave the goal. You have to try to assess the different options that you have and it happened so quick and once it got to Blanco, he takes a good touch and he just roofs it. Obviously if we had cleared the danger there would be nothing there but, we didn’t.

On the Fire’s goals:
It wasn’t really anything that they did. I don’t think they outplayed us. We definitely had our chances at times but in the end we made a couple of mistakes and it cost us.

New England Midfielder Shalrie Joseph

On the match:
It’s another disappointing season for us. We play hard, we work hard but at the end of the day we didn’t win anything so I guess we need to look ourselves in the mirror and it ended in disappointment again.

On starting the match strong:
Yes, we tried to move the ball and push numbers forward but we just were not good enough. At the end of the night we just defended way too much and gave them too much space. We gave up sloppy goals in the first and the second half; simple mistakes and we’ve been careless all year. We’re in the Eastern Conference Final and we make these kind of mistakes, and they come back to kill us.

On whether those mistakes were more disappointing than run of play goals:
It’s really disappointing that we didn’t do what we needed to do to get a win tonight. We defended well sometimes and then we just didn’t keep the ball. We weren’t creating enough chances and the chances we had were half a chance. Everybody tried their best but at the end of the day it’s another disappointing year for us.

On the team’s missed chances:
Eddie [Jankauskas] had a great header and he did well to get it on target, he battled and everyone battled and it was just another disappointing year and that’s all there is to say

Denis Hamlett, Chicago Fire Head Coach

On the result:
It was a great night. We had a full house and our guys knew what was at stake, understood the importance of the moment and from the get-go we went at it. The whole team played well and we’re really excited about the win.

On John Thorrington’s play:
To say he’s been on Fire is an understatement. He’s been out two months or so, rolled his ankle pretty badly on Tuesday and we didn’t think he was going to be able to play, but he’s a warrior and he brought a lot of fight and energy to the team tonight, and the guys really fed off of that. Obviously it helped that he scored the first goal tonight on a great finish.

On the defense:
I thought we played well defensively tonight and in New England. The difference is they got a goal off a corner kick last week. We play them enough that we know Shalrie Joseph and Jeff Larentowicz pretty well; and their offense starts with those two guys. Logan Pause and John Thorrington did a really good job of being aware and staying close to them and were able to limit their influence on the game.

On hosting the Eastern Conference Final:
We were really happy on Thursday night when we saw that Columbus lost and we could have the opportunity to host the Final. We knew we had to take care of business tonight and that gave the guys a lot of energy knowing that we could host the Eastern Conference Final. The crowd had a huge effect on us; I think the guys fed off their energy for the whole 90 minutes. I hopefully we pack the house next week like we did tonight.

Fire Forward Brian McBride:

On his injury:
I think it should be fine for next weekend. I just need to be aggressive with the treatment.

On the win:
It was awesome to get the win at home. The atmosphere and fans were really great. The guys defensively were so strong and getting that goal from John [Thorrington] before the end of the first half was very big for us. It shows that when we all stick together we can do big things.

Fire Goalkeeper Jon Busch:

On the shutout:
The guys in front of were absolutely tremendous. The back line was fantastic, but it wasn’t just them it was the whole team. By the end of the game we had almost everyone in the box doing whatever it took to get the win. It was such an impressive team effort, I’m so proud of the guys. I didn’t have to do a lot tonight because they were blocking everything. It was a great team win and we’re going to enjoy it tonight and get back to business tomorrow.

On hosting the Final:
It’s going to be awesome to host the Eastern Conference Final next week. The crowd was tremendous tonight and I hope they come out again next week. We watched Real play in Columbus on Thursday and they played tremendously there, and it’s not an easy place to play. We’re going to enjoy this win tonight and start planning for Real Salt Lake tomorrow.
Fire Defender C.J. Brown:

On the team’s performance:
The team top to bottom, from McBride all the way back to Jon Busch, everyone plays defense and that keeps us in games. We going to get our chances to score, but we are confident that Busch will keep us close. As long as we keep playing like this, we’re going to see these kinds of results.