MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SATURDAY, MAY 21, 2005 - CHICAGO FIRE 2, COLORADO RAPIDS 1
CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH DAVE SARACHAN
On his team's play:
"Well, I was expecting this kind of response after last week. They
came out with a lot of energy, and a lot of the guys did that. We got
the first goal, which was very important. At halftime we expected
Colorado to come out and try to push, but we didn't expect to give up
a goal four minutes in. That was disappointing, but the response of
the team at that point was quite good. No one hung their head, and
they put the ball down and played and got the second goal, which I
felt confident we would get tonight. And I felt confident in the
team. Overall, it's an important win, it's a good win, and, we still
got some work to do, but I thought we were dangerous tonight."
On the lineup change:
"Well, when you carry a big roster, you have your reserve games, you
keep an eye on everybody. We have a good team here, one through
28, and I felt the changes with the players that we used
tonight who had a very good week - a few good weeks of training - I
felt that they were the best ones. So, it's competitive within the
group and that's the way we felt we would go tonight."
CHICAGO FIRE FORWARD ANDY HERRON
On the struggles to get his first Fire goal of the season:
"Well, you can't even imagine they way I feel. It was so hard for me,
and this first goal is something special to me and my team. If
Chicago keeps working like that, we can be something special."
CHICAGO FIRE DEFENDER LOGAN PAUSE
On the defensive performance:
"Well, I think adjustments needed to be made, and fortunately they
made quite a few for some of those guys. We got some guys that
brought a lot of energy and a lot of fight tonight. Gonzalo Segares
was unbelievable tonight and he deserves that too."
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH FERNANDO CLAVIJO
On the result:
"Today we did not play well; we did not possess the ball well. We
were very timid out of the back and we were reacting to the play and
not anticipating it. We always seemed one step behind. We played a lot
of people out of position today because of some of the injuries."
On the club's recent stretch of play:
"We have made some changes. It is very difficult to change some of these things right away. We have to identify [the problems] and we
keep making the same mistakes with the same people. There's not much
we can do. We have to keep working on it.
"Right now our goal is to make sure we look at Chivas and Salt Lake and San Jose and make it to the playoffs at the end of the year. We have to stop making changes and get a team that is going to commit itself over 90 minutes and in practice every day."
On what's next:
"Right now we have to go back home and look in the mirror. We have
two options - one is to just give up, which I won't. The other one is
to regroup and keep working and find a solution, and we will find a
solution, there's no question about it. I have no doubt that some of
the changes we've made will pay off sooner or later."
COLORADO RAPIDS FORWARD JEFF CUNNINGHAM
On Colorado's performance:
"I don't think we played well offensively at all. We didn't create
many chances and we didn't defend well as a team. It was an awful
performance."
On how the Rapids must rebound from the loss:
"We just have to regroup, go over the mistakes we've made and make
adjustments and go out and get two good results in these upcoming
games. There's no question to me that its desperation time right now.
We desperately need results. We just need to look in the mirror and
find a way to play at the next level, including myself."
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER ALAIN NKONG
On his first goal:
"It was a nice goal and I felt good. I hope I can score more goals
like this. Unfortunately we did not win the game. We need to work on
some things and win some games. I'm still trying to adjust to playing
with the team but I'm feeling better."
