CHIVAS USA 1, REAL SALT LAKE 0
CHIVAS USA COACH THOMAS RONGEN
On the result:
"It was a good week for us and a great ending of a good week of practice, with three points which is always nice. We feel like we accomplished something important tonight."
On the impact of the five Mexican players who started the match:
"Yes, it could be a reason why [we won]. I think those guys have played together a lot, but as I said before, we have a very capable group of players. But, with the exception of Ramón (Ramirez), all those guys played for Chivas La Piedad for two years and there is a knowledge and understanding of each other."
CHIVAS USA MIDFIELDER HÉCTOR CUADROS
On the game:
"We know that our opponents are a new team, just like us, but this was our chance to obtain a good result and we just did that. I think that we were the better team on the field, with only a few goal chances by them. I feel that we should have scored another goal to reflect what happened on the field."
On his goal [a 39th-minute penalty kick]:
"I'm very happy. It's my second goal of the season. I got the chance, since coach has said that either Ramón or I should take PKs. I felt confident, and that's why I asked for the ball."
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JOHN ELLINGER
On the game:
"We kind of had a plethora of different screwups tonight, didn't we? Our second half was obviously much better than the first, and if we could have put two halves together like that I think it would've been a different outcome. Obviously, I can't comment on what I really want to comment on, so you've just got to deal with it, suck it up and move on.
On replacing Andy Williams after the first half:
"I took him out. Simply because we needed more workrate in the middle. It's very simple."
On the second half:
"That was what we talked about -- it just had to get better. I can't explain the first 45 [minutes], because that's not how we wanted to play. In the second half, things started to click. Obviously, they had a few moments as well because you can't press for 45 minutes, but the second half was encouraging, to play like that on the road.
On the choice of midfielder Brian Kamler as stand-in goalkeeper:
"We were standing there talking about it on the side, and we were talking about Kamler, and he's got he most experience as far as he's pretty comfortable with both feet, and it's not like he plays around at practice taking shots [in goal] or anything, but he stepped up and just said 'I'm going in.' So that was a pretty classy move on his part."
REAL SALT LAKE DEFENDER EDDIE POPE
On the season so far:
"I think we're starting off slow. We're an expansion team, but I still don't want to use that as an excuse. I think that even tonight we got, I guess, the not-so-good end of the stick. In the second half we played a lot better, had some opportunities that we should have put away, and didn't. So we go back home and have to continue to do well at home like we've done in the past. That's the one positive, that we do very well at home."
On the second half:
"We came into the locker room, some opinions were said that needed to be said and we stepped on the field a totally different team. And that's the way that we plan on playing from now on, the way we played in the second half. Like I said, some of those opportunities if they go in, I think we have a chance to win the game. Next week we're at home, and we want to come out in the first half like we did tonight in the second half."
