CHICAGO FIRE 2, REAL SALT LAKE 0
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On the match:
"I was pleased with the mentality of the guys and the way they come out. I thought we were really all over them. We were not possessing the ball as much as I would have liked in the first half. We were taking too many chances from over the top and that caused us to have to defend for long stretches of time. If you do not keep the ball in this league, the other team will keep it, then you get to defend for awhile, which just results in fatigue. My initial impression on the game is we were just not quite good enough. Our passing was not good enough, shots on goal were not good enough. The soccer tonight wasn't quite good enough."
On the debut of RSL forward Fabian Espindola:
"I thought he did well. He showed up in a lot of good spots, turned the ball and ran at some defenders. Laid off a good ball and ran in behind and had a chance to score. At the end of the day, would I have liked to see him put that in? For sure, but he did some good things."
On the attention surrounding Fire forward Cuauhtémoc Blanco:
"Certainly any player with professional experience that has played against a Latin American team a lot of time will find themselves the away team at home. So I don't think it would come as any surprise that there are a lot of fans here that adore Cuauhtémoc Blanco. He is a special player, and he deserves his merit."
REAL SALT LAKE FORWARD ALECKO ESKANDARIAN
On RSL's play:
"All around the field I don't think it was good enough. With that said, I thought the first 20 minutes or so we came out with the right attitude and were probably unlucky not to get a goal. Robbie [Findley] hit the post and I had a couple of chances I should have done better with. We were taking the game to them, but Blanco hits that bomb and it changes the whole game. We definitely didn't do well with possession and with the attack in general. It was tough tonight, we kind of played into their hands.
On the atmosphere at Rice-Eccles Stadium:
"This is the first time with our own crowd booing us, but with that said there was a lot of energy in the crowd. Obviously we would have liked to gotten the result, so we're not happy about that."
REAL SALT LAKE GOALKEEPER NICK RIMANDO
On the game:
"We came out trying to get a streak going, because we've been playing well. I thought we played all right tonight; we definitely came out and fought. I think we were maybe too aggressive; we wanted to force that final pass. The ball didn't bounce our way tonight. (It was a) great goal by [Cuauhtemoc] Blanco, killed us on the service again. I don't think we should hang our heads, but it should definitely boost us for next week. "
On Cuauhtémoc Blanco's performance:
"I think we're two different teams. [At Chicago] we barely came out of there with a 0-0 draw. Here they added [Paulo] Wanchope and Blanco. He's confident on the ball and when he gets the ball things happen. Two goals came out of it tonight, so yeah, they're definitely a different team, but we are too. We should have stood up to it and got our two as well."
REAL SALT LAKE MIDFIELDER KYLE BECKERMAN
On the disappointment of the loss after RSL's recent play:
"It was definitely a setback. We thought we had a real good chance of getting two (wins) in a row for the first time this season. It just didn't fall for us. We had a lot of good chances to get in front. Then to give one up before halftime, it hurt. Yeah, it was definitely a couple steps back when we thought we were going forward."
On what the team needs to do moving forward:
"We've just got to get ready for next week, we've got Chivas away. Just keep working hard. It's up to us, training and everything's been great, we've been working hard, we've just got to get the results in the games."
CHICAGO FIRE COACH JUAN CARLOS OSORIO
On the Fire forward tandem of Paulo Wanchope and Chris Rolfe:
"When you have the combination of a target man like Paulo, a real power who's very good at holding the ball up, and you combine that with Chris Rolfe's diagonal runs and him always trying to get in behind the defenders. We're very pleased with the way that has been working out for us. It's also very good to have someone like Chad [Barrett] that comes and does Paulo's job. We can then rotate the players and get Paulo a little bit of rest and give Chad a chance to play -- he almost scored too. I'm very pleased with that."
On the play of striker Cuauhtémoc Blanco:
"I think the idea was that, knowing that Salt Lake played a diamond figure in the middle, the idea was to have Cuauhtémoc play behind the anchor man. I think he did very well there, just receiving the ball, playing through balls and getting us going in the offensive third. I'm very pleased with Cuauhtémoc. It was a beautiful goal, as I'm sure you will all agree. I'm very pleased to have him on board."
CHICAGO FIRE GOALKEEPER MATT PICKENS
On the Fire defense:
"They're there every night for me, and I try to be there for them every night too. They got my back and I got their back, that's the way we play. We're a team, we're a family here, and you see it carries over on the field."
On collecting Chicago's seventh shutout of the season:
"It's not just me, it's a reflection on the whole team. Starting from the forwards, all the way to the back three, I had a lot of help. That's all I've got to say, they're there for me all the time."
