CHICAGO FIRE 1, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 0
CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH DAVE SARACHAN
Opening comments:
"1-0 that's the way we wanted to start today. I thought it was a great start for us tonight. Obviously getting an early goal was really critical in our opening game at home. I though it was really lively, but as the half went on, we got a little bit careless. We dodged a couple balls in the box that [Taylor] Twellman almost got his head on. Second half again, we had a pretty good start to the half. Obviously, [New England] was behind pushing. For a first night, opening game, we get very high passing grades, but we certainly have room to improve, no question, in terms of managing and keeping possession and killing the game off. We're pleased that we got one under the belt already, and we'll go back to work on Monday, and iron some things out."
CHICAGO FIRE MIDFIELDER LOGAN PAUSE
On his goal:
"I made a hard near post run. Justin [Mapp] got around a defender and clipped the ball in. I got a little dink on it with my head and it squeezed in."
On getting the first goal of his career:
"It feels good. Obviously, I'm happy we got the win at our first home game. That's the most thrilling part about it. It is a little bit of a weight off my shoulders. It has been a long time since I've scored a goal, so I'm happy."
CHICAGO FIRE GOALKEEPER MATT PICKENS
On his critical save in the second half:
"[Andy Dorman] crossed it from the left. I saw the ball well, and I saw it off [Dorman's] foot really well. It was kind of a reaction thing. You don't really think, you just go."
CHICAGO FIRE DEFENDER C.J. BROWN
On the defense:
"I felt like we did fairly well. A shutout is always a good sign of that. I think Pickens obviously made some huge saves for us. Defensively, I felt we were pretty well organized. We were staying on the forwards. They got a couple free shots, but that's a given. You're going to give them one or two a game, and Pickens came up big on those."
On the cold weather:
"It was very cold. It's not fun to play in that weather, but I think we're starting to get used to it. Maybe it's an advantage for us in some sense. But it is cold, and it's hard to play in. Guys don't like to get hit with balls and stepping on feet. All the little things hurt."
On becoming the Chicago Fire's minutes played leader:
"It makes me feel a little old, but it's good. It's nice to be healthy and be able to do stuff like that, and help this team out. It's also good to get a win. The minutes are one thing but the win is the best thing. It's a good individual goal, but I'm happy we got a win out of it."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On the game:
"We has three guys making their debuts and it took them 10 minutes to settle down but I think from then on we were the team that tried to play football."
On what prevented his team from scoring:
"The final pass, the final touch wasn't there. We made chances. I think the referee took too long jumping on them and releasing all the time. The referee took too long to get on top of that. But you know we can't be disappointed by the way we played. We come away from home and we've have taken the game to the home team. So we can't be disappointed with that. We're disappointed with the result. We've been robbed, we should have got something out of the game."
On the rookies starting tonight's match:
"Adam Cristman did a well, he works hard, he holds the ball. Him and Taylor [Twellman] connected well. Gary Flood was in there to do a job. I thought he did it very well, letting Andy Dorman get forward, mopping things up. He did a good job. Wells [Thompson] had flashes. Once he gets some more games under him, a little more experience he'll get better and better."
On the goal:
"We hadn't gotten ourselves settled yet. It took us the 10 minutes to get ourselves settled down. When you're putting a team on the field for the first time, it takes some time to get things sorted. Again, it was us who scored the goal, it wasn't them. [Jay] Heaps was unfortunate and it sliced off his foot and it's in the back of the net."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER STEVE RALSTON
On the match:
"Obviously it was disappointing; it wasn't the result we were looking for. You always want to start off the season with a win or at least get a tie on the road. So to come out here and get zero points in a game that we felt we left a few points out on the field. We had some good opportunities. We started off sluggish in the first 15 minutes and we really struggled. But from that point on we were really a better team out there."
On the loss of key players to the lineup:
"We're missing a lot of guys -- Michael Parkhurst is out, Khano Smith, Danny Hernandez, Marshall Leonard, Joey Franchino. We've got a lot of guys normally play that are missing tonight. On the other hand, I think the three guys, the three rookies who came in and started played pretty well tonight. Gary [Flood] hadn't seen a lot of time in the preseason. He came in and gave us a great effort. Gary [Flood], Wells [Thompson] and Adam [Cristman] those guys just battled and played well. We knew it'd be difficult and circumstance to come in here and play in the first game on the road, but those guys did a real good job."
On New England's attempt to spoil the Fire's home opener:
"Obviously we want to come in and spoil the home opener and get a good result. We've knocked them out of the playoffs the last couple of years and we beat them here last year when they opened the stadium. We were looking to come and spoil it for them, definitely."
