MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SUNDAY, JULY 4, 2004 - COLORADO RAPIDS 1, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 0
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH TIM HANKINSON
On the importance of getting a result in front of the large crowd:
"Tonight was very exciting. The fans fuel you, and it was our third game in seven days, and I think everyone was a little tired on the legs. But once you get 50, 60,000 people pumping through your veins, it keeps you driving. To get the win in front of the fans on July fourth is always important."
On the game-winning goal:
"(Chris) Henderson's great effort to get on the header that hit the bar created it and Alberto's (Delgado) follow finished it, and that is what it takes, you just have to persistant, and the guys were rewarded for doing so."
On the play of his defense:
"The back four's and Joe's performance is really what saved us and gave us the chance to finally get the win. I think we have to do a better job at pressuring midfield and pressuring higher up; we've got a week to work on it."
COLORADO RAPIDS DEFENDER PABLO MASTROENI
On the team's overall play:
"The two road games we had we got results, and it was important that we got results here, too. I don't think that we created as many chances as we would have liked, but the chances we did create I think we did well with. We did well, but today was Joe Cannon's day; he made a bunch of great saves and kept us in the game, and that is what we need. Joe Cannon came up big today and helped us put one in the bag."
On the play of the Rapids defense:
"The five of us in the back are always working as a unit. We are always trying to get on the same page. When (Joe Cannon) is making good saves at critical times in the game it really filters down and gives us confidence as a team."
On playing in front of the big crowd tonight:
"Anytime something good happens and you hear that roar, you feel a sense of professionalism and a sense of urgency to get a result. So my hats off to all those that came out tonight to support their only soccer team in town, and hopefully we turned some heads tonight."
COLORADO RAPIDS GOALKEEPER JOE CANNON
On the team's overall play:
"I think those guys (the New England Revolution) came out, they fought hard and created some opportunities and we were fortunate enough to not give up one. But give credit to our back four and to the rest of the guys at the end of the game. I think we played the game pretty well. I am just excited to have a good performance in front of a lot fans. We just try to do it on a game-to-game basis."
On his play:
"I was very fortunate on some of the opportunities, I thought my positioning was well, and as far as game momentum I just think they (the Revolution) couldn't create as many good chances. Overall it was a good night. Once we got the lead it was my job to keep it, and the back four's job as well. For me it is nice to keep a clean sheet, but it is not even half as important as getting a result, and we were able to."
COLORADO RAPIDS FORWARD ALBERTO DELGADO
On his goal:
"It was great, especially getting the three points in front of such a great crowd at home. When you play in such an environment you need to make sure that you don't disappoint."
On his celebration:
"I planned it in advance and wanted to make something special on my first goal. Thank God I was able to score, but I almost forgot about the celebration after the goal."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On the game:
"Their goalie's Man of the Match and we couldn't find a way to score. End of story. We go away from home. We take it to the home team. The goalie's Man of the Match and we lose one-nil."
On why his team was able to dictate the tempo of most of the game:
"We've got some good players who can pass the ball and we passed it well. But what we didn't do is finish it off."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD PAT NOONAN
On the game:
"It's a disappointment. We have no business not walking out of there with a point or a win. We had too many chances to not put one away, myself included. We're not finding a way to win games. We're getting too far behind. We need to fix it immediately."
On what the Revs could have done differently:
"Not much. We played great for 90 minutes. But we still lost so there is something we could do and that's find a way to win and just have more desire because it's just not there. There's no killer instinct. There's not putting the dagger in them and that's why we're losing games."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION GOALKEEPER MATT REIS
On the goal:
"(Matt Crawford) played a cross in and Chris Henderson got just kind of a glancing header. I reacted to it and got it as much of it as I could. I got enough of it to get it off the bar and have it glance right to (Alberto) Delgado and he hits it right at me as I'm trying to recover getting up and it goes off me and in. It's just the kind thing where you can't really let people have that much freedom in the box. We played a great game up until then and that's the one that killed us."
On how he saw the game:
"They were at us a little in the first half. We adjusted tactically to what they were doing and in the second half they got tired. I think their game midweek definitely took a lot of their gas. We definitely, in the second half, had a lot of the ball and had our chances and we didn't really do as well as we should with them."
