COLUBUS CREW 3, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 0
COLUMBUS CREW HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On the game:
"I definitely don't know what to say today. Every adventure out there was new. We hadn't had a two-goal lead before. We haven't had a three-goal lead. We came out with a lot of energy. Played with a lot of energy. We wanted to be a little more direct and get ourselves 3-v-3 up top.
"I thought Ricardo [Virtuoso] added a tremendous amount at the start of the game. [He] was giving [Jay] Heaps all kind of problems. I thought Jason Garey, today, he became a pro. With the effort he put in and the way he played he knows now how much you have to give of yourself when you're playing the game at this level. He deserved a goal. He actually deserved another one that he had in there. I thought he was very good."
On the defensive effort:
"Second half, when you have a lead, sometimes your mentality changes. There were some balls we should have cleared. We stopped playing as direct as we played in the first half and that took away some of our opportunities. I thought we did a better job defensively in terms of making it harder for them to get through us. They got through at times pretty easy in the first half and that was because our midfield trio was dropping too deep. We talked about that at halftime."
On the final games of the season:
"This is the first step and we've got to get maximum points when we play at home. We wanted to win today and Chicago is up next and we want to get those points against Chicago."
COLUMBUS MIDFIELDER RICARDO VIRTUOSO
On the game:
"I was happy to get the chance to play. I felt comfortable playing today but we've got more work to do to get to the playoffs and I have to play the same way. It was a good play and fortunately it paid off for the team."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On the game:
"I think 3-0 flaws them. At times we passed the ball well. We made chances. The fact is we can't keep playing catch up every week. We go behind, play some decent stuff, make some chances, but we are chasing the game all the time."
On his team's effort:
"We gave goals away. First half particularly, they were feeding off our mistakes. I don't remember them slicing us up. But we make mistakes and go one behind and then we're chasing the game away from home. You're not going to win many games like that."
On goalkeeper Matt Reis:
"He made a good save on the first goal, Garey did well on the rebound. You can't ask any more from your goalkeeper."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER MATT REIS
On the game:
"We knew coming into today that they wanted to counterattack against us, and we ended up playing right into their hands by giving up the ball in the midfield. In the first 10 or 15 minutes the game was over. We didn't take care of the ball well enough. That gave them easy opportunities on the break. We played right into their hands. We can't give away the ball in bad situations. We needed to make better passes. We made it real easy for them. They had a lot of chances. We gave them a lot of chances. They had a lot of open chances. They wanted it more than us tonight."
