KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 2, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION 1
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH BOB GANSLER
On the game:
"I told the guys this morning, we have been treading water and it is time to start swimming. It was a matter of being confident on either side of the ball and working for each other. This was the same (lineup) that finished the game in Columbus in the last 30 minutes with Kerry (Zavagnin) coming in for Jack Jewsbury. Their performance there earned them the start tonight."
On playing through injuries to Chris Klein and Tony Meola:
"We had adversity before the season and had to step up with Preki and Igor (Simutenkov) down and now we have to step up with Kleiny and Tony down. We have 23 guys on the roster and they are all capable of playing."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS GOALKEEPER BO OSHONIYI
On starting on short notice:
"We came out for warm-ups and Tony went through some footwork stuff and knew he couldn't go, so I found out right then and started getting ready to play. It is one of those things when you have to just get ready mentally, physically there isn't much you can do at that point. I have a good group of guys here with me so I felt confident they were going to give it their all and they did and we came out with a result."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS DEFENDER JIMMY CONRAD
On Meola's injury and Bo Oshoniyi stepping in:
"First Klein went down and now with Tony hurt it is like déjà vu, with Preki and Igor. As much as we were rallying around Bo, we were rallying around the guys that were hurt as well. Bo stepped up tonight and make some huge saves and was a big factor in us getting three points. He definitely was the man of the match."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS FORWARD JOSH WOLFF
On the win:
"For whatever reason, when we need to step up and get a result, we are able to do it. Tonight was another good example of 11, 12, 13, 14 guys just laying it out on the line. A lot of people contributed tonight. Obviously Bo came up extremely big for us on quick notice and Davy, myself, Jack and Igor were able to link up pretty good in the front third. Zavags (Kerry Zavagnin) and Diego worked their butts off in the midfield and our backs were solid again. It was a good, collective effort again and when we have success that is how it is, a team of 14 guys, and that is how we are going to win games this year."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH STEVE NICOL
On whether his team deserved a better result:
"Did we make chances? Yes we did. Other than the chances? No. We didn't have enough leaders out there on the field tonight. We were disorganized. We didn't look as though we were really dying for it. We weren't using our brains. We do certain things and talk about doing certain things in the game and we completely don't do it. We lose the second goal from a real simple, fundamental thing that I must have said 4,000 times this season, which is to roll the ball wide. We lose the second goal when we roll it right up the middle of the field. That's annoying."
On the shift from 3-5-2 to 4-4-2 in the first half:
"I didn't think it was working at all which is why we changed it. I thought (Richie) Baker was getting far too much work to do. He was making 60-yard runs defensively. (Steve) Ralston probably touched the ball a couple of time in the first 15 minutes and the balance wasn't right so we went back and got some decent shape."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD TAYLOR TWELLMAN
On what was said in the locker room at halftime:
"We came in at halftime and we weren't too happy with the way we were playing. There was a lot of space between the forwards and the backs. It definitely wasn't one of our best games."
On his goal:
"The ball was loose and I just tried to get a shot on goal."
On his chance in the 75th minute that was saved by Bo Oshoniyi:
"It was bang-bang, Stevie (Ralston) played me a good ball, I turned and hit it hard and low but unfortunately he (Bo Oshoniyi) was there."
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER SHALRIE JOSEPH
On the Revs' performance:
"I think we let three points slip tonight. We should have gotten some more goals we should, we should have created more chances. I think, in general, a lot of us didn't perform tonight. There were some parts of the game where we
performed for five, ten minutes in spurts. But through the 90 minutes we didn't perform well as a team."
On his team's apparent sluggishness:
"I think it was a lack of urgency, a lack of leadership. Some of us needed to take more responsibility for the game out there tonight and we didn't do that. I was, in general, passive, and we didn't take a leadership role through the midfield - me, Pepe (José Cancela) and (Steve) Ralston."
On the second Wizards goal:
"I think we just mentally shut down. We thought Avery had it and we stopped playing. They had a counterattack and (Josh) Wolff, I think it was, came out of nowhere and nobody communicated, nobody picked him up. Just lack of
communication through the midfield and the defense. I think that was the only real chance they had in the second half. The defense played great. The midfield let us down a little bit because we didn't step up."
