D.C. UNITED 4, TORONTO FC 1
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH TOM SOEHN:
On the game:
Yeah, l mean, I thought we came out flat in the first half and we knew they were going to bunker, I expected them to have 10 guys behind the ball in their own half and we knew it was going to be hard but we didn't anticipate balls given away and we reacted to them and that is unlike us.
On the busy schedule:
You know, it's a fine line playing so many games, resting guys and finding which pieces are going to work together and some days it works and some days it doesn't. Thankfully today we were able to inject some key guys and change the flow of the game. Having said that, the guys we took out after addressing some things at halftime, they want to come out and spark us as well, because we talked about a lot of things.
On the goals scored:
They were all great goals and looking at the first half, we had opportunities and when a team bunkers like they did, you got to score and get them out of their shell. We had opportunities and we didn't score. Granted, we weren't good in the first half, don't get me wrong but, when you score you and force them to play.
On Toronto's goal:
You can't get beat keeper side and Troy [Perkins] knows that and we addressed that and we have to make sure that doesn't happen again, because that has been twice now. I guarantee that won't happen a third time.
On the team coming out flat:
I think it's a game where you have to take it into perspective who you are playing and how they address the game and it's a tough game to play when there's 11 guys in their half of the field. There is not a lot of space and I don't think we dealt with it very well. And adding the type of players like Benny [Olsen] and Jaime [Moreno] who can deal with that and all of sudden it changes the complexion of the game and like I said I got after them really hard at halftime and maybe if we kept the same guys in the response would have been the same. I just think we put more into it.
On Luciano Emilio's goal:
He is opportunistic and [when] he gets an opportunity and he buries a ball like a lot of guys wouldn't. He is the beneficiary of having a lot of good players around him. But we brought him in for one reason - to score goals and I knew he would do it and he's that kind of guy whose got the qualities to do it.
On the second half:
Again, it's a credit to the team. And I don't ever want to single out anybody because it takes everybody to make yourself successful. Today we really injected subs that really changed the game and we have all year so it takes a full team of 28 and everybody benefitted from having good guys around them.
On the upcoming schedule:
We'll take off tomorrow. You know, we haven't gotten to high of highs and to low of lows because you have to turn around and play a big game coming up and I don't know if there's a [MLS] club team that's won in Mexico and that's a good challenge for us. I want to make sure that we are the first. And we are prime for that opportunity, but it's a difficult situation and they are a good team so we have a big task ahead of us.
On Luciano Emilio:
Luchi is the kind of guy that chases goals every game. And whatever the totals are I don't think he cares. He loves scoring goals and he loves to celebrate goals. I don't know that he has that in mind. He just wants to win games for us and that's the type of player he is.
On Emilio as an MVP candidate:
You always want guys in your organization and on your team to have some success and he's got a great shot at it and I hope he gets it.
On Devon McTavish:
You know Devon is maturing along with some other guys who have had significant minutes. And his distribution is getting better; he is getting caught in situations less where - he is the kind of guy where you give him too much time he going to hold the ball a little bit longer. But, defensively, he is hard to beat. His balls in the air are getting better and he has matured in so many ways. And he is going to continue to do that and I think there is still a big upside for him.
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER MARC BURCH
On scoring his first MLS goal:
It feels good. It's the fifth shot I've taken this year and I finally put one on frame. I'm happy to score and I'm happy that the team won. All the guys have been telling me to shoot, and it felt good to finally get up there and hit one."
On the substitutes:
We had a bad first half, but we brought those guys [Moreno and Olsen] on and it makes it a little different. When Benny gets out there, we pick it up and Jaime just brings something that no one else has.
D.C. UNITED FORWARD LUCIANO EMILIO
On his 20th goal:
It was a fortunate play. I was in the right place at the right time and I put it in. You can't practice that in training, it's just something that happens in the game.
On being the first player to score 20 goals since 2002:
Obviously, I'm happy, but the best part of scoring is helping the team out. Records are made to be broken, and if I'm at 20 [goals] now, hopefully I can score a few more in the next few games and set another record for someone else to break [D.C. United single season mark of 23].
On the single season team scoring record:
It's not my principal goal. The goal is for the team to keep winning and, if I score more goals, obviously, it's better.
TORONOTO FC HEAD COACH MO JOHNSTON
On his team's play:
It's tough to say it after giving up four goals, but I thought our defense was sound. With a team like DC, with that kind of depth, you know, bringing Moreno and Olsen off the bench, it's tough. You make a few mistakes and you give up goals.
On injuries/future:
We need a playmaker. We need an [Ronnie] O'Brien and a [Danny] Dichio. We are going to make a few big recruiting trips this off-season to Brazil and maybe to some camps in Argentina. Obviously, we are going to add depth with first-round draft picks.
TORONTO GOALKEEPER KENNY STAMATOPOULOS
On the game:
The defense in front of me was pretty good for most of the game, but we made a few mistakes in the second half that hurt us.
On the team's injuries:
It obviously hurts us to be without Ronnie [O'Brien] and Danny [Dichio], it's a fight. We need those guys back.
On D.C. United:
They are lucky to be injury-free at this point in the season. Bringing [Jaime] Moreno and [Ben] Olsen in off the bench in the second half is something any team would want.
