NEW YORK RED BULLS 1, HOUSTON DYNAMO 0
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the win:
"I think it's a real good win obviously. Those games are never easy in those circumstances. We had to obviously play with 10 players for 60 minutes or so."
On halftime adjustments:
"We regrouped at halftime and obviously understood what we needed to do. We needed to defend well as a unit and pick our spots to go forward. But when the opportunity came for a chance, we had to bury it. It was a very intelligent game on behalf of our team. I thought in the second half the experienced players like [Ronald] Waterreus, [Claudio] Reyna and [Dave] van den Bergh really helped keep our team together and preserve the win."
On Jozy Altidore's goal:
"Great goal. The last two games he's had a few chances. That's what strikers are supposed to do, score goals. He's showing some maturity. Instead of putting his head down, he waited for the next chance and he put it away."
On Altidore:
"I'm sure he's a pretty confident kid anyway. Obviously, anytime forwards score goals they have confidence. He has a long way to go, he's not yet established as a player. There are a lot of areas that he needs to get better. He knows that."
On the team's next game vs. FC Dallas:
"We have a short week with the game at Dallas on Thursday and we need to appreciate what we did today, put it past us and go forward and get some points in Dallas."
On Clint Mathis' red card:
"I think sometimes some players, because of their reputation, get a little more attention from the referees. And it's early in the season for the referees and players. Mistakes are made that will not be made later in the season."
On playing a man down:
"I wanted this kind of exercise for our team; you have to learn to play in games like this. I told the team after the game, most teams lose this game and we won it. There's a lot of positive things that came out of the game."
On the play of the defense:
"Hunter (Freeman) was solid. I thought Hunter and Todd Dunivant played quite well. Our whole back line did. It was a really good effort from our guys. Give them credit, they played well. We've been limiting the chances our opponents have had. I think the leadership in goal has been good and our back line is maturing."
On Juan Pablo Angel:
"We know he is going to be in soon. I'm still not exactly sure on the visa process. We'll probably have in him in (training) here before he is granted his employment visa. It's a day-to-day thing."
NEW YORK RED BULLS FORWARD JOZY ALTIDORE
On getting a lot of chances:
"Yeah, too many chances, almost. I have to get better at that and every week I have to concentrate. Slowly I'm getting better, but still there's always room for improvement and I'm just happy that that last chance [worked out]."
On if he's ever been beaten up (physically) like in tonight's game:
"Well, my brother. Besides my brother, nobody else has beat me like that. Nobody beats me up like my brother like that so I can't let that happen."
On playing against such a physical defense:
"Defenders are going to do that for 90 minutes, it's just when you get a chance - when they're tired and you're tired -- you've got to focus. I could have [done] better, but I took my chance and it turned out for the best."
On his goal:
"I believe it was Hunter [Freeman] who threaded a pass in there. It was a tough ball, I didn't think he was going to get it in. But he got it in there and I concentrated on my first touch. We did that a lot in training, that kind of touch, and I just focused on it and made sure to try to hit the frame. Bruce told me to stay in it and that's what I did, and when another chance came, I buried it."
On having to play with 10 men after Clint Mathis' red card:
"[I thought] "dang". It was tough from then on for all the guys. He went off with 20 minutes left in the first half, maybe more? Then a whole half without him ... that just shows the character of our team this year - it's a different group, our mindset has changed - everything is new about us and it looked good out there."
NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER CARLOS MENDES
On the game:
"It's a great win for us. Playing with 10 men most of the game, it takes all of us to win that against a good team. Great result tonight, we're really happy with it and hopefully we can keep this going, but I think it's a team effort, it's not just the back four. We're defending and we're a tough team to beat right now."
On Clint Mathis' red card:
"(The referee) made the call and we have to deal with it and we did a great job. Obviously we got the three points and that's great for the team."
On what head coach Bruce Arena told the team at halftime:
"He said that we'll get a couple of chances and we just [have to] defend well, and hopefully either get the point or get three points."
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER CLAUDIO REYNA
On the game:
"Ten men for 60 minutes is very difficult. Everyone had to do their little bit extra to get the result. The good thing is that we believed that we could still win the game, and that was what we talked about at halftime. [We knew] we'd get a few chances and we did. Jozy did great up front -- he got a couple of chances and put one away and we defended really well throughout the whole team, all the way front to back. It's good because you know if you have this situation again, you know you can do it. So these are the type of games that, not only for now, but down the season, are important."
On the red card given to Clint Mathis:
"I think it was pretty obviously an overreaction by the referee. I think it was a yellow card at best. Clint didn't leave his feet, he got him with the follow through, but that happens so many times in a game when you're trying to block a ball and a guy follows through and he gets you. It wasn't intentional from what I saw, I was right there and it just shocked me - it was a very physical game, they played like that and that's something we know because they're aggressive and we knew we had to match them a little bit physically."
On his long-awaited Giants Stadium debut:
"The most important thing is that we won. The last 10 days I didn't train, so I think my legs will feel better in the next few games, but again, it turns out to be a game where we were on our back heels, defending for close to an hour against a good team, so I was pleased. ... Everyone did that little bit extra, that extra 10 percent to win.
"For me it was great - family friends and my kids were here and my wife and all my family and friends were able to come, so it was a special day. My son played before the game, which was nice, and he won, so that was good."
On Altidore's perseverance:
"He's got a bright future. Right now, he's very important for the team. He can hold the ball up, and we played Houston three times in the preseason, so I think those games gave him a lot of experience for what to go against.
"I think Eddie Robinson and [Ryan] Cochrane are probably the two most difficult, aggressive defenders to play against in the league, and that experience in the preseason helped him so much because he knew what he was going to get today and he stuck at it probably more than the games in preseason where he probably gave in to them. Today, he didn't. He kept going and his goal was great - the turn the finish, everything."
NEW YORK RED BULLS GOALKEEPER RONALD WATERREUS
On having not allowed a goal yet this season:
"It's good for the team, but I'd rather win 3-2 than play 0-0."
On tonight's defensive performance:
"It was [a] really great performance from the whole team - from top to bottom, I thought everyone worked as hard as [they] could. This is definitely a team win ... I know it's a cliché, but this was definitely a team win. I just overheard Claudio say that if you win a game like this, [then] you know you can do it."
HOUSTON DYNAMO HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On being shut out:
"Goals come and go, sometimes you go through some things when you can't find chances, you can't find the net. So, are we worried about not scoring goals? Yes, overall, we didn't play very well tonight and that's what really concerns me the most. We had territory because of the 10 men, but didn't get to the ball sharply, we gave the ball away in silly positions and we were slacking on defense. They took advantage of our lack of concentration and we didn't deserve anything tonight."
On Jozy Altidore's goal:
"Good play by them and poor concentration by us. He did that a couple times, he had a couple chances. He is their most talented threat."
On tonight's overall performance:
"We just didn't play well. You can ask it any way you want and you're going to get the same answer. We, as a group and as individuals, did not play well tonight and we should play better."
HOUSTON DYNAMO MIDFIELDER DWAYNE DE ROSARIO
On tonight's team effort:
"Not good enough, we're a much better team than that, especially when they went down to 10 men. I think we could have been a little more patient in terms of attacking and putting them out of areas where they are uncomfortable and exposing those areas, but we didn't do a good job of that. I think we were just a little flat and we had one or two chances, but playing against 10 men, you would think you would be able to create more chances."
On the lack of scoring:
"We have guys that can finish, there's no question about it. Hopefully we're still in first and we learn from our mistakes. We can only hope we don't get punished from this loss."
