KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 1, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 1
REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On getting two consecutive draws at home:
"I'm not complaining. We had four international players missing. We had
Shalrie Joseph playing with a broken nose. You've got Sasha Victorine
running headers all over the field and we're having to pull Jay Heaps from
defense to take over headers because Shalrie can't take a chance on heading
balls. We had a lot of things against us tonight and I think at halftime we
certainly deserved to be ahead of them. Certainly by the end of the game,
they had the better of us in the second half. We still managed to create a
couple of chances. Considering the changes we had to make and considering
the players we had out, we'd like to win at home, but we can't be too
disappointed. Kansas City are a well-done team. If you give them chances,
they'll punish you. The goal they got just spot them on. But we didn't lose
any more goals, and I think we more than deserved the point."
On the importance of Shalrie Joseph playing:
"Just his presence, to be honest. And certainly, had he not played we would
have had to made...the fact that we were missing four guys already, Shalrie
would have been the fifth and then we would have had to made a lot of
positional changes. So much upheaval is not great at the best of times, but
especially not against a team like Kansas (City), who are rigid and will
punish you for mistakes. It was important that he played there. Everybody
knew exactly what was expected of him. We can't be too disappointed.
Through 10 games we're undefeated, we're missing four guys today, we've got
a guy who's playing in obvious discomfort against a real good team. Of
course we want to win, but it was a good professional performance. I think
we should give credit to the guys who came on who haven't been playing. I
thought the finish was good, a credit to them, and they've obviously been
doing the training we thought they had."
On Khano Smith's performance:
"He scored a great goal, certainly a striker's goal. They can have problems
with his pace, we really didn't get him involved in the second half as much
as we did in the first. But he'll certainly cause people problems. Pat and
Taylor have played probably 40 games together, and Khano and Taylor haven't
played a game together. I think we're dreaming if we think they're going to
play once and be on the same wavelength. I thought they did pretty well
together and Khano scored a good goal."
On Jamie Holmes' substitute performance:
"Jamie's a guy who comes alive in the box. He's really a penalty box guy. He
plays balls in the box and he's one of those guys who has a knack for
getting on the end of things and that's why we put him on over Connally
(Edozien)."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER JAMES RILEY
On the game (tough workout):
"I'm starting to feel fit. I wish we could have gotten the "W" again. Yeah,
we're starting to get more good chances. I'm just trying to get back in
form."
On the Revs' third straight draw:
"There's definitely frustration. We always like to get the "W", especially
at home. I mean, we've got a lot of guys out. I think guys stepped up
tonight. It was just an unlucky chance in the second half, probably one of
only two real dangerous opportunities and they capitalized on it."
NEW ENGLAND GOALKEEPER MATT REIS:
On the end of the Revolution's home shutout streak:
"I wasn't really thinking about it at all. The only thing I'm trying to
think about is just them scoring goals."
On flow of the game:
"You know, we played really well in the first half and got our goal and then
we went into halftime pretty much on top of the game. We didn't come out as
well as we could have second half. They pressed us a bit and they got their
chances and they scored their one goal. And after that goal we just couldn't
finish our chances."
NEW ENGLAND FORWARD KHANO SMITH
On his goal:
"It was a good ball by Pepe. I just had to nip it in front of the defender
really and get a touch on it."
On his first start as a forward:
"I just wanted to help the team get a result today. It's too bad we didn't
get the win. I just help out however the team needs me. If I need to come
off the bench and start, then that's great. But, you know, wherever the team
needs me."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH BOB GANSLER
On the tie:
"Some ties you view as losses, and come you can say you accept that, it was
a good performance and we can build on that. The first half it seemed like
we needed those 45 minutes to get the lactic acid out of our system and the
second half I thought we were substantially the better team. We put some
fresh bodies in there and everybody made an impact. This was a good tie for
us, but it feels more like a win."
On using a new lineup:
"This was our fifth game in 15 days and you can throw in a reserve game last
weekend and another tomorrow. The schedule makers have a difficult job, but
they sure didn't do us any favors, but we all have to get through it. It
gave guys the opportunity to shine under extreme circumstances. I thought
Ryan Pore got better with every minute he was in there, Scott Sealy played a
very solid second half and Alex (Zotinca) jumping in after Preki gave us a
help and them something to worry about."
On Preki's first start of the year:
"He hung in there. It is difficult after a year and a half away from
competitive matches, but you have to applade him because of the work he has
put in. He gave us a helping hand for 45 minutes and I think that was all
that was in the tank, he might disagree. I think everyone in this locker
room is thankful he gave us those 45 minutes. It gave others guys like Alex
a chance to rest and bring what he had left in the tank."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS FORWARD RYAN PORE
On his first MLS start and first MLS appearance:
"Obviously it was fun out there. I thought I struggled a little at first,
but after the game went along I settled in and got going. I had butterflies
when Coach told me (I was starting) in the meeting this morning, but OI had
some time to calm down and think about how I should go out there and prepare
for the game. I got myself into some good positions, I just need to put
those chances away. I wasn't able to do that today, but I just have to keep
working."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS MIDFIELDER SASHA VICTORINE
On the tie:
"This was a little more palatable because in the second half we had a few
more opportunities to get more. I think that is why we were disappointed
against Chivas (on Wednesday) is that we didn't have those opportunities. We
are happy today because after going down a goal we came back and scored and
gave ourselves the opportunity to possible win the game."
On the goal:
"We had talked about that I could get in there and win some balls in the
air. I was trying to get in the box and get on the end of some crosses if I
could and Coach had been trying to give me the freedom to do that. Jose
(Burciaga) played a great ball into the box and I just tried to climb up as
high as I could. I didn't get as much on it as I was hoping, but I got
enough on it where it hit the ground before Matt (Reis) and skipped up and
he could only get his fingers on it barely. It was fortunate, but it was a
great ball and I just tried to get as much on it as possible."
