CHICAGO FIRE 4, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 0
CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH DENIS HAMLETT
On Tomasz Frankowski's performance:
"We've seen all preseason his ability running in the box. You saw it tonight. He gets half a chance on goal and he's pretty good as far as finishing. Tonight is what we saw all preseason, and I feel that it was a great night for him."
On the game:
"The guys were into it tonight and got a great first goal. I think that was a great start to the evening, and our guys came ready to play."
CHICAGO FIRE FORWARD TOMASZ FRANKOWSKI
On scoring two goals in his first home game with the Fire:
"I am happy with the two goals. We played well, we won the game, we got three points and we're going to get ready for the next game."
On the early New England ejection:
"I didn't see the tackle, but I think even without the red card we would have still won the game. I think scoring a goal in the fourth minute and with the red card in the seventh minute it made it easier."
On the game:
"We went in with a good focus, thinking we could win this game and wanted to score quickly."
On the rivalry:
"I spoke with Chad Barrett before the game and he told me that every year there is a big rivalry with New England and this battle we won."
CHICAGO FIRE GOALKEEPER JON BUSCH
On the shutout:
"Most importantly the boys in front of me played great. They eliminated a lot of what I had to do tonight. I had to make a few saves on crosses, but the defense and even the midfield took very good care of me and made it a routine night."
On the early New England ejection:
"Obviously playing a man up is huge and we kept the ball moving. It was definitely an advantage for us."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On the beginning of the game:
"It was a bad start, absolutely, but the sending off completely spoiled the game."
On whether he thought the Larentowicz foul was a red card:
"You must be joking. You must be joking. If you're going to start sending people off for things like that, there will be no one left by the end of the season. And it's not a red card but if you're going to referee a game like that, do it for both sides. Ten minutes later, Justin Mapp has a two-footed straight leg tackle on somebody and we get a free kick, nothing else. So, it's a nonsense decision but if you're going to do that, then do it for both teams. But that takes away from the bad decision; it's just a bad decision. It spoils the game, the game is spoiled completely."
On whether the team could have held it together better after the red card:
"The second goal was a poor goal. It was just poor decision making. Even though we were one-nil down and 10 men, we still think we have a decent team. The second goal was just a very bad goal to give up. It really put us up against it. You're always learning. I think next time if we have a similar situation arises, I think we'll change it [the defense] a bit quicker. So, we've learned something tonight. We still had intentions of saving the situation and probably should have just consolidated a bit more rather than straight away trying to save the situation."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER MATT REIS
On the early red card:
"When it happens that early in the game, you have a long way to go. We did the best we could under the circumstances. You're playing against more than just the Chicago Fire out there, you're playing against the elements and you're playing against the referee."
On playing 83 minutes with 10 men:
"You just have to deal with it, there's no changing it. You have to deal with the situation and try to do the best you can. We have a lot of guys out there that are inexperienced; we have a lot of young guys out there. It was definitely a learning game for us, a learning half, and I think in the second half we did all right. We created a chance or two down a man and we limited their chances. Obviously they weren't throwing everything forward because they had a comfortable lead but under the circumstances we did well in the second half."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION DEFENDER MICHAEL PARKHURST
On what to take away from the match:
"We kept them out the second half, we got forward a little bit. We'll take that out of it. But hopefully that game Wednesday will come real quick because we still have a lot to prove."
