CHIVAS USA 2, COLORADO RAPIDS 1
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH FERNANDO CLAVIJO
On the game:
"(Chivas USA) clearly slowed the game down from the beginning. In the first 25 minutes I thought they were a team ready to be beat. We just didn't do anything to beat them. We were very poor, there was no energy and our passing was horrible. It just reminded me of (the) San Jose (game) all over again. It seems like we are overlooking teams in distress. It wasn't what Chivas did, it was what we didn't do. We put on pressure in the last 10 minutes, but should have put it the first 80. Christian (Gomez) needs to understand that he is a marked man. Every team that we have played so far has put someone out there to follow him all over the field."
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER COLIN CLARK
On the game:
"I felt like we came out a little slow. When we played a dangerous ball forward, we would always go negative with the next pass. When we played a safe pass, we would play another safe pass. They were man-marking Christian and I think they did a very good job at that. I think in a 3-5-2, every third touch needs to go through your playmaker and we failed to do that. The way they were coached to play against our formation was very good. It was almost as if they were playing a 4-5-1 or 4-3-3. Their two outside players would drop and cut the angles from (Facundo Erpen) to me and Kosuke (Kimura) to (Jacob Peterson). The outside midfielders in our formation are very important and they did a very good job of cutting us out."
COLORADO RAPIDS DEFENDER UGO IHEMELU
On the game:
"I think they came out with a plan and they executed on their plan. We didn't force our game on them so we had to switch the formation we were playing at home. They came at us and got goals like a team would get that is playing away from home. It's very disappointing, we had three games at home and our goal was to get nine points while we're at home because they say it's a tough place for other teams to come play."
CHIVAS USA HEAD COACH PREKI
On the game:
"I thought the overall performance of the whole team was pretty good; we knew what we wanted to get here and we got it. We've got good momentum right now and hopefully next week against Columbus we can get another three points and get on top of the division."
On Jesse Marsch's goal, and the importance of getting the first goal:
"It's always important to get the first goal. He made a good run, Justin (Braun) made a good play, and Jesse finished it very nicely. But it's always important for us to get the second goal, like we did at the end of the game."
On the play of the defense:
"I told them they did a tremendous job tonight. I was very pleased with the way they played."
CHIVAS USA DEFENDER BOBBY BURLING
On playing in front of hometown fans:
"There was obviously a lot of emotion going into it, but I just tried to say focused. We came out here to get three points and build on what we did last week at home and I think everybody fought hard for each other. It was a hard-fought win on the road; we were unlucky to not get the shutout but credit to (Tom McManus) for a great shot. We could have stepped to him a bit earlier but a great goal none the less.
On importance of the win for the team:
"To come on the road and get three points, and to build on last week's win I think is huge. We got a game next Saturday; we're going back home and are just going to try to protect the home turf."
CHIVAS USA MIDFIELDER JESSE MARSCH
On the game and getting a win away from home:
"Not only did the guys put a lot into it tonight (the game), also there was some good soccer out there. I feel like our team is starting come around a little bit, and the soccer is starting to catch up with the group. If we can keep that going, I feel that we'll get more and more good results."
On the first goal:
"When Justin (Braun) got the ball, I was just yelling at him because I knew I was wide open. It (the ball) got a little bit lucky to get through, but then it was on my left and I knew someone was coming so I just tried to set him up, but once it got on my right I just put it in the goal. At the last minute I saw Bouna's hand coming, and I thought he was going to save it but it still went in."
On importance of getting the first goal in the match:
"That was huge, and we're obviously a different team when we get the first goal. The guys fought hard, and the soccer is getting better and better."
