MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2004 - COLUMBUS CREW 0, COLORADO RAPIDS 0
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH TIM HANKINSON
On his team's injury problems:
"It was one of those nights in which we even had to utilize players that we had not planned to. We had to put Ritchie Kotschau in the second half, even thought he is currently nursing a bone bruise in his right knee, risking making his injury even worse and having him out for longer amount of time. We had to go that route because of (midfielder Joey) DiGiamarino having problems during the match."
Hankinson on the game:
"We played a bit of 3-5-2 and in the first half defensively we did OK in stopping (Edson) Buddle and (Jeff) Cunningham. DiGiamarino, Nat (Borchers) and (Matt) Crawford did very well, but we lost the ability to recover and show work rate in the midfield. That was one of the reasons why we made the changes with Alberto Delgado and Rey Angel Martinez. Until their fitness gets better to perform both defensive and offensive in that side of the park, it will be difficult to keep them for the 90 minutes."
COLORADO RAPIDS GOALKEEPER JOE CANNON
On the match:
"I think it was a solid night. We played OK. I did some good things, made some good saves, and I think that is what I am here for. But at the same time I kicked a ball out of bounds, and I am not happy about that. I feel that I am playing solid, and I feel good about my game. I don't feel good about our game right now, and that dictates my mood more than my game."
On the team's offensive struggles:
"I just think that (the forwards) work hard day in and day out, it's just frustrating for them because they work hard and they need to reward themselves, and get the job done. They need to feel good about scoring and winning because that's contagious. You do it once and it feeds off itself. You just hope that it will click one game, hopefully sooner then later."
COLORADO RAPIDS FORWARD JOHN SPENCER
On Joe Cannon's performance:
"Joe is one of the greatest goalkeepers I have had the chance to play with. He is by far the best keeper in MLS and he should be competing for the starting position in the United States national team with others like (Tim) Howard, (Brad) Friedel and (Kasey) Keller. He is the best one-on-one goalkeeper that I've seen just behind Peter Schmeichel, and that is a great complement to make."
COLUMBUS CREW HEAD COACH GREG ANDRULIS
On the game:
"I think our defense was outstanding. Our possession was good and we controlled the play. We just broke down in the offensive third which was disappointing. Colorado is a good defensive team and they keep a lot of players behind the ball. Both defenses did a good hob of shutting each other down."
On attacking in the offensive third:
"It is something we will work on and get sorted out."
On garnering a point on the road:
"You have to be happy with a shutout on the road. We are disappointed we couldn't put one in the back of the net."
On attacking at the end:
"We were going for the win. We lost our shape a little bit because we were attacking so much."
On not scoring:
"(Joe) Cannon made a couple of nice saves. The goals will come for us."
COLUMBUS CREW GOALKEEPER JON BUSCH
On shutting out the Rapids:
"That's what the defense and myself try to accomplish each game and that is to get a shutout. As a unit today we were solid defensively."
COLUMBUS CREW MIDFIELDER KYLE MARTINO
On the game:
"It seemed like we controlled the game today. We did all the right things to get in all the right places and were in good positions to make things happen. The concentration on that final pass wasn't there. I am not sure you can look at one player. It is a matter of going for the throat. It (not scoring) is a little bit frustrating but we are playing well and the goals will come."
