D.C. UNITED 4, CELTIC FC 0
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH PETER NOWAK
On whether he expected to win 4-0:
"Of course not - Celtic is a great team. They lost today. Maybe (it's because) they're missing some Polish guys [laughs]. It's a good result for us. They whole team played today as I said before the game. I did not expect that the game would go this way, but Celtic's still in the preseason."
On the play of the reserves:
"The young kids, they were really excited about this game, and they energized the game to come and score a goal."
On what game means for U.S. soccer:
"I'm sure when Celtic plays the Champions League games, it's going to be much, much different. When we play the league games, it's going to be different. But I was happy with the attitude. All we know right now is everyone will measure how well the U.S. soccer will go forward. I think right now we have good talent, great talent, very coachable, very athletic. The future is there. It's up to us coaching staff around the league: what are we going to do with the talent we have?"
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER FREDDY ADU
On Celtic and on the game:
"Teams like this, when you get on them, they don't like it. They're a big team. You can respect them, but when you run with them and get all up on them, they don't like it. And that's what we did. That's what I love about this team. We always play our game no matter what."
On his goal:
"Actually, the funny thing was, I came from an offsides position, and I had to come onsides and then make my run diagonal with the defense before I released. I give all credit to Christian [Gomez], because the whole time I was doing that he had the ball at his feet. So he's waiting for me to get onsides, run parallel with the defense and then take off. And he played the ball. And right when the ball left his foot, I just took off, and the rest is history. But I give all the credit to him because if he hadn't timed that to perfection, it wouldn't have been a goal."
D.C. UNITED DEFENDER BOBBY BOSWELL
On the game:
"It was a good night, man, we came out on fire. It's one thing to go out there and compete with them, and it's another thing to go out there and dominate them. Even when the guys came off the bench, I think we looked great. We were still kicking the ball and moving it around the field. Overall, we're really happy with how we played. We got to get ready for Saturday."
On whether he was surprised with 4-0 result:
"Yes and no. I mean, I knew they were going to be a little bit tired. They're in preseason in heat. They're not used to something like this. But yeah, you got to be a little bit (surprised). To think 4-0, if you told me that before the game, I don't think I would agree with you. But we came out on fire. When we're on, we put balls in the back of the net. We can do something like that to a lot of teams. Hopefully we'll keep this going."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER BEN OLSEN
On how big this win was:
"It's still a friendly. We're proud of this win. It's a good statement against a very good club. But, it's still a friendly. It's still preseason for them. It is what it is. But we'll take it - 4-0 sounds pretty good, D.C. United over Celtic."
On how Celtic looked:
"They looked rusty, yeah, but that's what preseason's about. They're going to be fine. They know what they're doing. We need to put this one behind us and move on and try to get some points in the league."
On the bench keeping the scoring going:
"That's been the story of the season: guys going down and other guys coming in. When they do come in, they give it what they have."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER JAMIL WALKER
On getting 4-0 win after so many 1-0 wins:
"It shows that we can score. We're happy to get a win whatever way we can. 1-0 shows that our defense is really good and a clean sheet is all we need. We can keep winning one-to-nothing, and that's fine. The goals will come eventually."
On the team's reaction to the win:
"Everyone is excited about the result today. I think that it will carry over to the next game. Knowing the team that they are and knowing that they're one of the top teams in Europe, everyone on the team is happy to get the result that we did even having our subs come in.:
CELTIC FC HEAD COACH GORDON STRACHAN
On what the team thought of tonight's game:
"We have not discussed the game with the players - we'll do that tomorrow. We'll sit down and analyze the game."
On each team's performance:
"D.C. United's energy in the second half was excellent, and as long as the game went on, [our] players felt less energy and drained. The coach's feedback is that the players feel very, very ragged and a bit tired, so that's disappointing. We're really disappointed for the Celtic fans that turned up tonight ... they'd like to see their team play a bit better."
On whether the team lacked chances:
"[No]. It's the lethargy really, and the passing. If you can't pass it right you'll never create chances, and if you're lethargic you'll give chances away. If you cure that then hopefully the other things will be cured: the chances and the defending. If you don't pass the ball, you don't get chances. It doesn't matter if you have the best striker, if you can't get the ball to him, you can't score. We've got to have a look at the passing. I'm sure that will get better - hopefully it's going to get better."
On how his players are feeling about the game:
"They're all frustrated. Last year our record was the best in the country. Make no mistake about it, we're gunning for that this year."
On tonight's result:
"We're hugely disappointed with the result. But the better team won. We need to work on the lethargy problem."
On other problems the team is facing:
"There is a mental lethargy that is going on too. We'll have to really have a look at that tonight, especially the goalkeeping coach. Everybody's got to get analyzed - it's not just the 'keeper. There is a mental lethargy as well as the physical lethargy, so we need to hope for the longer we stay here, we'll get better."
CELTIC FC MIDFIELDER STILIAN PETROV
On playing United:
"Yeah, they're tough. We've played three games, we didn't score a goal and we didn't look good. D.C. United played well, they moved the ball quick - quick enough. They looked sharper than us, and they got four very good goals."
On whether they are ready to begin their Scottish Premier League season:
"I don't know, it's up to us it seems like. In our league we're together, and we need to keep working because the season is just two weeks away. We don't look the way we should to defend our title."
On the team's expectations coming into the game:
"We knew ... Chelsea played against them, when they played they had a very hard game. We showed up today, they looked good, they looked sharp, and they deserved to win."
On their championship performance last season:
"We're very far from the form we had last season - too far. If we don't start playing well, it will be a very hard season."
On if they are fearful of the Champions League:
"If we perform like that, then yes. That's nothing like the Champions League. The pace there is quicker and if you make a mistake you get punished. So if we want to do well, we need to start playing."
On who is to blame for the breakdown tonight:
"It's the whole team. We don't separate each other, it's all the team. If we are losing it is all our faults."
