HOUSTON DYNAMO 2, COLUMBUS CREW 1
COLUMBUS CREW HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On the game:
"I thought we played some good soccer in the first half. People who know soccer look at it and say 'The Crew are playing a lot better than last year. They are a much better team.' But other people, all they're going to look at is the boxscore. I thought we gave up one legit chance at the very beginning of the second half. Outside of that, until the very end of the game, I didn't think we gave much up. At times in the first half, we played as good of combining soccer as we've played all year.
"What I'm mainly displeased about is just how we played the last 15 minutes of the game. At the end of the game, you score goals in the box. We went to a 3-5-2 and everyone started wandering and playing different positions. What's the other team going to do? They are going to pack the box, they are going to pack things in, so you aren't going to get through the middle. You've got to get wide."
COLUMBUS CREW FORWARD ALEJANDRO MORENO
On the current mood of the team:
"We're all professionals and we understand that there is a job to do. We have to show up next week with an attitude that the breaks are going to go our way and that we are going to make things happen for ourselves. We have to prepare to go out there and win three points."
On scoring against his former club:
"I found myself open in the box with some space and Guillermo found me with a great ball in and I just tried to put in on the other side of the goal. It's obviously a lot of emotions for me because there are a lot of special people on that team that I have special relationships with, but once we start playing we're here to win a game and it's always nice to score against the team that traded you."
COLUMBUS CREW FORWARD GUILLERMO BARROS SCHELOTTO
On adjusting to MLS:
"I've been here for a month already I'm comfortable with the team and my teammates. I feel fine. I have adjusted to the team and I think they have adjusted to me. There's just one thing that we are missing. Hopefully we can get it done on Saturday because that's the only way we can start to think about the playoffs. We need to start winning games and the best way to do that is to start on Saturday in Boston."
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On the team's winning streak:
"I'm elated here with three, three and three (points), because you look at the schedule when the season starts and think 'Oh my goodness, Sunday-Thursday-Sunday, that's a tough week.' To come out of that is very impressive."
On the game:
"I think Columbus was hitting us with some heavy stuff early on and the goal was against the run of play. I'm not going to sit here and say we were all over them. I can't lie to you."
On the teams' postures at the end:
"I think at the end you could call it a 4-6-0 because Joe (Ngwenya) was dropping back and Brian (Mullan) was dropping back. They were almost playing a 2-4-4. You almost just have to make sure you don't let guys go."
HOUSTON DYNAMO FORWARD JOSEPH NGWENYA
On playing against his former club:
"It's just another game, you know? This is my former team and it feels good to score against them, but three points is three points."
On Houston's three-game winning streak:
"You just have to enjoy it and keep working hard in training and hopefully keep it going. That's the beauty of soccer, you know? One minute you are down in the gutter, and the next minute you are up, so we just have to enjoy it and keep working hard and hopefully keep it going."
HOUSTON DYNAMO DEFENDER CRAIG WAIBEL
On the team's level of fatigue after three games in seven days:
"Tactically, they did a good job of pinning us in and in the second half it just became an issue of fatigue. We're not a team that sits back when we're healthy. We never sit back when we're not tired, so it was a bit of a change. You could see it. I know I could feel and see it in my own game today and you could see it in a few of the other guys that fatigue definitely played a big role."
On the Columbus own goal:
"There's part of you that says, 'We've all been there' and then there's the part of you that says 'Third game in seven days; I hope this is an omen that means we're going to win.' At no point today did any of us feel 100 percent, so when that goes in, you kind of get that little glimmer of hope that maybe the soccer gods are going to be polite to you, and they were."
