D.C. UNITED 1, COLORADO RAPIDS 1
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH PETER NOWAK
On the team's first-half play:
"No, I wasn't happy, that's for sure. We were pretty pathetic in the first half. We tried to play between the defensive line, but there was no space to play. We didn't use our wings. When we used our wings we gave Colorado trouble, but that wasn't too much, so I wasn't happy with that. I think the team understands that and the second half was a good effort, we just need to be a little smarter, use more of the wings. Jamil [Walker] had a chance right after the restart in the second half; we had a couple good chances. We have to continue to work."
On his team's eighth tie of the season:
"I'm really tired of this one point, one point, one point."
On what his team needs to do to improve:
"We need to be hungrier. I think right now we're at a very important stage to understand that, so we'll play...for the players' spots. We have to be ready. With this kind of performance today, we have to go back to work."
On what he will do to motivate his team:
"I think we have to be hungry not just for goals ... sometimes soccer doesn't work this way - being cute and playing easy games - sometimes you have to scratch and grab and that's what we'll have to do."
On David Stokes' performance:
"David was pretty good during the last couple of weeks. He played a very good game in New York - the reserve game - and that's why we decided to give him a shot. I think he did very well. Unfortunately, we were behind and we had to change a little bit - change the lineup a little bit to give us some more speed on the wings, as I said unfortunately for him."
On midfielder Christian Gomez's exit:
"Christian had some cramps, I think with the weather conditions being pretty difficult right now. It's nothing major."
On the play of Jamil Walker:
"Yeah, I was happy with his play. He needs to finish his chances. He had a chance in New York that was going to give us three points and today right after we started the second half he was one-v-one with the goalie ... you have to finish that."
On how newly acquired Matias Donnet will fit in with the team:
"It's going to be a few weeks [before he's eligible]. Right now, we have to give him an idea of how we play and work on his fitness. As soon as he is eligible to play we're going to give him a shot."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER JOSH GROS
On the team's play:
"It was a hot day. At 4 o'clock, we don't have too many of those. It's just a mentality thing - we have to come out better next time."
On whether distribution to the wings was a problem today:
"I think in the first half it definitely was. I was wide open a bunch of times, just calling for the ball and it just wasn't coming our way. But that's just the way the game goes sometimes, guys are open but you just can't get the ball there."
On Colorado's attempt at defensive pressure:
"Yeah it worked - that's what we should've been doing to them, what they were doing to us as far as their forwards pressing our backs. It works. In the second half we figured that out and once we started passing the ball and keeping the ball things started opening up for us."
D.C. UNITED FORWARD JAMIL WALKER
On Wednesday's Open Cup match against the New York Red Bulls:
"The Open Cup is just another chance for us to prove that we're the best team. We always like to beat them and this is a knockout phase, so if you lose you're out. We're looking to get a win, we thought we should've won last week [in New York] and we're just going to show we should've won. I think we just need something to get us going and I think this may be it. We have to win, we have to get a win."
D.C. UNITED FORWARD JAIME MORENO
On Christian Gomez's goal:
"The defender was behind me; I just faked that I was going to shoot it ... and I just passed it to him [Gomez] and he just had to tap it in."
On earning a tie:
"I was just disappointed in the way we played. The second half was better, but nothing like D.C. United usually plays. Definitely something that we have to talk about - think about what is wrong. We don't want to go through something like last year in the playoffs. I think that this is happening right now, the last couple games we haven't played well, but there's time now to put things right. So we'll go back and track where we were and go back to the winning streak."
On the team's hunger:
"We just have to put our feet on the ground and think that we're not Real Madrid or Manchester United, we're D.C. United and everyone has to do their job and I think we'll be fine."
D.C. UNITED FORWARD ALECKO ESKANDARIAN
On the team's play in the first half:
"There's no excuse for that. We just have to do better. We have to come out on teams and jump on them and make a statement early or, like what happened today, we're going to go down a goal. That shouldn't happen, that should never happen with this team."
On the locker room at halftime:
"It was pretty intense. We all knew it had to better. That was the bottom line, it just had to be better, especially our intensity level. There's just no excuse for that, our intensity has to be better."
D.C. UNITED DEFENDER BOBBY BOSWELL
On if the weather factored into today's result:
"It was hot in the first half. Nothing too crazy, just very humid. I don't think it came down to the heat today. I think it seemed that they died a little more than we did in the second half; we came out a little better than they did. Overall it was just not the greatest day of soccer."
On what the team has struggles with over the last few games:
"I think its just a couple things. The teams coming in just want to play us really well. Same thing when we're playing Dallas, or teams at the top of the table, we want to do well. We got to realize that - that they're hunting us down. I think we beat ourselves when we don't take care of the ball or make mistakes here and there - all those mistakes add up."
On the difference between the two halves of play:
"We got a little room and its unfortunate that the goal didn't fall, the second goal; I thought Jaime [Moreno] had one there. Overall, it was just one of those days when soccer wasn't the greatest - in the first half our effort wasn't the greatest. I think overall we improved on that and I think you saw a little better play [in the second half]. We just need to get back to work."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER BEN OLSEN
On the difference between the two halves of play:
"It's pretty simple - the commitment we showed the second half, getting after the ball and getting forward is how we've gotten to where we are right now. The first half is complacency, maybe a little bit of fatigue setting in, but we as a team - D.C. United - even throughout the history of this team, when we don't pressure the ball well and we give other teams time, we're not good. We're good when we're on the offensive, and attacking and putting pressure on the other team. We didn't have the bite or the legs to do that in the first half. In the second half, we found it."
On the first half:
"People pay good money to come and see us. To give that lackluster performance, to show that lack of commitment is unfair, unfair to them, unfair to the club and it's something we need to fix, especially at home. There's no excuse to have a half like that."
On what the game meant:
"[We can] take a positive out of it; we come back in the second half and I think did a good job, and started playing the way we've been playing throughout the season."
On the role turnovers played in the game:
"We were playing a lot of defense. Because we dropped off and weren't pressuring them, they had a lot of time, so we wasted our energy on defending rather than getting forward and playing that offensive stuff. So, we stopped moving for each other because we were tired from defending. We need to go at teams and put them under the gun right away and see if they can handle the pressure."
On if second-half substitute Jamil Walker made a difference:
"Absolutely. Jamil did a great job coming in. That's what we need, some fresh blood. The reality is, it has been a long week - you go to [New York] and put a lot of work into that game, some of that energy is going to be down, that's natural. Jamil did a good job of coming on and giving us a spark."
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH FERNANDO CLAVIJO [translated from Spanish]
On the game:
"The team was well-situated. They did some important things. The team responded. In the tactical sense, sometimes you plan things and the team doesn't do it. I think today the majority of teams come here to defend, but we attacked. We threw players forward. They have some impressive players like [Jaime] Moreno and [Christian] Gomez, who make the team play, and when they don't have the ball and you don't let it get to them, it complicates things for them - we did this in the first half. Logically we didn't defend like we needed to - and they tied it. The second half was complicated."
On the second half:
"In the second half, I had the impression that the home team was more accustomed to the heat than us. The fatigue, logically, had a lot to do with the second half, and so did D.C. United also trying to get a result. But we continued attacking, we continued creating chances, being dangerous."
On the result:
"It's a fair result for a team that came to get points. We attacked in numbers, but we didn't have the accuracy to take our chances at the last minute. That makes it impossible. But sometimes the effort expended in cutting down space and getting into space means that at the last minute you're a little tired. We had a point going into the game and we had to protect it. It wasn't an easy game, but it was a good game against a good team."
On D.C. United:
"D.C. United has players of an impressive level. At any minute they can get a result, like in the case of Moreno or Gomez. I think that today we kept them under control and for us this was one of the keys to getting a result."
On the length of the MLS season:
"It's a long season - there are teams that start off strong, but then go down. Remember last year San Jose led the league for a long time but lost it at the end. It's a long season - you have to plan well, you have to work hard with a lot of confidence, and try to get to the second part of the season in good form. You have to take care of yourself - there are a lot of games."
[In English:]
On the game and the result:
"I'm disappointed because we gave up the lead and we gave up two points. There are sometimes when you're lucky to get out with one, but I thought we did enough today. I think we played well. We managed the game very well. We played against a very good team with a lot of good players, very well-coached, so at the end of the day, to be realistic they created a lot of chances, it could have gone the other way, so at the end of the day, I think it was a fair score."
On the game and his team:
"Every game is different. I think tactically we played well today. The disposition of the players was outstanding - total effort by everyone. Today I thought we played well against D.C., but every game is different and it's a long season - we played very well."
On the team's standing:
"Overall we are fourth in the league. We managed to get some of the guys who were injured back in the lineup. We've got a very hard stretch ahead of us. I feel very comfortable that we're doing things the right way."
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER KYLE BECKERMAN
On playing in D.C.:
"D.C. is definitely a hometown for me. It's a great feeling [playing here]. I always get up to play against D.C., not only because they're a great team but because it's my hometown."
On the result:
"It's tough not to come out with a victory. When we're in a position to win the game at 1-0, then when they score to tie it up it doesn't feel as sweet as when you're down 1-0 and then you tie it up. But it's still a good result for us, we're always trying to gain points on the road, especially because we've got a lot of road games coming up, so we're going to take some positive things out of it. We played good soccer, we had chances to win the game, and we didn't give up too much."
COLORADO RAPIDS FORWARD THIAGO MARTINS [translated from Spanish]
On playing against D.C.:
"It's a pleasure to return here, to play against this team. We tried to play hard away from home because it's important to get points away from home. We played well against the best team in the league and a tie away from home is good. We needed another goal. I'm playing alone up top, so it's a little difficult. We played strong, with a lot of desire. Now we've got to get the fitness strength back for the next game."
[In English]
On the team's play:
"I think with the team performance everybody played really hard and that helps me at the top. Even though I'm playing by myself up top, if I don't have support from the other players, I can't do too much. But everyone stepped up and we got a great result on the road.
On the team's recent play and looking forward:
"I think that we have been up and down a lot, but now the time has come that we've got to prove ourselves as a good team, that we've got a good group of guys and good players, and we need to start taking every game as the last game. There aren't many games left and the spots are tight for the playoffs. It's important that we have the mentality that every game's a final and try to get a result."
On his role in today's game:
"I think my job on the field is not only to score, but also I did a good job of holding the ball up top. Sometimes, when you have the chance to go forward you don't have the legs because you put so much effort into holding the ball. Troy Perkins did a great job - I put the ball to the side and somehow he saved it. But that's his job - he's there to save it. I give the merits to the goalkeeper."
COLORADO RAPIDS GOALKEEPER JOE CANNON
On the team and the result:
"I thought as a team we played well. Anytime you go into a team like D.C. United's house and get a point you've got to feel good about yourself. All year long when you looked at the schedule you knew this was going to be a tough game - the 4 p.m. start, very humid, very hot, but we came in and I think the big thing today for us was just matching their effort."
On the second half and the play of United:
"We had a few breaks in the second half where it just seemed like they couldn't find the last pass or finish, so a little lucky there, but I think we earned this draw today.
"I think they've got guys that individually just hold themselves accountable, especially defensively. When you add into the mix that they've got guys like Christian Gomez, Jaime Moreno - a guy like Alecko Eskandarian up top - and you add that you've got Freddy [Adu] coming on and some other players that can definitely finish, it's a tough team to play. They're always on the same page together. Even the goal they got today, a lot of players would shoot that, be selfish, but Jaime looked up, saw Christian coming, and fed him pretty well. They're a great team because they work hard defensively and they've got some creative players offensively, but you got to give us some credit for matching their effort today."
On the goal and the game:
"We got our goal on a set piece today and that opened things up for us. Up to that point, we really didn't have any solid chances on goal and towards the end of the second half we got a little bit more and I think it was just because they were stretching to get the three points. They didn't want to tie us at home. I'm not going to say we've figured them out, but I think we match up pretty well against them especially when we bring our effort. The problem with D.C. is that if you don't play your 'A' game against them you could be in for a long day, especially here at RFK."
