D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen
On the busy stretch and making seven changes to the starting XI...
“Playing on Sunday, Wednesday and Saturday of the same week is just too much. It should not happen in this league. I think they should do everything in their power not to put organizations in this situation. Players can get injured, but it also gives you an opportunity to test your depth and manage the game. I feel overall we did a good job about that. Some players who didn’t have a lot of minutes [prior to tonight] played well.”
On allowing Montreal only one goal...
“They have a good team. Obviously, there’s Drogba and Piatti, but other guys as well are very dynamic in their attack and to keep them at only one goal gives you a chance. Bill was always going to have to be Bill today. The backline did not have a lot of minutes together. In that situation, you will always need your goalkeeper. Fortunately, we have a good one.”
D.C. United midfielder Julian Büscher
On getting his first start...
“I did the job. That’s all I can say. We put in hard work on the road and I’m happy about the result.”
On facing the likes of Ignacio Piatti and Didier Drogba...
“We worked as a unit. We were tough to break down and worked together. We stayed compact. We wanted a point, and that’s what we got.”
On getting so few days’ rest between games...
“We now need to focus on Saturday again. We got that result here, and now we need that big result at home. We need a few wins at home.”
D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid
On the team’s defensive work...
“We have a responsibility every single game. That’s the nature of the business. I just wanted to play a good shift, and I feel, as a unit we played a very disciplined shift. We made it very difficult for them to create chances.”
On heavy pressure coming at the end of the game...
“They had a lot of numbers coming forward, but we dealt with it well. We had to control and try to create a little bit, but it was nice to get an early goal to take the heat off a little.”
Montreal Impact head coach Mauro Biello
On Dominic Oduro’s impact coming on as a sub...
“It’s the responsibility of the guys on the bench to make a difference when they come in the game. With his qualities and his speed, Dominic gives us the possibility to unbalance the defence. It’s easy to say in hindsight that he should have started the game, but I’m very satisfied with the way he entered the game. It was one of his best performances in a couple of weeks.”
On the team’s performance and improvement since Saturday...
“I think they fought well. My team came on the field with the desire to win the game. Unfortunately for us, [Bill] Hamid had a great performance and made the difference for his team. Still, we fought, we pushed, we tried to get the three points. That’s something very positive for us and we have to carry on like this.”
On traveling to Toronto after a tough spell at home...
“We remember when they came here and got the three points. We are going to BMO Field with the will to win. We will need the right mentality to bring back three points. Let’s hope we can do there what they did here earlier this season.”
Montreal Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush
On Bill Hamid’s performance...
“He’s a very good goalkeeper and makes very good saves. I think the one on Drogba was his best, he came out and made himself big. That’s the save that he trademarked as one of his go-to saves. I still think we should have finished off a couple of chances, but still, we showed great character to come back to 1-1.”
On getting a point and a good performance after Saturday’s disappointment...
“We obviously were not satisfied with the result on Saturday, but more so how we went about the game. We had an opportunity today, we went down 1-0 to a penalty and we could have felt sorry for ourselves, but we showed character in the second half to come back. I don’t think they had many chances apart from one shot. We did very well to handle them in transition and reaching forward in the second half.”
Montreal Impact defender Ambroise Oyongo
On the group’s effort...
“I’m satisfied with what we did. After the Chicago game, I think that we’ve shown that we’ve changed our attitude and that we fight until the end for the win. We didn’t win tonight, but it bodes well for the next games.”
On the refereeing...
“We shouldn’t be blaming the referees. We have to score. We have to keep on working as we have done and score goals. If we score four or five, the refereeing is not a factor.”
