NEW YORK RED BULLS 1, CHICAGO FIRE 0
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On Red Bulls forward Jozy Altidore:
"He's a kid with a lot of talent, we're hopeful that he's getting better. He certainly has promise. I think he's proven to be one of our better attacking forwards. I think he calms me down a little bit. He's a very mature young man. I'm very surprised at the kind of composure he has."
On the team's progression:
"Each and every week, they have gotten a little bit better. We had a couple of sequences over the last seven weeks where you play three games in a week and with a team with as many injuries as we have and with the lack of depth, it's hard. When we have a week of practice in-between games we play a little bit better. We're still new to each other and I guess we grow with each other each day in training.
"I think they've been getting better, we just haven't gotten any kind of real results to demonstrate that. Tonight, I think the guys played quite well for 90 minutes. It's been our most consistent game to date. I think all around it was a very good effort by our guys. I was very pleased."
On the playoffs:
"The win tonight keeps us alive in playoff contention. I would suspect that this whole thing, as usual, will go down to the last day."
On Danny O'Rourke and the defense:
"Danny O'Rourke played one of his better games. Our back line was very good. I think our goalkeeper may have had very little action tonight."
On Marvell Wynne:
"I thought Marvell Wynne had a terrific game, he had two fouls tonight from what I can recall and received a yellow card on both, so it was pretty harsh.
"Our spacing was good, we passed better, we held possession and it allowed a players like [Wynne] to push up the field a little bit more.
"His speed is certainly his strength, and now he's becoming a better soccer player tactically and improving technically. He put in a very good cross that created the goal. To me, this was Marvell's best game. He gets better every game. That's the reason why we're playing him because of the upside."
On Altidore and Wynne's progression:
"I think we need to be patient. There are going to be games where they are not so good and plays where they foul up, but that's all part of the growing process. I am very encouraged by the way those guys have played over the last couple of weeks."
NEW YORK RED BULLS FORWARD JOSMER ALTIDORE
On the feeling of scoring a game-winning goal:
"It's great. I mean, this feeling is unbelievable. I'll never get sick of it or used to it. It's a great feeling to score a game-winning goal for your team and when you're in the need of a win, it's just great."
On his scoring run:
"I hope I don't make it look that easy because it definitely isn't as easy as it looks but all you do is go out there and do your best. That's all the coaches ask for and that's all your teammates ask you for."
On his goal:
"A long ball went over and once I saw him take off, I realized I had to get into the box because he's probably the fastest guy in the league. I figured I had to get into the box and he was going to put it in and he gave it to me on a silver platter. All I had to do was be there."
On starting his first MLS game:
"I had an idea towards Wednesday's practice because [head coach Bruce Arena] put me with the starting team so I had a little idea that I was going to start. I figured that I'm going to get my opportunity soon because in practice, I've strived to do my best everyday. I've been doing that lately and I guess I've caught the coaches' eye."
NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER JEFF PARKE
On earning the shutout:
"It was huge because it's just a morale boost. It just helps the team and makes the guys ahead of us and the goalie believe that we can hold things down in the back and hopefully, they can do their job up front and get us the win."
On matching Chicago's intensity:
"It's always good because Chicago is a tough team and matching them coming out is very important because if they set the tone early, it's going to be a long game for us. Anytime that we can match their intensity and do better, it's always a good start for us because it lifts the whole team."
On Jozy Altidore's goal:
"It's great for him because he's a young kid and he was excellent tonight. I thought he was the man of the match. I'm impressed of how he's coming along and gaining confidence. He just goes out there and has fun. It's great to see the young kid come up and do his thing out there and let the other guys like us just watch him. It's fun for him and for all of us."
NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER MARVELL WYNNE
On the goal:
"I saw the ball coming down the middle of the field, Danny [O'Rourke] had the ball. I saw myself in a good position and with the line. Luckily, Danny played a great ball through, he saw me on the run. I went down the line, saw Jozy [Altidore] stick his hand out waving for it, crossed the ball, it got to him and he put it away."
On allowing one shot on goal Saturday:
"I did not know that fact, but hearing it, it's uplifting. One shot on goal, I mean you can't ask for too much more than that. I believe we are improving as a team, team management and everything else is coming through. We're finally developing a style that can carry over, but it's coming really late in the season."
NEW YORK RED BULLS DEFENDER CARLOS MENDES
On the game:
"I thought it was a good game. We played well for 90 minutes, we concentrated. That was the most important thing. We've had a lot of result where we should've gotten more points out of the game so tonight was good. We need to keep this going."
On Jozy Altidore:
"We've known him now for a little bit. He's full of confidence and he definitely doesn't act like a 16-year-old, he doesn't look like one, he doesn't play like one so he's really mature and he's got the confidence so he's got a very bright future and he's a great player."
CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH DAVE SARACHAN
On the Fire's performance:
"I think they beat us to a lot of balls tonight right from the start of the game. We never got into any possession of a rhythm. The disappointing part was that I didn't feel that we were out-soccered tonight but we were out-competed tonight. We knew they'd come hard and we didn't respond very well."
On Marvell Wynne:
"He's got a lot of speed and they pushed him high. He has his moments, obviously he made a good play off a mistake of ours to cross the ball for the goal."
On the rest of the year:
"We had a good week, given the fact that we lifted a trophy Wednesday, but the truth of the matter is we have to get back into our good workout habits again and realized that now that's over with and the league is important and we've got to do our best to lock up second place."
CHICAGO FIRE MIDFIELDER CHRIS ARMAS
On both teams' efforts:
"They had a lot of energy and they made it hard for us to play. But, in reality we just weren't very good with the ball. It's probably a combination, you credit them but for us, we fouled up a lot of plays. It just wasn't one of our collective better efforts of the year. We didn't really get any clear-cut chances tonight; they were better tonight, so credit them."
On team performance:
"We knew what to expect. We knew it was going to be a tough game, but on the road, you just have to execute a little better, especially with the ball. When you are that bad with the ball, it puts so much pressure on your backs and the midfield."
