MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2004 - CHICAGO FIRE 2, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 0
CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH DAVE SARACHAN
On the result:
"This is an important game for us. Three points was huge and it was great to have Chris [Armas] back on the field, no question about it. And obviously Andy Herron's debut was a beauty. He's a real forward and good around the goal and that combination played out real well. It was not a pretty game, but sometimes you have to win that way. The possession part could have been better but the result was important tonight."
On forward Andy Herron:
"He's a strong, powerful guy that's good with his back to the goal, but he's also good at running forward, he's got a variety of qualities. He's an international, has played in big games before. He understands how to play and he's good around the goal, obviously, so those are the things we saw in training. He showed very well tonight. From day one he felt very comfortable here and our guys got to understand him pretty quickly, and vice versa."
CHICAGO FIRE FORWARD ANDY HERRON
On whether or not he expected his two-goal performance tonight:
"I was one player out there. I came to Chicago to work and score some goals and I was doing it in practice, but I was never sure that I'd score two goals in the first game. The chances were there and I just tried to get them in."
On his partnership with Chris Armas tonight:
"Chris is a great player. Maybe if we keep on working together a lot of things can happen. I'll be happy in Chicago if Chris crosses the ball all the time and I can score."
On the differences between MLS and the club game in Costa Rica:
"The football in MLS [involves] more speed. You have to play really fast and always forward because there is really hard pressure here as you get the ball. It's just much faster. The stadiums are bigger here, but the people that go to the stadiums in Costa Rica, there's 18,000 maybe, so there's the same amount of people."
On whether or not he was nervous in his first start:
"No. I'm been playing soccer since I was small, from since I was four or five years old. If you love soccer you don't have to feel nervous."
CHICAGO FIRE GOALKEEPER HENRY RING
On his first shutout in over three months in league play:
"It's been a long time since we put together a game where I've had an opportunity to get a shutout and it's been awhile since we've closed out a game solidly. I'm glad the 90 minutes is over and I got a zero on the board."
On the play of the Chicago back line:
"New England put a lot of pressure on us and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves by not being good with the ball. My defense obviously took care of me, as usual. They came up huge for me and on a couple of plays I was able to come up big for them."
On facing the Revolution attack:
"I thought they put together a lot of good plays. Last week they put six goals in the net. That means this week they weren't as good in the box, but they were a lot to handle."
CHICAGO FIRE CAPTAIN CHRIS ARMAS
On the Fire's performance:
"This was the biggest game of the year and we approached it that other way. We said we wanted to come out with the same concentration we had a few nights ago and when you work hard like that and defend hard you hope you're going to produce some good scoring chances. Andy Herron had a good game for himself, a couple of chances and a couple of goals. Overall a good team effort."
On the team's halftime conversation:
"Just try to keep holding the ball, passing the ball, and keep up the intensity and the second goal would come."
On returning to the Fire line-up off his knee surgery:
"I felt good. I'm just trying to build back my game fitness. I wanted to get some good, solid minutes and maybe lift the team a little bit. It was a good opportunity to do that at home and I think I was able to do that."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On the final result:
"The game is all about putting the ball into the back of the net. Chicago did and we didn't."
On the Revolution attack:
"We gave the ball away and we had three golden chances and we hit the goalkeeper each time. They had two."
On the play of Chicago striker Andy Herron:
"He took the goals well. He got two chances and he took them well. They put the ball in the net and we didn't. As far as possession of the ball is concerned, I wouldn't be surprised if we had more than them. We didn't do enough with it and we didn't put the ball in the net when we did make some chances."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD PAT NOONAN
On the team's performance:
"No urgency, really. I didn't think we had enough urgency going forward. That's not putting blame on anybody. It's the whole team. We didn't have the urgency to get forward and get the ball wide like we did last week and use our ability out wide to get services in and we had carelessness all around the field. We kept turning the ball over. It was killing us. We can't turn the ball over like that and expect to win."
On the performance of Chris Armas:
"He's a great player and he adds a lot for them. At the same time it's his first game back in a while. And he shouldn't have been a factor in the game as much as he was. We should have been taking it to him all day and trying to run him off the field. Not taking anything away from him, he's a great player and he had two great assists."
On the team's outlook after the loss:
"It's in our hands. We can win three games if we want them."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER MATT REIS
On the difference between two teams:
"They were fighting and scrapping for every ball. (Referee) Kevin Stott kind of let the teams play a bit and it was a battle out there. And whoever battled the hardest won. We did fight but we seemed to get on the losing end of the 50-50 balls."
On the goals:
"I don't know if it was offside or not but we were pushed up really high. Basically, it was a tuck away. On the second goal we didn't clear out of the box and Chris Armas played a good ball in and found Andy Herron wide open on the back door. So, they finished their chances. The ones we had we didn't do a really good job of testing the goalkeeper. We kind of hit it right at him again. That's the difference."
