REAL SALT LAKE 2, FC DALLAS 2
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JOHN ELLINGER
On FC Dallas's equalizer:
"Nick [Rimando] called for the ball. Its one of those we'll have to look at when we look at the film, whether or not we should just let the defenders have it or just stay on your line. But when a goalkeeper says he thinks he can get it, he has to get it. Bottom line is you have to finish the game, whether its four minutes, two minutes, or five minutes."
On RSL's overall play on the day:
"First half I thought we played very well. We had most of the ball. Second half we came out and played well and we got the goal. I would have liked to have kept the ball a little bit more offensively, but we tried to get in behind almost every time we got ball rather than just trying to keep it and knock it around a little bit be a little more patient. The problem is that when you go for the home run all the time you're defending again and again."
On substituting Jason Kreis and Mehdi Ballouchy:
"Losing those two definitely hurt us at a crucial time as far as keeping the ball and keeping some composure. For the most part, though, I thought we were going to finish it out and get the win."
On his squad's plan of attack against FC Dallas:
"As far as following a game plan, I thought we came out and we wanted to put more pressure on them right from the start and make their backs make the game for them, and when we tried to do that it was working for us. We didn't want them to be able to play through midfield, and for most of the game we were able to squelch most of that."
On RSL's inability to finish off the game:
"It's one of those things. It's the first game. I can't get too fired up about it because there's 29 to go, but we have to close the game out. You can't go, you know, 'like here we go again.' But we missed the playoffs last year by two points and we just gave two points away."
On the play of Jeff Cunningham:
"I think it's great that Jeff got two goals today. We all know that strikers, when they get hot they can put chances away. It's a good thing for us that Jeff got goals in the opening game, so he'll have his confidence and we'll just build off of that."
On the play of Freddy Adu:
"Freddy played well. I thought that in the first half he played very well. He had less chances in the second half. I didn't think their outside backs were trying to go forward more, they were just trying to contain Jeff [Cunningham], Freddy, and Chris [Klein], not letting them get behind them. They tried to limit the one-on-one situations as much as they could. I felt that definitely in the first half he was a big impact for us."
On the impact of Carlos Ruiz:
"With Ruiz, you just got to know where he is on the field; he's that guy. If you leave him alone for 10 seconds, no matter how long the game goes, he can make you pay. You always have to know where he is on the field. That's what he does. He kind of does nothing for 93-1/2 minutes, 94 minutes, and then he gets a goal."
REAL SALT LAKE MIDFIELDER CHRIS KLEIN
On the result:
"We're disappointed for giving away what we thought was a deserved three points for us. But we need to learn from it and learn how to close out games. We played with intensity and we were the better team, but we tied the game. This is a good team and a tie in our first game is definitely not going to break us. This is a team that you're going to see contend for a lot this year."
On whether this is a reminder of last season's late-game struggles:
"Not at all ... this happens in soccer. What it is is learning how to win and how to close out games. Learning what to do and what you can't do. You're going to absorb pressure, and they did a good job, brought in a lot of attackers. But if we're going to be a good team this year we're going to have to learn to close out those one goal games. We didn't do that today, but on a whole I think we played very well.
REAL SALT LAKE GOALKEEPER NICK RIMANDO
On how the last FC Dallas goal occurred:
"The ball came into the box, I came out and yelled 'keeper,' Jack [Stewart] heads the ball past me and they get a goal. It's tough to swallow right now because we deserved three points."
If the result feels like a loss:
"Absolutely. The fans deserved a win, we deserved a win. For 93 minutes we were the better team out there and on one play we let down, didn't concentrate enough and it cost us a goal. We've just got to bounce back and I'm sure we will."
On whether he thought four minutes was too much stoppage time:
"There were a lot of guys down, so I figured there would be a lot of stoppage time. Good teams finish games off and we didn't do that today like we were supposed to and we needed to get those other two points."
REAL SALT LAKE MIDFIELDER FREDDY ADU
On RSL's performance:
"We know we played well, we just need to close out games better. We're just going to focus on that and do better next time."
On whether he was nervous for his first game with Real Salt Lake:
"No, no. I felt nervous for my first game in the league, but not today."
On playing with striker Jeff Cunningham:
"Jeff's great, he just finds ways to score goals. It just seems like he's always at the right spot at the right time and today's just another example of that. It hurts me that he doesn't get the respect he deserves from people because the guy is great. We all know that, the players on other teams know that. I just wish he'd get the respect he deserves because he just doesn't get enough credit for the work he puts in."
On the crowd's reaction to his play:
"It's fun. It makes me feel great and want to go out there and play well for the fans. That's what I'm certainly going to set out to do next week; now I've just got to take care of myself and try to be at 100 percent."
REAL SALT LAKE FORWARD JEFF CUNNINGHAM
On closing out the game:
"We let two points slip away. I felt like we were the better team tonight and we just didn't close the game out well enough, myself included. As a veteran in the league and a more experienced player, there were several situations in the last couple of minutes where I felt like, even though I had two goals on the offensive end, I made some bad decisions that may have led to that last goal. I had a few opportunities to hold the ball and keep possession and we chose to play direct and turned it over and that led to their goal."
On getting behind and dropping points:
"We have a tendency to [fall behind], where we feel when we're at home like things are going to go our way. I guess it's just the 'Real luck' where somehow teams always find a way to steal points away from us."
On RSL's play in the first half:
"The first half was beautiful. I was just watching number 'once' [Adu] and Mehdi Ballouchy and [Carey] Talley and [Jason] Kreis defensively, and the back four. We played good football. If we could play like that for 90 minutes I think we might have a good chance to win a few games this year."
FC DALLAS HEAD COACH STEVE MORROW
Overall thoughts on the match:
"Before the game we felt ready, felt prepared mentally and physically, felt confident. But we were just never able to get into any rhythm with our passing. We're a team that likes to pass the ball around. I think we were fighting against the surface for the whole game today and never able to play how we wanted. But I thought we fought right to the end and got what we deserved. If we would have lost that game I thought it would have been unjust. We deserved to get a point and credit to the boys for fighting to the end."
FC DALLAS CAPTAIN CARLOS RUIZ
On the result:
"I think we had a good attitude today, we never let our arms down and kept fighting for the 94 minutes. But we are also realistic and know we didn't play good. We know we didn't hold on to the ball adequately up top, left spaces in the middle, and on defense they scored when they got there. So we all share the blame. It was good to get a tie as visitors, but I don't think we played as good as we can."
