MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER QUOTE SHEET
SATURDAY, MAY 22, 2004 - KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 2, DALLAS BURN 0
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH BOB GANSLER
On the game:
"Our leaders stepped up tonight. In the first half Tony (Meola) kept us in the game and for sure you have to give Dallas credit, but you have to give me the blame. I was trying to get Vuk (Rasovic) in there. What we rehearse in practice is one thing but you have also got to get him in some games. There were a series of misunderstandings and that is not on his bad ledger, it was on mine. On the other end of the ball we didn't get much put together, but at halftime we put a familiar face in there with Shavar (Thomas) and Josh stepped up in the second half. It was a good win for the guys and at home we always plan on three points."
On the play of Josh Wolff:
"I think it was a very good. We are so statistically oriented, but there were a number of games in the first six where he was just as good as he was tonight in terms of the way he showed and the way he ran off the ball and the way he put other people into dangerous positions, but he didn't get the finish. He has been playing well and tonight he harvested the fruit."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS MIDFIELDER JACK JEWSBURY
On the team's performance:
"I thought we came out strong the first 20 minutes, but after the first 20 I don't know what happened. We just lost a little of our momentum. We wanted to come out better in the second half and we definitely controlled the second half and got two goals and a shutout, so it was a good win for us."
On his goal:
"(Philip Salyer) was just waiting for me and I was homing in. He didn't heard me come up from behind. I just tried to get whatever I could on it, I think I got my right cleat on it and kept trying to push it over the line because I didn't think it was going to get over. I was hoping (my first goal) would come one of these days. I didn't know when. It was good to get in there and play and if I can provide some goals as well, then that always helps."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS FORWARD JOSH WOLFF
On his performance:
"I played well in both Chicago games and in Dallas. That's life as a forward. Sometimes you can play well and create chances and you don't make them and that can be frustrating. You have to remember the season is 30 games long. If you stay patient and so the simple things eventually you'll get it going and then you gain confidence. I think the last couple games we have lacked confidence and patience, but tonight it worked out for us. You can't forget Tony stopped three breakaways in the first half and we could have been down in a hurry."
On his goal:
"It was just a good flick by Davy (Arnaud) and then it clipped Jolley on the back and it just sat there at the top of the 18. I took a little peek at the near post and just hit it hard. In other games you can be dangerous and the goalkeeper makes a save or it doesn't go in, tonight they went in."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS DEFENDER NICK GARCIA
On his return from injury:
"I thought we played well the first 20 minutes and then we had a lull in the last 15 minutes of the first half. We just kept on fighting and we did well as a team and I thought we deserved the three points. We were well organized and took care of business. My foot was 100 percent tonight and my fitness was about 90 percent, but more games are definitely going to help it."
DALLAS BURN HEAD COACH COLIN CLARKE
On the game:
"In the first half, we weathered their early storm for about the first 15 minutes and then we gradually worked ourselves into the game and had good possession and we even had the chance early on with the Bobby (Rhine) breakaway. We controlled the rest of the half possession-wise and had our chances. We've just got to make those chances count. You can't have that much possession and good opportunities and not score."
On the team's lack of finishing:
"It's been the same story for four games. We created and I thought we were the better team but we didn't take our chances and they hung around. They got the first one and then we were struggling from then on. I thought we had most of the possession in the second half up until the goal, which was a pretty bizarre-looking goal."
On what the team did well offensively in the first half:
"I thought they were holding their line pretty high and then we were able to get in behind them. You get two one-on-ones with the goalkeeper, you've got to take at least one of them."
DALLAS BURN FORWARD EDDIE JOHNSON
Burn forward Eddie Johnson:
"The chances were there. It's like Colin [Clarke] said, we've got to do better with our chances. And tonight we weren't sharp in front of the goal. We created enough chances and we just didn't have that hunger in the final third inside the box. The chances are there, and have been there, we're just not finishing them right now."
DALLAS BURN GOALKEEPER SCOTT GARLICK
On what happened on the first goal:
"Well, the guy hit it with his foot and it went in."
