D.C. UNITED 1, REAL SALT LAKE 1
D.C. UNITED HEAD COACH PETER NOWAK
On the team's performance:
"We played a good game. We need to be a little bit smarter. We're leading 1-0 and I told them, we still have inexperienced guys playing in the game. Stephen [deRoux] wanted to go forward and Rod [Dyachenko] is pushing, but we need to keep the ball a little bit longer. We played very good in the first half, the ball was moving very well, and the last half didn't go as we wanted. We missed a couple of good chances in the first half. We had enough chances to win the game, but we made a couple of mistakes and the goal wasn't necessary, but the performance was pretty good."
On the performance of the new guys:
"They played very well. For Matias [Donnet], it was his first game here, and Stephen and Rod Dyachenko and Brandon Prideaux coming back from injury - we can be pretty happy with all these performances."
On the play of Stephen deRoux:
"He's pushing forward. He's strong enough with his body and he can blow by the defender. He can be very good."
On Matias Donnet:
"Matias is a very smart player. He makes a couple of good crosses inside and we make a couple of good passes to him, spread the ball. It's going to take time to make sure that he's on the same page with everybody."
On trying to hold on to the Supporters' Shield:
"We want to win it. That's a pressure that we want to have. We're in a good position right now to just keep going and we'll see what the other teams do, but we don't care about that - they're going to win or lose or tie - we've just got to play our game. And with the experience in this team, after a performance like that - they lost two points - but, we're going to get back those points."
On resting Troy Perkins:
"It was a decision together with Mark [Simpson], Tommy [Soehn], Nick, and Troy [Perkins]. I think Nick [Rimando] deserves to play. In the U.S. Open Cup, he was working very hard during this stretch and I think he deserves to play. That's why we made the decision to rest Troy and give Nicky a shot and he did very well today."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER ROD DYACHENKO
On the second-half comeback by Real Salt Lake:
"It might have been fatigue a little bit. All they did was hit long balls in the second half, so their forwards had loads of space, and somehow a goal got through, so what can you do?"
On if the team should have been more patient:
"Yeah, maybe - we could've kept the ball a bit more. Sometimes we're a bit too urgent to attack with the lead, which I thought wasn't necessary, but we just have to regroup and learn from our mistakes."
On the altered lineup:
"I thought the young guys played well - no complaints. I thought we came out well, no nerves, and everybody got a touch on the ball and kept moving the ball, but we couldn't come out with the win."
D.C. UNITED MIDFIELDER BEN OLSEN
On the team's performance:
"Our overall play and performance was good. I think we got back to dominating and playing the way we want to play. Other than that, we got a tie today in a game that I think we should have won. But these teams are fighting hard. They're fighting for playoff spots and I think that it's going to be tough. We're going to have to do all the little things right. The little bounces that are not going our way, we're getting punished for them. Sometimes you luck out when you don't do the right thing, and these teams are fighting for a playoff spot and fighting for their lives here, and when they do get their chance, they're punishing us."
On the younger players:
"I think Rod [Dyachenko] did a great job. I think Stephen deRoux did a great job coming in. There are some big positives there."
On the referees:
"Don't even get me started. I've got a honeymoon to pay for, so I'm not going to say anything about the referees. Our focus needs to be on ourselves right now and the little things that we can do to put together great games - that's what we need to do right now. Teams punish us when we make mistakes."
D.C. UNITED FORWARD FREDDY ADU
On the 1-1 result:
"We were kind of mad that we didn't get the win, but we'll live. We'll get back to our winning ways."
On playing a more central role:
"That's my most comfortable position - when I play sort of a withdrawn forward/attacking midfielder-type thing. I feel comfortable there and I loved it. Christian [Gomez] wasn't in, so I had to pretty much dictate everything. I felt good and comfortable in there and it was fun."
On his recent struggles:
"Everybody goes through tough stretches, but I got injured and I guess that slowed me down a little bit, but I've been working through it. Now, I'm not using that as an excuse, you know - I wasn't playing up to my capabilities. But it happens - sometimes you go through tough stretches no matter how hard you work and you've got to find a way to bounce back from it and that's what I was trying to do. As I said, I love this team and my teammates help so much. I mean, even if I'm not playing my best game, these guys are trying to get me to go, to take people on, to be aggressive when you're in the attacking third because they know that when I'm running at people, that's when I bring a lot to the team that way, by drawing people in and then slotting it to an open guy. That's what I was trying to do, and it worked out. I was able to create some chances today, but we just didn't take our chances."
On the game:
"We didn't win, and like I said, it's all about the team. It obviously helps your confidence personally when you score like that and hopefully the floodgates open and you're able to score more goals, but at the end of the day we didn't win, and I can't tell you how disappointed I am right now about the fact that we didn't win this game. But then again, like I said, some days things go your way and some days they don't. We felt like we should've gotten a foul when [Bryan] Namoff got fouled before that [Salt Lake] goal happened and it didn't happen, so whatever."
On his health and fitness:
"I feel great. I'm 100 percent now. When you have an ankle injury on your kicking foot, you don't have that much confidence in it and that's kind of what happened to me. So, now you just work to strengthen your ankle and now I'm fine. I feel good striking the ball. I have a lot of confidence in it. Hopefully this helps me being able to play the way I did when the season started."
On teaming up with deRoux:
"We've worked together in training. We actually played a full-sided game a couple days before this game and I was playing on the left with Stephen and we were working well and we were able to translate that into the game. And I'll tell you what, he's a good player, man, he's strong and he's aggressive. So I told him, take people on. That's something that I haven't done as much because I felt a little slow, but I told him to take people on because he's fast, quick, strong, and he did it and he created a lot of chances - we just didn't finish them."
On deRoux's style of play:
"He brings a lot of fire. He's scary, man, and he doesn't care - that's what I love about him. He just goes out there and works, works, works. He's strong in his running and we need that. I think we'll be seeing a lot more of him."
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JOHN ELLINGER
On playing at RFK and the game:
"It's not an easy place to come and play. Obviously, getting a point and getting out of here is a good result for us. We knew we were going to have to weather the storm at the beginning of each half. I had my doubts in the first 10-12 minutes of the first half - they were looking pretty good. But we weathered it, we got control, we had some chances."
On Adu's goal:
"Freddy [Adu] scored a great goal. I was laughing because I know he probably always wants to take them, but Christian [Gomez] has some seniority over him. But it was a great goal for him."
On Chris Klein's goal:
"I thought Chris scored a very good goal: nice pass back from Jeff, and we get out of here with a point, so I have to be happy with that. It's kind of our goal: we know we need points in every game we play the rest of the season, if we have any hope of making the playoffs."
On D.C.'s playing without four starters:
"We looked at it two ways: if Peter was going to make more changes than necessary, then he pulls [Facundo] Erpen into the middle and puts Brandon [Prideaux] out wide. If he wants to keep it down to a minimum and make one change in the back, then he just puts Brandon in the middle. So that wasn't a surprise. But Nicky [Rimando] was a surprise. I actually went to Chicago to see the Open Cup game, and I didn't know if Troy had gotten hurt. I thought Nicky came up big. I knew he was playing well, because in the reserve game in Salt Lake, I thought he played very well. I figured [Matias] Donnet was going to play, and I thought [Stephen] deRoux was pretty effective and a pretty good player. He's got a little pace with him, so we tried to do a little better job of containing him in the second half."
On United midfielder Stephen deRoux's performance:
"I thought deRoux was pretty effective and a pretty good player. He's got a little pace with him, so we tried to do a little better job of containing him in the second half. [Kevin Novak] kind of got turned [by DeRoux] a couple of times. When you deal with somebody like that who has got some pace and can get behind you, you have to give him a bump here and there. But Kevin did a better job of slowing him down a little bit."
On how his team turned it around in the second half:
"We were pretty comfortable that we could move the ball against them. They were putting a lot of energy in going forward, so we were just looking for our chances to get in behind them. When Atiba [Harris] came in and Jason [Kreis] went back, then we had two forwards with pace, and they had to worry about both of them, so that opened it up for us a little bit."
On Jeff Cunningham:
"As far as the MLS goes, he gets my vote for the league MVP. He is the ninth player to join the 15/10 club, and he is just playing outstanding. We are extremely proud of how he is playing and his teammates are as well. I think Jeff is very comfortable with Jeff, and we are just letting him be himself. He is just someone who we needed at the end of last year: a forward who can get in behind people. His teammates support him very well, and that's why he has 10 assists, as well. He is just in a good environment, he likes his teammates and I think that's important."
On his team's chances of making the playoffs:
"I'd love to be able to say it wouldn't come down to the last game of the season. D.C. plays a little earlier in the day than we do, we have the last game of the year against Chivas. I personally would like to have a playoff spot secured before that game, but nothing's easy in this league, so I am expecting we are going to have to go [to L.A.] and get it done there. It's going to be nailbiter all the way down to the end, but at least we are in the hunt."
REAL SALT LAKE FORWARD JEFF CUNNINGHAM
On the game:
"D.C. is by far the best team in the league, so for us to come to their place and get a point, I think it's a well-deserved point. I am a little disappointed for us not to get three points, since they were missing a few of their key players, but we are still happy that we were able to come away with a point."
On his current form:
"I feel like I can contribute more. I am not playing my best football at this point, but we are bringing in results as a team, and that is my focus at this point: to make the playoffs, and then whatever they want to give me at the end of the year - MVP or whatever - I will take it."
On his team's chances of making the playoffs:
"I feel like we have a great chance. Hopefully, we can build on this tonight, and build on the positives. Everyone is healthy, the training sessions are competitive, and guys are hungry to get on the pitch. That atmosphere carries over to the game, and hopefully we can continue to give good efforts, and the results will continue to come our way. We are going to make the playoffs, there is no doubt, and hopefully we play D.C. in the finals."
REAL SALT LAKE DEFENDER EDDIE POPE
On the playoff situation:
"Out West, it is obviously bunched up, and that's a good thing. It is good for teams at the bottom, and bad for the teams on the top: there's not a lot of space between us. We are still hunting and tonight was a good point for us to get on the road against the best team in the league. Like I said, out West, it is really close. It's a tight race. I hope the fans are enjoying the race for the playoffs. It's going to come down to the last game for sure.:
On his team's performance tonight:
"When we went down a goal, I think we showed a lot of character to come back, score a goal, and still hold them off. To get a point on the road against the best team in the league, for us, was good. We need points every game, that's what we discussed at halftime: getting out of here with a point."
