Portland Timbers Quotes
Head Coach John Spencer
On the overall result: "I think we played ever so well in the first 45 (minutes). I thought it was some of the best football I've seen in Major League Soccer this year for 45 minutes. I don't think anyone could deny us. The way we were moving side-to-side, back and wide - I thought we were a very difficult team to play against in the first 45 (minutes)."
On the play of midfielder/forward Darlington Nagbe: "He keeps telling me that his best position is up front and I don't think he's far from wrong, to be honest. His hold-up play, link-up play was superb. His movement was dynamic, lightening quick. From the first minute, you could tell the back four were very wary of his pace. He was head and shoulders above anyone walking on that field tonight."
On the playoff hunt: "I said to the guys don't worry about it, we've got other games to play. Obviously, people are looking into it and saying our road form isn't the best. We want to win our home games, you need to win your home games in order to make the playoffs, but there's still going to be opportunities if we don't win at home. I think in the Philadelphia game last week, we came out with a lot of maturity from that game. ... Tonight, I thought we showed a lot of flair, a lot of character, a lot of great movement. At the end of the day I think you could say we were well worthy of the three points."
On moving forward: "We'll rest this weekend, watch the games that are going to be played in Major League Soccer and then we will face a very tough San Jose team that have one of the most naturally-gifted finishers in Chris Wondoloski. When they come up here they're going to pose an unbelievable threat."
Forward Kenny Cooper
On scoring and getting a victory: "It always feels good to score whether it's yourself or the team. We were fortunate enough to get three (goals) tonight and I thought we created a lot of great chances. The most important part is that win. I thought collectively it was just a great performance from Troy (Perkins) all the way through the team. Another clean sheet, another home win, so it puts us in a great position now. The goal is to be in that same great position come the end of the season."
On playing with Darlington Nagbe at forward: "I really enjoyed it. Darlington is an incredible talent and we're real fortunate to have him here. He's shown his quality throughout the year. He scored one of the best goals that I've seen earlier on (against Sporting KC), and I'm happy for him that he got another well-deserved goal. You can just see he has so many amazing qualities on and off the ball."
On his embrace with head coach John Spencer after scoring: "I certainly feel deep appreciation to John for the faith he's shown in me this year. I'm certainly hungry to repay the faith he has shown in me. I wanted to get a goal for him and I was fortunate to get on the end of a great ball from Chewy (Mike Chabala)."
Midfielder Diego Chara (Translated from Spanish)
On the win's meaning:"It means a lot. We worked very hard during the week to get this victory and we finally got it and we're very happy."
On feeling more comfortable playing now than when he first arrived in Portland: "Yes, I feel a lot better and now I know my teammates a lot better and you can see that on the field."
Midfielder/Forward Darlington Nagbe
On his goal: "I saw Kalif (Alhassan) cross it and I just tried to get it on target and luckily it got in the corner and went it."
On the first half: "The first half was great, some of the best stuff we've done all season, I think we're happy with that. We made sure we came out in the second half and continued to attack."
On playing up front: "It's just a different position, it's different from my wide (midfield position), different surroundings. I felt like it was just natural and I just went out there and did what coach told me to do."
On his performance: "I felt that was my best overall performance so far this season and I'm happy that we won."
New England Revolution Quotes
Head Coach Steve Nicol
On playing from behind: "The one thing we talked about was not backing off and defending in our penalty box. Maybe we didn't understand because that was basic stuff we did wrong. We didn't close the cross and you've got to try and stop the cross to begin with but you can't be standing in your own six yard box that's just suicide."
On attempting to comeback: "It's too late, you're two-nil down. I think it took us 40 minutes before we actually had a decent line. You can't play away from home and give teams two goals to start and then try and chase the game. Our back four in the first half, that's why we lost the game tonight."
On getting the right response from the guys: "So what, again we're chasing the game by then it's too late we can't start games defending inside our own penalty box."
On atmosphere at JELD-WEN Field: "Fantastic, definitely a great advantage for the home team."
Defender Darrius Barnes
On going down 1-0: "The early goal hurts us, from that point on we're just chasing the game and it just kind of takes the air out of everybody when we give up a goal like that. I don't think they did anything spectacular to beat us, I don't think they're 3-0 better than us. We just gave up some really weak goals tonight and it cost us."
On trying to respond: "When they get that goal, you want to have that mental toughness to battle back and fight and get one back. Unfortunately, it didn't come tonight."
On pace of play: "Especially in the second half we did a good job of closing the ball down and stepping up and not giving them time on the ball. They do have a little bit of pace and some quality, especially up front and I think we did a good job of closing that down it's just unfortunate we gave up another weak goal in the second half off, pretty much a free header and that pretty much takes the wind out of us."
