D.C. United manager Ben Olsen
On D.C. United’s win over Sporting KC…
They are extremely aggressive at home, and these games come down to if you can counter in the right way. Today, I think we were pretty sharp in that area and fortunately we punished them for it.
On managing the game…
We weathered some early pressure, but overall I thought the way we managed the game was very mature.
On his team’s emotions after the match…
It's still a long season. It's nice for these guys to be on top for all the hard work they have put in. They get that there is more to this than right now, and we have got to quickly refocus and go to LA [Galaxy], which is equally as tough a challenge as this. We are really excited to go out there and on to face New York next weekend.
D.C. United defender Sean Franklin
On D.C. United’s win over Sporting KC…
This is a tough place to play. We knew it was going to take a group effort. We talked about working for each other. Everyone was getting behind the wall. We were working as a team, were aggressive and came out with a shutout. I think it's a big win, not just for where we stand, but it's a statement game across the League.
On winning for the first time at Sporting Park…
I guess we made history tonight, which is always a good thing.
On preparing for LA Galaxy on Wednesday…
Everyone is excited to play there. LA, over the years, has been one of the best clubs in MLS and for me it was fun to play there. We are up for the challenge. I think today was a good win for us to take the momentum into Wednesday's game and we have to bring the same mentality. It is going to be a tough game against them. They are a good team. I think we are looking forward to playing it.
On the game plan heading into the match…
We were told to push them. They played most of their starters in the Champions League game and we had a chance to rest some of ours. So we knew that they might get tired and we just wanted to keep pushing, pick the right time to press and today we played awesome.
D.C. United midfielder Davy Arnaud
On D.C. United’s win over Sporting KC…
It’s a big win. There is no other way to put it. We’re getting later on in the season now, and we’re fighting for first and second so we knew how important the game was and we’re obviously happy to win the game. The locker room is happy right now.
On his message to the team after the win…
The job is certainly not done. We still have tough games coming up. We still have to keep grinding away and keep doing the same things. We’ve been preaching that all year. It’s not just game to game, but within the game, you get the feeling in the group even up 3-0 with ten minutes left guys are still saying, ‘Let’s grind, let’s get it done.’ It’s a great mentality to have.
On D.C. United’s first ever win at Sporting Park…

That’s nice, but if it was our the eighth win here, it wouldn’t really make a difference. What has happened in the past doesn’t matter. What happened last season, it doesn’t matter. What is important is right now and we are happy with the win.
On the quick turnaround to face LA Galaxy on Wednesday…
We have another really tough game. They [LA] have quality. We knew this week was going to be a very tough week. We were going to have to rely on a lot of different players, which I think is a good thing, and I think we have the squad to do that. We want to enjoy tonight and start focusing on LA tomorrow.
On coming back to Sporting Park…
It felt good. Kansas City was my home for a very long time, so I always love coming back.
Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes
On whether Tuesday’s CONCACAF Champions League match affected this game…
Absolutely not. D.C. was good on threes counters, which our back four was absolutely horrendous on. It’s one of those days where they came down on three routine plays and they scored three goals because of the way we were organized at the back. There has been a lot of credit given to our back four over a long period of time, but the way that they performed tonight, they’re going to get the credit for giving up three goals. But this has nothing to do with playing against Real Estelí.
On Besler and Collin potentially being rested in the near future…
It wouldn’t be games off because of tiredness; it’d be games off because of performance. If the guys aren’t playing well, they aren’t going to play. It has everything to do with tactical decisions.
On whether or not Sporting KC’s loss is significant…
No, I don’t individualize games over the course of the season. Every game is important always.
On Sporting KC’s home performances this season…
It’s been a strange year. It’s not like we’ve gone out with our consistent style, and there have been a lot of disruptions. So it’s a difficult thing to evaluate. I couldn’t care less about the games up until today. This is the one I have to evaluate now.
Sporting KC defender Matt Besler
On Sporting KC’s loss to D.C. United…
We lost 3-0 at home. Obviously it was a terrible performance from us, one of the worst since I’ve been here. We have to put this one behind us fast because we have a lot of big games coming up.
On D.C. United’s offensive performance…
D.C. is good team. Give them credit, they made us pay and finished their chances. But we weren’t good enough tonight. We knew what to expect from them, and at times we made it easy for them. We were sloppy in our distribution; we were caught out of position. Like I said, we want the next game to come fast because this just isn’t acceptable.
Sporting KC forward Soony Saad
On Sporting KC’s loss to D.C. United…
It was a poor performance all around. We can’t do that in front of our own fans, playing for first place in the East. We’ll get back to training and correct things for Friday against Houston.
On D.C. United’s offensive performance…
They have some players that can punish you for making mistakes. They did that to us tonight. That’s uncharacteristic of us, to put in such a poor game. We need to correct this for our fans next week.
