KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 4, D.C. UNITED 2
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH TOM SOEHN
On the loss:
"As a whole, I think we're a little bit busy reading all the predictions of how well we're doing and hearing how good of a team we are. And then we forget about all the little things that make you a good team - how hard you work, how clean you are with the ball, your reactions. We're going to take two weeks and we're going to fix it."
On the team's defense:
"What you have to remember is defending starts with the whole team. It starts with the front, how you break down, your reactions to counter attacks, giving away balls ... there were a lot of mistakes today and you can't recover from giving away two goals - that's too many."
On his plans to fix the problems:
"You're going to sit and you're going to watch a lot of tape and you're going to watch for mistakes and look for similar mistakes and we're going to work hard. Right now we've forgotten what it takes to win games. There's a lot of little battles that you've got to win on the field and right now we're not winning enough of them."
On substituting Fred for Facundo Erpen:
"We had to chase the game at that point and were looking to put an offensive threat in. I thought Fred came in and energized the game, I thought he did a pretty good job. We're going to continue to look for ways to get him on the field as he continues to understand what we're about. He added life and he added energy, and we're going to look for a way that he best suits us to get him on the field."
On the team:
"Ultimately, like I said, it's still a team and you've got to get back to work and work on all the things that made us so good in the beginning. Like I said, we're too busy reading articles about how good we are we forgot to do that on the field. You can't just show up and think you're going to win - you have to put a lot of work into it. We're going to evaluate what we need to do better and get back to work."
On having to recover from two early goals:
"Anytime you come home and play in front of our fans, you have expectations of what you're going to do and you never draw it up that you're going to go down two goals that early, whether someone slipped or someone got beat. But, having said that, you deal with it and now you rearrange and set yourselves up to get back in the game and then we allowed two more goals. Regardless, you let four goals in and you've got no chance - soccer's a game of one or two goals winning a game and, if you look at every situation we broke down, whether it's counter attacks or giveaways or slipping, that's all stuff we need to correct."
On Devon McTavish's play:
"I thought Devon did well, even when we pushed him to the back - he did real well. Clyde [Simms] was hurt, turned his ankle in training and couldn't go, so we went with Devon, who gave us quality minutes last year and I thought he did well last night."
On the good fortune of having a bye week:
"Absolutely, we've got a lot to work on."
D.C. UNITED GOALKEEPER TROY PERKINS
On the team's start:
"Well, back in 1996, I'm pretty sure they started 0-6 and came back and won the championship. So, we can't hang our heads too low and need to pick ourselves up a little bit."
On United's main problems:
"I wouldn't say it's organization, I think it's little things. We're not focusing on little things and we're getting sloppy with everything we do. We're turning balls over in really bad spots and the league's getting to the point where you turn the ball over there, they're going to punish you. I think maybe we've got a little too much confidence in ourselves and we're not taking these games the way we're should."
On the possibility of switching to a four-man defensive line:
"I don't know. That's a coaching decision, not mine. But, other teams are starting to play us with pushing three on and playing 1-v-1 the whole match and sometimes that'll get you on a good night and you need to re-evaluate, but like I said, that's a coaching decision, not mine."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER BRIAN CARROLL
On K.C.'s last goal:
"Once they got that fourth goal, it was kind of a pain, maybe too much of a hill to climb back at that point."
On who needs to improve:
"Everyone. Everyone's got to play better. I think, as a team, we didn't start well and going down two goals, we had to open ourselves up to get two goals back. Once we evened up the score, we just let ourselves down going into halftime and then it was playing catch-up the rest of the way, pushing numbers forward and once they got the fourth goal, it was just too much."
On the possibility of United being overconfident:
"It could be, but it shouldn't be. Just because someone says that you may be good, doesn't mean that you're good enough to not have to go out and prove it on the field. We need to get back to basics and work harder and do what we need to do to get it right on the field to get some good results, because it's everybody - everybody's got to play better."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH CURT ONALFO
On starting the season with a win on the road:
"It's a great way to start out the season and gain some confidence. If we can continue to do the things we did tonight then we'll be a good team all season long."
On the younger players:
"I think they did very well. Just like any young player, there are things we could have done better, and we'll work on that. But we want to make sure they continue to get time on the field."
On the future:
"We're going to keep playing our game, going to keep playing our style. We're going to show up and play the same way and like I said, continue to get better. There are some things in the game we need to improve on. We're going to look at ourselves as a team and continue to progress. We get a little better every day, and I think today you saw a team that believes in themselves and we're going to continue to do it."
On whether or not he was nervous:
"No butterflies. I've wanted to do this for a long time. I'm not going to let nerves get the best of me. I am going to enjoy every minute of it."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS DEFENDER JIMMY CONRAD
On the game:
"We came out to a flying start, scored two quick goals. We let them back in the game. They took advantage of some situations. But I thought we did well to fight back and show our character on the road. The goal before the half is obviously pretty big and I think that flattened them a little bit. We came back with a great mentality in the second half and scored early. Eddie [Johnson] and Scott [Sealy] were dangerous tonight. And I think we need to win every game we play because we're playing better than pretty much any team in the league."
On the potential of the team:
"We need to harness Eddie and Scott and we have figure out a way to be successful. They did a pretty good job of getting service in the box. The team is dangerous and as long as we continue to have that mentality and that attitude and capitalizing on other teams' mistakes, I think we'll have a good situation at the end of the year."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS DEFENDER JACK JEWSBURY
On whether the team has gelled:
"Yes - the stuff we've been working on for the last nine weeks in preseason. Our time in Florida and the great Argentina trip gave us great preparation for games like this. The extra week, we were anxious, and finally to finally get to play."
On the game:
"I think we defended well. We knew that D.C. was going to come out [hard]. I think it was their home opener. Anytime you play in D.C., it's a tough place to play, and I think we overcame that. We started off well. We got two early goals and I think you can't control what the ref does but I just think we overcame that, we got another goal before half and I think overall I think it's a great performance and great performance before we face Salt Lake."
