NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 3, HOUSTON DYNAMO 0
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On the season-opening victory:
"It was a great win. I think in the first half we were definitely the better team. The second half, you saw the difference in fitness. They've been playing in the Champions' (Cup), and playing those games that means something. I think the second half showed we still have a wee bit to go as far as a competitive 90 minutes are concerned. Besides that, I think again we showed the attitude and the commitment of the players, stuck together, and the goal at the end was just the icing on the cake -- a fantastic goal. Overall, it's a great result and a great performance."
"They had a couple of set pieces, corners where (Richard) Mulrooney is putting great balls in. Sainey (Nyassi) had to clear one off the line at just the right time. But the way we went about the game, it was just great to watch. I'm sure everyone enjoyed watching the game; I certainly enjoyed watching it tonight. A great performances."
On Adam Cristman's last-minute start and goal:
"He deserves a pat on the back. All this preseason, Kenny Mansally has looked to be the guy who was going to be playing. But it shows you that Adam has kept working hard, kept believing in himself. I keep telling these guys you never know what's around the corner -- somebody gets injured, suspension, changes in the team. You have to be ready when the chance comes, and Adam Cristman showed you today what a good professional is."
On Sainey Nyassi's goal in added time:
"We were right behind him, and we were sitting waiting on the scissors. He does it all the time in training. Obviously he hadn't played a league game, so other people don't see him. But from the first minute to the 93rd minute, he's up and down the field. He was fantastic ... It's one game, albeit a great game for him. But it's one game. He'll learn that, when you have a performance like that, this is when the test comes -- the next game. Is that a one-off, or will you keep on producing that on a consistent level? So, fantastic performance, but the next couple of games are a test for him. He'll soon realize that every night is not going be like tonight. But his level of play was great tonight, and I'm sure he'll get better and better."
On the player of the game:
"I think on the third goal, you'd have to give it to Sainey (Nyassi). But that's taking away from the team performance. Every single person played their part. Reisy (Matt Reis) made a great save at 2-nil. Parky (Michael Parkhurst) was his normal, Chris (Albright) and Heapsy (Jay Heaps) at the back were pretty flawless. The five guys in the middle played some great football and did all the rotten jobs, and the two front worked hard. I don't think it's fair on the rest of the team, but with Sainey's first game, and such a great goal, you'd have to give it to him."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD ADAM CRISTMAN
On getting a 3-0 result in the season opener:
"(It was) moreso trying to be prepared, and weeks of preparation we've had with the team being tight. Yesterday was a good day of training. I was able to play with the starting group that played and it was a good training session, more so building off past few training sessions, good for us more than adrenaline, still show up and play everyday."
On the new faces on the team this year:
"It's good -- sometimes something new can add a lot to a group and we definitely got a lot of new faces and we are getting pretty deep. Even with some injuries, the depth of the team is good. It keeps everyone competitive and on his toes."
On opening the season with a win:
"Last season is over. The win is good in our minds to get revenge, if you want to call it that. But more importantly, it is great for the team to start out this way playing good soccer and getting some goals."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER SAINEY NYASSI
On his first MLS goal:
"The goal felt really great. I'm really happy about it. I exactly don't know, but I feel great and happy and I'm happy that I played a good game and hopefully I'll get going with it."
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On what he attributes the loss to:
"Individuals playing poorly all at the same time. We had too many guys have a bad night and when you do that, the team doesn't play well and you suffer. I can't see too many guys on our team that played well individually tonight and therefore, collectively, there's breakdowns all over the field. We had some chances to get it close, and we never did try and go forward. But I thought on the other side of the ball that we were second-best tonight."
"Expectations from ourselves are very high and it goes from game to game and minute to minute. We just kind of let the game be played instead of playing the game and we were bad tonight. If people want to say we were good, I'd raise some eyebrows at that because that's a very untrue statement. We weren't good tonight. I'm not going to say we should've won or should've come out with a point. We deserved to get beat tonight.
"We have a good goal keeper and good defense. We've had two bad games defensively this year in about 10 games but we have good players."
HOUSTON DYNAMO DEFENDER EDDIE ROBINSON
On the loss:
"This game, and especially in this league, it's a mental game: if you're not 100 percent every single night you're going to lose. I mean, take it back to last year we lost only three games in our last 22, to three bottom teams in the league -- Salt Lake, L.A. and Colorado. If you don't show up mentally, you're going to get beat and tonight we got run off the park."
On putting the loss behind them:
"We have a game in three days so we have to forget this. In the (CONCACAF) Champions' Cup you have to win your home games. It's a home-friendly tournament. If we dwell on this we're going to be in trouble. We got off to a real bad start last season and we don't want that same thing to happen to us again this year. So whatever we do, we just have to get this game out of our minds."
