CHICAGO FIRE 1, D.C. UNITED 1
CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH JUAN CARLOS OSORIO
On the game:
"I'm extremely disappointed. Last three games, individual errors have cost us six points."
On giving up leads late in the game:
"I don't have any explanation. I don't think it was a matter of stamina because after they equalized we kept going and we kept pushing so I think if we were tired we wouldn't have done that. Probably a lot of pressure on the guys, maybe because we know what we are playing for. Two months ago we didn't have a chance and now we have a chance and we are playing with our backs against the wall. Probably that caused those individual errors that have cost us valuable points."
On Chad Barrett's game:
"I think he did a lot of running today defensively and offensively and towards the end we thought we needed somebody in midfield and I think Baki [Soumare] came and did OK. But I think Chad did a very good job today."
On Blanco's game:
"I think that he's still very creative, you remember our goal was a bold play from him, so I think he's still making good chances for us and I know what comes with Cuauhtémoc defensively. Sometimes we could probably hope for more, but offensively I think he's doing the job."
CHICAGO FIRE GOALKEEPER MATT PICKENS
On D.C.'s goal:
"(D.C.) crossed the ball in and I got to it. I thought it was going wide, but then I lost it. It's just one of those things that happen. I feel awful. We played good enough to win today."
CHICAGO FIRE DEFENDER C.J. BROWN
On the game:
"It's disappointing. It's the second game in a row that we should have had three points and we come out the one. It's a little disappointing on [Matt] Pickens' part. He's always huge for us every game. So he's a little disappointed in himself. We just have to keep our heads up and keep plowing away. I think soccer-wise we're dominating. We just have to finish the game off."
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH TOM SOEHN
On his team's performance in the first half:
"We looked like a team that had time off. We came out flat. Obviously we had some new pieces in the lineup that haven't all played together so I think those signs showed, as well. We addressed some things at halftime. I think in some respects some of it got better, but on the day it wasn't our normal effort. Again, we were resilient. We get a point on the road on a day that we were missing guys is pretty important."
On Troy Perkins' performance in the last few minutes: "It was a great save. His job is to make saves. He started out slow and I thought in the second half he came up big. And I challenged him to do that. That's his job and he made a great save and we get a point on the road, which is important."
D.C. UNITED FORWARD JAIME MORENO
On his team's performance:
"In the first half, it was ugly and everyone had to step up and do their own job. I think we did better in the second half, but I don't think we are pleased with the whole performance of the game. But there will be games like that where you've got to fight and those are the days we have to get the point and make sure it doesn't happen again."
On his goal:
"I stole the ball and I faked it a couple times to cross it and when I crossed it, it went straight into the goal. It was too bad for the 'keeper. He thought it was going to go outside and it went it. It's one of those goals that don't look nice but at the end of the day we'll take it."
D.C. UNITED GOALKEEPER TROY PERKINS
On his succession of saves at the end of the match:
"Yes, they need the points, so they are going to push, push everything forward that they can. We had problems keeping possession there at the end and obviously that could have cost us but we dealt with it well. After coming off ten days, we were definitely a little rusty, a little lax. I think and we just have to come out with better attitudes and a little better mentality."
On coming out with a better attitude:
"Especially on the road, the first 15 minutes of the game we have to set the tone for ourselves and we kind of let them dictate the way the game was going to go. We have to do a better job than that. That's been our success for the past nine games, but we just didn't do it today."
