I saw their faces in there and we just had a good talk. I think it was a good eye-opener for us, to show that we can't just step onto the field and win games, we've got to do all the little things right, winning 50-50 balls, being sharp and having ways out and we didn't do that today."
On being without Jaime Moreno for the last two weeks:
"That is all in hindsight; whatever you don't know the answers to that. It's unfortunate, he steps in a hole and turns his ankle, but it was more precautionary to take him out. So it will be fine."
On not starting a few players:
"You can see that with Greg [Vanney] you have so much experience in the back and I know we missed that today and it's important to make sure Greg is ready in the [playoff] stretch and you can see what kind of energy Ben [Olsen] brings out. He was probably the best guy on the field when he came on. It was important to get the couple of guys you know need rest. It was important and now we have to turn our focus to Monday and get back to work. I think it was a great lesson for all of us. We know what we have to do to win games and it wasn't good enough today."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER BRIAN CARROLL
On the team's effort:
"I don't want to say it was a lack of urgency, I think that everyone was out there trying to get a result tonight, but for whatever reason, maybe it appeared that way, but I wouldn't want anyone to play in that capacity."
On the Columbus attack:
"They were just opportunistic. Robbie Rogers had some pace coming out of midfield, and took his chances well. I think it was more of us not playing at our best and not moving the ball well or creating opportunities."
On injuries to Emilio and Moreno:
"Whenever you lose a player of Jaime [Moreno]'s caliber or Luci [Emilio]'s, due to some knocks, it's a blow to your team, but other guys come in and they are called upon to work hard and get the result, but the bottom line is we weren't able to do it tonight."
On the first round of playoffs:
"We are going to find out who we are playing here soon, but no matter who we play it's about us working hard and making sure that our game is the best it can be. Give me the time and the day and I'm going to be working hard all week for the next game."
D.C. UNITED DEFENDER BOBBY BOSWELL
On the team's effort:
"We can make all the excuses we want, but we just didn't get it done today. But, we know what we have to do, and we are going to move forward and get ready for the playoffs."
On the final regular-season game:
"That's not the way we wanted to end the regular season, but we are still in the postseason -- we live to fight another day and we've got to take care of business when the playoffs come around."
On injuries to Emilio and Moreno:
"You never want to lose those guys and that hurt us tonight for sure. But we are a deep team and we have dealt with injuries before, it's part of the game. I don't know the severity of those injuries, but I'm pretty sure they will both be back and ready as soon as they can."
On Soehn's halftime and postgame talks:
"He was mad at halftime, and he wanted to make sure that we understood that he thought it was a buildup to this, that it wasn't just tonight but the week of practice leading up to it as well. I agree with him."
On similar regular-season finishes the last two years:
"You gain experience from it, and you've got to show up every week. Last year, well, it's just a cruel game. You want to go out there and put your best performance out there on the field, and we need to make sure we work hard during the week so that we are prepared. Tommy [Soehn] will make sure we are, and we will be ready when playoffs come."
D.C. UNITED GOALKEEPER TROY PERKINS
On whether or not this was a good way to end the regular season:
"Yes and no. It's kind of good that we played this badly because it wakes some people up. It kind of shows us that we aren't as good as we think we are, and that we have to work hard to be good. On the other hand, it's not a really good way to go into the playoffs. We've just got to put it behind us and remember that this is basically a brand new season starting Thursday."
On the defense and overall play:
"Everyone was a little lackadaisical and a little flat. That hurt us, it really set the tone for us and we never got out of that funk. We had trouble keeping the ball, so we've got to come Monday and be a little better and sharper because next week everyone is on an equal playing field."
COLUMBUS CREW HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On Robbie Rogers:
"He's a good player. He played very well before he went to the under-20s. He had a good Under-20 World Cup, and then he sort of fell in the hole when he came back. When you look at what he's done in the last two weeks, he's showing that he can be a player that has a very, very bright future. I was really pleased with what he did tonight."
On his team's play tonight:
"It was good. I was still not happy with the injury-time goals. Obviously, Christian Gomez scores a great goal, but we were giving him a lot of chances. That's something we have to do better. The penalty kick goal was -- I don't understand it. I mean why would our guys try to intentionally handle the ball if we're clearing it? It makes no sense to me. But, I thought it was good. I thought Adam Moffat had a good debut game. Andrew Peterson played well. He started to cramp up, so we had to take him out. I think we had five guys who are 22 or younger. We weren't planning on it, but we ended up trying some of the things we felt could be there for next year."
On the future of the team:
"Making the playoffs this year would have been very important from the standpoint of our growth and development. I don't know how far we would have gotten in the playoffs, but for Robbie [Rogers] and the young guys to be in the playoffs and get that experience. Now we'll go into next year and get to the playoffs and not have the prior playoff experience. It could delay things another year, but our record right now for this team is better than New England's record was in 2004 when they beat the Crew. The Crew had the best record, and so you look at that nucleus and what they've done in '05, '06, and '07. If you allow this nucleus to stay together, I think this can do something similar."
COLUMBUS CREW MIDFIELDER EDDIE GAVEN
On the team's season:
"We lost so many games at home this year. I think the big thing was that we lost games late where we were tied late and end up giving up a goal and losing or we're winning and give up a goal and end up tying. We lost so many points late in the last 10 minutes this year. It's something that we're going to have to work on next year, just knowing what point of the game it is."
COLUMBUS CREW FORWARD ROBBIE ROGERS
On the future of the team:
"It shows that the future -- we have a lot of young guys. It shows that we can be a good team. But I'm not happy about how we did this season at all."
On the win:
"It's a really good win. We win these games on the road, but we need to start winning the games at home. I'm really happy with what we did today, and we can actually now bring our focus to next season and winning the games that we should win."
