KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 3, COLORADO RAPIDS 2
at Arrowhead Stadium, Saturday, April 2, 2005
Kansas City Wizards head coach Bob Gansler
On the offensive explosion:
"We created opportunities. We got three goals and the
fourth was a layup, but we didn't quite finish it. In
the first half we were up 2-0 and created enough
opportunities to be up more."
On the defensive lapse in the second half:
"It was not that they (Colorado) changed formations,
it was just that we got caught not being as attentive
as we usually are defensively. But I'm not going to
dwell on the negative, we came out of the chute the
way we wanted to with a 'W' and three points."
Kansas City Wizards midfielder Chris Klein
On the offensive performance:
"Offensively we got things going early. We were moving
as a team and moving off the ball an Josh (Wolff) and Davy (Arnaud) did
a good job holding the ball. We are going to be tough
to stop, I think we did a good job tonight."
On the team's defensive lapse in the second half:
"Last year, with our defense it was like if we got
that one goal were going to win. But you can't go a
whole season and have your defense hold up every time.
They have some very explosive players on offense, but
defensively we did a good job. We gave up two goals,
but luckily we got three."
Kansas City Wizards forward Josh Wolff
On the result:
"That is the way you want to start games at home. We
had some good looks, but (Colorado goalkeeper) Joe (Cannon) came up with
some big saves early and kept them in it. I think in
the end the pressure got to them and we got some
opportunities and were able to get two pretty quick
goals and open the game up. We made it difficult for
ourselves in the end giving up two goals, but were are
certainly happy to get three points at home."
Colorado Rapids head coach Fernando Clavijo
On the result:
"Disappointed, of course. We didn't play well enough in the first half. We
had a good first 20 minutes, but then we gave away two goals. The second
half we played much better; we regrouped and were able to score two
goals, but still end up short. The overall effort was good."
On the halftime substitution:
"We made some changes because Pablo Mastroeni was playing his third game
in six days. We have to look at the other 31 games ahead of us and take
advantage of the depth in our roster without risking to lose a player
because of overplaying him."
On Jeff Cunningham's performance:
"It's a long season for us and with people coming off the bench with the
same intensity as Jeff but starting with the initial kick, we will see
better results. He came in and in less then 10 seconds he scored a
beautiful goal that out us back into the game."
Colorado Rapids forward Jeff Cunningham
On his goal:
"Great ball by (Chris) Henderson and I just came back from behind the defenders
to redirect with a header and finish the play."
On the offense:
"With a lot of new players it takes games to get things on the same
rhythm, but one thing we showed today is the character to comeback and
compete for 90 minutes and character is something that you either have
or not, it doesn't come with time"
On the second half:
"The main difference is that we came out and committed to go forward
more and open the game more and it paid off with two goals."
Colorado Rapids Captain Pablo Mastroeni
On the attitude of the team:
"We played well the first 20 minutes, but they struck first. The guys
came out with a great mentality and attitude in the second half to get
back into the game."
On the depth of the roster:
"Especially with everything going on this year, World Cup qualifier and
other international competitions, I just think it is important to have a
team as deep as this one with players like Mark Chung, Jeff Cunnigham
and Alain Nkong to be able to contribute at any time."
