NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 1, COLUMBUS CREW 0
COLUMBUS CREW HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On his team's play:
"Sometimes that's the way it goes in soccer. I thought tonight we played fairly well when you look at our ability to possess the ball. We moved the ball forward. We were the better team in the first half and I thought we were the better team in the second half. There was a period of time right before the penalty where, for some reason, we couldn't get the ball out of the back. I can't fault our guys for our effort."
On his team's mindset following the loss:
"The positive is that we're disappointed. The positive is, we played a team like New England, who is perennially one of the top teams in our division and I thought for the most part, when you look at just the game in and of itself, I thought we played well. You're going to hit some speed bumps along the way as you play the season. This is a speed bump, but we've got to make sure it's not a detour and I'm confident it won't be."
On his team's busy schedule this week:
"When you don't win a game, you always want to get back and play. From a player's standpoint, they want to do that. It's a tough week with this game, then the Open Cup game, then we travel to Chivas [USA], so it's going to be a lot of work for our guys."
COLUMBUS CREW GOALKEEPER WILLIAM HESMER
On the penalty kick:
"It's frustrating, you do the hard part, then the easy part, you can't make the save on. Granted, it was a good strike, he's sitting there all by himself, but still, after you make a save, you're hoping that's the end of it."
On the team suffering its first home loss:
"Anytime you lose, it's tough. It's good to be in the locker room this year and feel this sense of disappointment among the guys. We feel that we played well enough to win. We had a great game plan going in and we had a great week of practice. We come out here and we don't have anything to show for it, but when we wake up tomorrow morning we've got to know that we're still a good team, we still showed that we're probably better than New England tonight. Granted, they got the result, but sometimes that's how it goes. We've still got to have confidence going into next week."
COLUMBUS CREW FORWARD ALEJANDRO MORENO
On the Crew's scoring opportunities:
"We created. We were pressing the issue in the second half. We were trying to get three points; we were trying to win the game. In the end, obviously a penalty kick is called and it changes the game, but we had our chances to put the game away and by not doing that, then we get punished in the end."
On the team's mindset:
"We'd be concerned if we weren't creating chances, if we were getting outplayed, but this a good team that came here from New England; it's a pretty solid team, a pretty experienced team. We were creating chances; we had a good rhythm to the game at times in the second half and at times in the first half, and it just wasn't meant to be. Now there have been times this season where we haven't played as well and we've been able to get a result, so it's just how the season goes and how the balance of the year is, but we've got to keep going. We've got a game against Salt Lake on Tuesday for the Open Cup, and it's good because that way we can get this game out of the way and worry about things that are coming in the future.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On the game:
"We felt, in the first half, we had a couple opportunities to have a go at their defense and didn't take them. It's something we've been preaching and wanted to get out of the back four and that didn't happen in the first half. So, that's why we made the change. We wanted Sainey [Nyassi] to get the ball. We still wish he'd got some more of it, so he could have a go at it.
On the penalty call late in the game:
"As far as the penalty; I think it was a good penalty. I don't think anybody will be arguing over it."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER MATT REIS
On the Revolution's play defensively:
"We didn't really give up too many chances. I thought we played great defensively. When you come on the road and get three points, you've got to be pleased with that."
On the Revolution's play offensively:
"I thought we did really well. We came here and we created chances. We got corners. We got free kicks. We were dangerous offensively. We didn't sit back and hope for a tie, we came out and attacked and we beat the top team in the league in their house, so I think we're all very pleased with that."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER STEVE RALSTON
On defeating Columbus on the road:
"Matt [Reis] made a great save early in the game to keep us in it and we kept fighting. The second half was a little bit better, we were able to find our forwards' feet a more than we were in the first half. They're a good team. They did a great job defensively of taking up a lot of space and not giving us any time and obviously, going forward, they're dangerous, so we're fortunate to get out of here with three points."
