HOUSTON DYNAMO 3, COLORADO RAPIDS 1
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On Paul Dalglish:
"Anytime you score two goals you have a good game as a forward. The first one was a great touch by Dwayne [De Rosario], and he finished it well. The second was just extra effort by Brian Mullan. That's kind of his trademark. I thought overall he had a good game"
On Dwayne De Rosario:
"He's so forward thinking. He controls games, and he's dangerous. Anytime Dwayne [De Rosario] sees openings he'll shoot into that space. He is good on the ball."
On getting the goal back quickly:
"I think it was very important because I think the locker room would've been pretty quiet if we had been down 1-0. The energy coming out of the locker room was perfect. You look at the clock and you say 'there's still tons of time, and we're still a dangerous team.' Just because they scored in the first two minutes doesn't take away our weapons and our attitude. To take seven to eight minutes to get a goal back is kind of a step forward for us and a step back for them."
On fan support:
"When you walk down the tunnel and see everyone wearing orange it's like no other place in MLS right now."
HOUSTON DYNAMO FORWARD BRIAN CHING
On the result:
"It's incredible. To come from behind like that in front of such a great crowd is unbelievable. It's a testament to this team. Everybody works for each other. Unfortunately last year we didn't get as far as we wanted to. This year we set our goal, we said we're going to do it. We're one step away."
On the first goal:
"The good thing about that goal is that it was two minutes in. We had 88 minutes to recover from it. We know we're a good enough team to come back and score a couple of goals. We battled and fought, and I thought we deserved to win."
On first half chances:
"We had numerous chances. We probably should've put it away in the first half, but that's how soccer goes sometimes. It was good for our team to come back from the deficit. We battled and showed heart out there."
On fan support:
"It's crazy. I wish sometimes I could be in the stands so I could appreciate it more. Sometimes when you're on the field you're a little too focused. I felt times at the end there when I was exhausted, but hearing them cheer you on gives you a little bit extra motivation to put a little bit more effort out there.
HOUSTON DYNAMO FORWARD PAUL DALGLISH
On the result:
"I think we were magnificent from start to finish. I don't think our heads went down after the first goal. It obviously was a penalty, and the guys took away well. The character that the guys showed to come back from 1-0 down is brilliant, but that's the team spirit we've got here."
On his two goals:
"I was delighted. I think they were one touch finishes, and that's the type of goals I like to score. I'm just glad I can score a couple of goals."
On fan support:
"The fans were magnificent tonight, and they've been magnificent ever since I've been here. The way they turned out tonight and supported the team was brilliant. They wouldn't do that if we weren't a good team. Hopefully they go home happy most times."
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH FERNANDO CLAVIJO
On Dynamo's play:
"They play very physical, they play very direct. They don't complicate themselves, they just get the ball up front and they run, and they can make you pay. We just couldn't find a rhythm, and we paid for it."
On this low scoring game after scoring three against Dallas:
"Every game is different. Today we could not connect. We had some chances, but we just couldn't connect. I think defensively they played well, and you have to give the credit to them."
On the Colorado defense:
"We did well. They have some good players and they have the players to play the ball in from wide. Dalglish gets inside, Mullan gets inside and they get good balls. They put in good crosses, and they make us pay for it."
COLORADO RAPIDS GOALKEEPER JOE CANNON
On Dynamo's scoring chances:
"I think we were just giving them [chances]. I think we were playing a little too high. We've kind of had a problem with this all year for some reason. I felt like we just gave them a lot of space in behind. The first goal came off of a questionable offsides call, but at the same time we have to stay with our man and we can't be pushing up. It's just one of those things."
On the loss:
"We lost to the better team tonight, and we've just got to give them credit."
On Dynamo's first two goals:
"To be honest, the first goal kind of came off an offisdes. On the second goal, nobody was marking up. It was just mistakes. But just give credit to [Houston], they worked hard, they made more of their opportunities than we did tonight."
On the loss:
"For some reason they just caught us on an off night. It's disappointing because for two years in a row we've come to the Western Conference final and haven't really played that well."
