COLORADO RAPIDS 2, COLUMBUS CREW 0
Colorado Rapids head coach Fernando Clavijo
On the first victory as a Rapids coach:
"Excited. Happy, not only for myself, but for the guys. We played well, even in the last game, but we were just not able to come out with the three points. Today we benefited from the hard work
and we played as a team. We moved the ball around well from the beginning and
we were alert for the entire 90 minutes. I always tell the boys to keep focus
for the entire game and they did today so I'm extremely happy and proud of them."
On Jean Philippe Peguero and Jeff Cunningham returning from injuries:
"Regardless who we play and who is on the field we need to perform and
Luchi (Gonzalez) and Alain (Nkong) -- in the first half -- did that.
Peguero saw some minutes because he had been training the entire week
Jeff (Cunningham) had only trained two days, so I decided not to use him
unless I had to. He will see some time tomorrow with the reserve team to
bring him back slowly. I'm happy, players are coming back from injuries and
the team is playing well."
Colorado Rapids forward Luchi Gonzalez
On first career goal:
"I think it was due. We had some tough results, two losses and a tie but I
think we knew coming into this game that we had to get the three points whether
it was me or someone else scoring. We knew we had to take it to them and give
it all on the field.
"I had scores in other leagues, but never in MLS. I'm really happy with the goal and the three points."
On the game:
"The movement of the ball today was great, everyone wanted to have the ball.
The movement off the ball was also key. If they didn't have the ball
they were still moving and creating spaces, which opened the field a lot.
We created a lot of opportunities and the ones that we put away were
enough to get us the victory."
On dedicating the first goal:
"I need to dedicate my first career goal to my family, they have always
supported me and this one has to go to them."
Colorado Rapids defender Pablo Mastroeni
On his first goal:
"It was a good game. We got the ball wide and forced them to open up which created
more space for [Chris Henderson] to lay the ball off so that I could one-time it.
I'm not a goalscorer, but it is always good to score once in a while and get everything
going in the right track for the team. Great effort from the guys and a great result."
On the flow of the play
"We knew it was going to take some time to gel and we used the first three games to
learn from our mistakes. We are not where we need to be, but we are getting there
and we should be able to peak right before playoffs and winning along the way.
We played well tonight, everyone came together and we showed a great effort."
On dedicating the goal
"Definitely to my baby boy Gianluca who will be six weeks on Monday."
Columbus Crew head coach Greg Andrulis
On the game:
"Second goal is something you got to look at. You can't give up those kinds of goals at this level. It's ridiculous. From our possession, to their throw into their goal is stupid. It shouldn't happen."
On red card:
"If that's a red card, there should have been seven red cards in the game. That's not a red card but the linesman was right on top of it. He was the one to make the call. The referee didn't make the call and you got to deal with it but that was not a red card in my opinion."
On penalty kick call they did not get:
"They totally ignored that one, that's a penalty kick for sure and a red card for the guy who fouled him from behind. But certain things get called and certain things do not get called and you just have to deal with it."
On not scoring:
"I think it is still a team evolving and trying to figure out how to play and we just try to be too fine with the ball and we need to be a little more direct and get the ball forward to our dangerous guys and we're just trying to out possess the teams right now and we're not clicking and we get turnovers that are killing us."
On Mario Rodriguez:
"We need to do a better job of giving him the ball. He's the kind of guy that can make a difference in the game, but again, we're over passing in the midfield and we're not getting the ball forward in dangerous positions where he can be effective and we have to get that sorted out."
Columbus Crew midfielder Kyle Martino
On the game:
"I think it was a bad performance all the way around. Everyone has to go home and look themselves in the mirror and do some soul searching and figure out whether or not they gave it their all or whether or not they that was a good enough performance.
"There are plenty of opportunities to make changes and get better now. This isn't something you can build on. This is something you completely need to redo. This is unfortunate."
Columbus Crew goalkeeper Jon Busch
On team performance
"It wasn't good. We came out and obviously weren't ready to play."
On Mastroeni's goal
"I think my footwork let me down a little bit there. But I'll see it on the tape this week and go fomr there."
"We're giving up two goals a game right now and we are in trouble defensively.
"I don't know if we're not playing smart or not, but they could have had three, four or five goals easily. They had some quality chances.
"Right now, we got to sort ourselves out. It's game four and we've played one good game, and it was the first game against L.A. and we've played good in spurts in other games, but we're not consistent enough.
"Every player, including myself, has to take more responsibility. This isn't acceptable. We're not in close games and we're getting our butts kicked. It's got to stop sooner or later."
