COLORADO RAPIDS 3, COLUMBUS CREW 1
COLORADO RAPIDS HEAD COACH FERNANDO CLAVIJO
On the game:
"We were very tentative in the first half. We needed to be aggressive and step to the ball. In the second half we became more aggressive. We don't know what it was, but we took over."
On Terry Cooke's three assists:
"I told him I expect it out of him every game."
COLORADO RAPIDS MIDFIELDER TERRY COOKE
On his performance:
"(I) Pushed a lot higher and connected more passes."
On the team's improvement from last week:
"Last week's loss was a disappointment but we picked our heads up. Tonight we played a lot tighter. We had a lot more chances last week, but this week we finished them."
COLORADO RAPIDS FORWARD JACOB PETERSON
On his professional debut:
"It was exciting. We had just scored the third goal before I went in and it was a good feeling."
On his near goal:
"It's unfortunate. Next time I'll finish it."
COLUMBUS CREW HEAD COACH SIGI SCHMID
On the game:
"We wanted to continue doing the same things we were doing. We knew they were going to come up with a little more pressure so we wanted to try to get the ball out to the right. We got the ball to (Kyle) Martino but he was ineffective and Jacob (Thomas) also sort of disappeared."
On Thomas in the first half:
"He did very well. In the first half he was receiving passes. Colorado certainly played their part and we gave Terry Cooke too much space and at the end of the day we paid the price."
On the goal:
"We played much better in the first half. I thought Chad's goal was a good one off the free kick. We should have scored a couple more. I thought Chad Marshall was very good. Can't say the same about everyone that played in the second half, giving up soft goals."
On the preparation for the home opener:
"We need to improve on our concentration. We made a stride forward in the second half and proved that we can play good soccer. We should have been leading at halftime. We have to become mentally stronger."
COLUMBUS CREW DEFENDER CHAD MARSHALL
On the game:
"We played well in the first half. Second half they stepped it up and we were unable to match it and scored twice."
On his goal:
"It was a good cross from Danny (Szetela). We had been working on the runs this week in training. I was able to get in front of (Mike) Petke and get my right foot on the ball and find the corner of the net."
On what the team needs to do before their home opener:
"We have to have a good week of training. We cannot make the same mental mistakes, bad passes and giving the ball away in bad positions are killing us and the other teams are capitalizing. We are beating ourselves."
