D.C. United Captain Wayne Rooney
On his goal...
“I thought it was nice and it was special to score the goal this evening. It’s something that I’ve practiced so many times. Different managers and teammates are like why are you practicing this, you won’t score from this position, but for nights like tonight that's why I do practice it. It was a good strike and an important goal for us.”
On his year anniversary at D.C. United...
“It’s been fantastic. I’ve enjoyed my time here over the course of the year and there is still a lot more to come. We know we can play better. First half we played well, second half we know we can do better, but the win was the important thing because we haven’t won in a few games in the league. Winning today was the main thing.”
Midfielder Chris Durkin
On the win...
“It was extremely important, you know that was the message in the locker room the past couple weeks, and it was great to have this time off to really reset, see what we we're doing wrong, get back to our core values and strengths, and I think today we really got into our structure at certain times it was something we did earlier in the year where we were getting a lot of wins. I was really happy with that, and I think there were even more chances we could’ve created along with keeping the ball even more than we did.”
On the opportunity...
“It is a good thing to show Ben each and every day and each game that i belong on the field. I think i am really progressing a lot, and I think a couple passes I had today went out of bounds that I wasn’t happy with, but I think looking back a year ago or something I would have gone into my head and that would have affected the way I played in the second half. But i think i came back out in the second half and rebounded and did well. Got the team three points. Overall, I am always taking advantage of my opportunities and my teammates helping me set me up for success.”
Orlando City SC Head Coach James O’Connor
On the overall performance...
“Obviously, very disappointed not to get anything out of the game. I think when you look at it, it’s one of those moments of brilliance from a world-class player. And I think when you look at it, it’s quality… There are a handful of players that can score a goal like that. His vision and his execution is top-class. I think you take that out of the game, it’s us really pulling them in every other statistic barring the most important one, which is goals.”
On the game management...
“Fantastic fight, fantastic effort. I thought we managed the game really well, bar the big goal from Rooney, they’ve not created a whole lot of chances. Brian [Rowe]’s not had a whole lot of saves to make… I think when you look at the volume of possession, the volume of shots, I think we’re very unfortunate not to get something out of the game. And once we have chances and shots like that I think we need to have a little bit more quality, a little bit more focus and concentration to be a little bit more clinical.”
On the effort from the team...
“Fantastic. Obviously, there are some guys missing, but to see the effort from the guys and to dominate the second half the way we did was very, very good.”
On the game against Columbus...
“Obviously, that’s another tough game so obviously we need to rest tonight and fly to Columbus tomorrow. It’s tough. We’ve got to really try to rest and try to get as much sleep and recovery for the players as much as we can.”
On moving past this loss...
“I think you need to sit there and analyze and break it down and make sure you’re initial assessment is correct. I think that’s probably the biggest thing for us, but again, we fly to Columbus and we need to focus on that. We’ll try to prepare and make sure everyone is recovered in full. It will be another tough game.”
Oriol Russell
On coming back from injury...
“I felt good. I think I have brought some freshness and also I kept the ball well. And I’m happy I was back after a little bit of injury. It’s always a little bit difficult in terms of the fitness but I felt good.”
On the effort from the team...
“I think we did a good job. We had the ball, we had the possession. I think we could be a little bit better in the final third. And I thought we, at least, would get a point here.”
On the upcoming match against Columbus...
“I think we have to give it the same mentality, going forward. We have a very important game in a few days, and I think it’s gonna be a very important game too. So, we gotta keep the mentality, keep the ball, and be better at shooting.”
Benji Michel
On what he saw from the team...
“I saw the guys, they fought hard, they pushed through the final minutes of the game, and unfortunately, it didn’t go our way.”
On getting more playing time...
“I’m getting consistent minutes. It feels good. My confidence is growing as a player and finding ways to stay positive.”
On playing with Patino, who he has played with since academy...
“It’s crazy. We’ve been playing together since academy and now we’re on the field together as professional players. It means a lot.”
On moving on to Columbus...
“Just by putting in the past whatever happened in this game and focusing on Columbus and how we can exploit them and get away with three points.”
On the positive takeaways from this game...
“Just not giving up. We were in their half for the majority of the second half, so I feel like it just didn’t go our way. But the next game.”
