2006 MLS CUP PLAYOFFS - QUOTE SHEET
EASTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINAL SERIES - SECOND LEG
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2006 - D.C. UNITED 1, NEW YORK RED BULLS 1; D.C. WINS 2-1 ON AGGREGATE
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH PETER NOWAK
On the game:
"It doesn't really matter [how the team played]. The goal was to advance to the conference final. People always talk about how teams play great against us and have more possession: it doesn't really matter. We achieved this goal with fight and effort, and this is more important than anything. This group fought to the end today. We believed that we could score a goal, even when the game wasn't going our way. We didn't want to go to PKs, we didn't want to go to extra time. We wanted to finish the game at home in the regular 90 minutes."
On his team's performance:
"The main point I stressed to my players before this series was that we have to keep possession. We had trouble with that. It's not because we aren't sharp on the ball. It's because New York was throwing numbers forward and playing high pressure. Even when we had a chance to play the ball forward, we didn't look for our options; we didn't create enough options. Christian [Gomez] was a little too high as a second forward, so we had to adjust the situation in the second half. We played at times with four forwards: it was just too much. Matias Donnet brought a lot of energy when he came in, and Rod [Dyachenko] kept the ball pretty good. We didn't play how we wanted to play, but at the end of the day, we are going to play next Sunday against New England."
On going into the game with a 1-0 lead:
"You saw yesterday, how both games were really tight. You never know what will happen, and you can't get too comfortable with the situation. New York threw a lot of numbers forward, and we have to adjust better and read the game better - there's still a couple of days to work on that."
On the 21,455 in attendance:
"As a player, you never want to play at RFK Stadium. As a coach, you just enjoy seeing this kind of crowd. The moment we know if we haven't been good, or if we are having trouble, the crowd is still fantastic. They are behind me and behind the players. It is something you will never forget, and it can raise you up from a difficult situation."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER FREDDY ADU
On his team's play:
"I don't think we've played this bad in a long time. We lost a couple of games toward the end of the season, but we didn't play this bad. But it's the playoffs: we dug in there and kept fighting and kept scrapping away. Our passes weren't as crisp as they used to be, but we just chipping away. We were able to get a draw and move on."
On the game:
"This gives us motivation to get better. You can't play like this and keep winning. We know we have to get better and we are going to work on that this week. They had guys in there like [Seth] Stammler that were just pressuring constantly. Even out wide, they just kept pressing forward because they had to get a goal. They had to, and that's what they did. I think they caught us on our heels a little bit and it took a little time to adjust. When we went down a goal, we didn't panic. We just kept playing, because we knew if we kept pressing, we would catch them on their heels and force a mistake and get a goal back."
D.C. UNITED GOALKEEPER TROY PERKINS
On the game:
"It was a tough game. We really struggled to get our possession and our rhythm going early. They really came at us pretty hard, and that shows why Bruce Arena is as good as he is. It was a good physical match: it was ugly overall. I thought we did well, and we got fortunate there in the end."
On if the team's 1-0 lead affected their performance:
"I think it did. I think we came out a little lackadaisical in the beginning. You could see the first 10-15 minutes that we didn't have the intensity we should have. We've got to learn from that, be able to get past that and that will make us better."
On the team relying too much on Christian Gomez:
"We're walking a thin line. But you look past this game and other guys are going to step up I think. You look through the whole season and, yeah [Gomez] has done a lot for us, but there are a lot of guys on the field that have done a lot too. But we do rely a little too much on him I think."
On the crowd:
"Our crowd's the best in the league; they are awesome. You could just hear them. They could tell that our energy was down, and they really picked us up, especially after the goal. They stayed in it, and that's what we need."
On New York's play:
"They are down 1-0 and that have to come out hard. They have to push and push and push. And they did well; they closed us down and made us play long balls, which is not our style. You close off all our options, and we can't get in our rhythm. But we have a lot of veterans on this team that were here for a lot of the cups, so we kept fighting."
On the playoffs:
"You can definitely feel the pressure, coming from the upper management all the way down here. When you step on that field, you can feel it. But at the end of the day, it's just the same game you've been playing all year."
D.C. UNITED FORWARD JAIME MORENO
On the game:
"They played way better than us. We weren't ready tonight for the way they played us. I think we got caught a lot of times. They won a lot of second balls. It was a hard game, but at the end of the day, the score is what matters."
On if he was worried about how the team played:
"I think the scary part is over. We know we played really bad tonight. But in the worst-case scenario, we got a tie. Now we have all week to talk about it, to train the same way we did last week. We are still human. We make mistakes, but to be champion, you can't make the mistakes that we did tonight. We were lucky. For the next game, we will have to play way better."
On Christian Gomez:
"It's been a great year for Christian, and he continued with his great performance. It was such an important goal that he scored tonight to put us in the final. He never surprises me because I knew what kind of player he was. That's just what he does in practice. He trains hard and he plays better every time."
NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH BRUCE ARENA
On the result of the game:
"We wanted to win the game. That's not the game that we had planned. We didn't come here to have a point and go home. We came here to win the game. We were in position to get into an extra game, and we didn't take advantage of the opportunity. The game I had planned was that one."
On whether this game is a bitter pill:
"Not a bitter pill. What's the opposite of a bitter pill? A sweet pill? It was very pleasing to see the progress by the team and players. I think that's been good for three months. I think they made progress. The record doesn't necessarily indicate that, but we made a lot of progress over the last couple months, so I was pleased. It's a good effort and good performance at the end of the year to be a better team, and you walk off the field with a game next week, and we had that opportunity."
On possible offside on Christian Gomez's goal:
"Somebody told me it might have been offside. I don't know. I can't tell. I think obviously a little bit of a loss of concentration. I think we were too focused on trying to maybe get the second goal and end the whole playoff. We lost our concentration a little bit, but I can't tell. I just saw a loose guy on the back post, and the ball beat our goalkeeper to the near post. I didn't see much more than that, obviously a breakdown by a few players."
On the play of Josmer Altidore:
"Josmer did pretty good, pretty good for 16 years old, but again [he's] a kid who has a lot of potential and a long way to go. So we're not going to put the cart ahead of the horse here. We need to give him his time to develop as a player."
On what his team has to do during the offseason:
"The league is a very difficult league to maintain and build on the status quo. It's very difficult to get increasingly better. The system is in theory equitable, but it's a little imbalanced depending on the decisions on how you can bring in some players. We're hopeful that we get a few favorable decisions on our part, so we can improve the roster."
NEW YORK RED BULLS FORWARD YOURI DJORKAEFF
On his time at New York:
"There's a lot to change. New York gave me a huge hug when I came here. I really enjoy to be here, to play here."
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER DEMA KOVALENKO
On the result of the game:
"They know they got lucky - they know. We outplayed them, totally outplayed them. But I told them good luck in the playoffs because they're going on. When you have chances, you have to score and we didn't. And that's the game. If you don't score, that's the name of the game. We wish them the best, but I think that our team grew a lot. We did better each game. We got better and better. I know one thing that we're going to get better, and we're going to be competitive. Next year it's not going to be a goal to be in the playoffs, we're going to be in the playoffs."
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER AMADO GUEVARA [via a translator]
On the Red Bulls' play today:
"When you have five chances to be able to put the ball in the net and you don't take advantage of those opportunities, then at the end you pay for those missed goals. I think that's what happened today."
On the end of the Red Bulls' season:
"We definitely changed at the end the way we finish. You can see that the team turned things around, and that definitely gives some more hope the way we finished. And we played very well against a team that was on the top, and we had a great game today."
