COLORADO RAPIDS 2, D.C. UNITED 1
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH FERNANDO CLAVIJO
On the game:
"What I just said to the guys right now was: 'We cannot ask Joe (Cannon) to save our lives.' As a team I think we won the game today. Joe made unbelievable saves and we punished them when we needed to. We didn't give up any early goals, at least in the first half, but the effort was outstanding. I'm glad to see (Aitor) Karanka have his first game and he made an impression on all of us and it was also nice to see Nicolas (Hernandez) score his first goal. (The defense) was better. I have to commend Pablo (Mastoreni), even with him leaving for the World Cup, his effort, coming out and playing 90 minutes really shows his leadership in this team."
COLORADO RAPIDS FORWARD JOVAN KIROVSKI
On the result:
"It shows great character and great spirit. This was the fifth time we have gone behind and just to comeback and win it was fantastic. I'm just playing, enjoying it and hopefully we win it. If I score its great. We just have to stick to what we are doing. Today we had a great game. It was the best game we have played all year. Aitor (Karanka) was excellent in the back and it just shows the quality he has."
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER PABLO MASTROENI
On the game:
"Its one of those things where I train the same way that I play. Every game is of the same significance whether it is with club or country, league or World Cup. To me it was important to come out and leave the Rapids on a good note. These are the guys you work and travel with all preseason and battle in traning. There's nothing better than to get a great result with a great bunch of guys."
COLORADO RAPIDS DEFENDER AITOR KARANKA
On his first MLS appearance:
"I feel very comfortable and glad the team played as well as it did. It was a special game. Not only was I making my debut but the crowd was great and it was against one of the best teams in the league. When the team wins you don't look at the details it is just an overall great feeling."
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH PETER NOWAK
On the game:
"I think Joe (Cannon) made good saves but the chances we made, we have the experience and firepower to score those goals. They were good saves but we need to do better. In some cases the final pass didn't come our way. We didn't focus on the last pass but we scored a pretty good goal and I think the penalty kick gave Colorado a little bit more life. I don't know about the second goal, I'll have to see it, for what really happened. We are playing an away game and got the goal (scored on us) by the counterattack. That should not happen to this team."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER JOSH GROS
On the D.C. goal:
"I got the ball and started running at goal. I was wide open on the side. (Eskandarian) made a nice pass and Christian (Gomez) made a nice run. I was just lucky to sneak it in there and Christian did the rest."
On losing the game:
"I think we dropped back a little too much. We got too defensive after our goal and they were able to come at us a little bit more than they had been, but that is soccer. We are on the road and were trying to preserve the win but it was a big momentum swing."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER FREDDY ADU
On the game:
"The momentum definitely shifted a lot. It's one of those things where we are up 1-0, controlling the game and all of the sudden they get a break and score on a PK. It's their home field and they are used to the altitude more than we are. They pressured us a lot and they got away with it. We know we can play better and we just have to bounce back from this."
