D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen
On the outcome of the game...
It’s always tough to keep New England off the board in their house, so we’re happy with that and with his performance. I'm happy for the group to get our first point as well.
On Travis Worra's first start...
Travis performed well in his first career start. I'm happy for him.
On the team’s performance following last week’s game...
It was a gutsy performance from our guys. They [New England] are a good group. They’re offensive and they’ve been together now for some time. You can see that their relationships on the ball are better than ours are at this point. They’re also used to this turf, and the turf here is not fun which makes it very difficult to come here and get a result.
On the defensive organization...
We just looked more disciplined, and I think we bailed each other out more. There was a “what if” mentality; ‘what if the guy next to me doesn’t make that play, am I in the spot to help him?’ which ultimately resulted in earning a point. Guys were laying out and blocking shots, and a lot of those little things start to add up over 90 minutes.
On the key players for United today...
I thought Marcelo was great. Rob Vincent had a good day and obviously Travis did as well. I thought Saborío came in and gave us a real presence up top. In fact, all of the subs, [Julian] Büscher and [Miguel] Aguilar also gave us something. So, the result wasn't what we wanted, but we will definitely take a point.
D.C. United Goalkeeper Travis Worra
On making his first career start…
I’ve gotten in one game already so it wasn't as hard as the first time. But at the same time, the last game I was thrown into in the middle so I was acting on all instincts. This time, I've been thinking about it all week, and all day today. As soon as I got to the stadium, honestly, it just all came together and I felt pretty good.
On having friends and family at the match…
I had some friends who I played with at school [University of New Hampshire] here. When my parents heard that I was starting, they flew out on a red eye from Seattle last night. My girlfriend flew out too - she had a tennis tournament down in South Carolina - so I had my best people in my corner: friends from school, my girlfriend and parents. That was pretty cool…It means the world. I’m totally blessed and lucky. They’re the real motivators for me. Of course you want to win games and do well for everybody in D.C., but family is family and they’re the most important thing to me.
On Kelyn Rowe’s scoring chance at the end of the game…
As soon as he split the ball through I think I got a good angle on the ball and honestly I fell in a pretty good position. Even if he put that on frame -- unless he megged me -- I felt that I was in a pretty good position to make a save, but it helps that he put it wide.
D.C. United Defender Bobby Boswell
On the defense’s performance and communication…
It’s a tough place to come and play, especially when it’s their home opener; they’re a hungry team. I thought the defense did well, but we still have room to work on and improve but a zero - it’s awesome. It’s a step in the right direction.”
On if Travis Worra’s inexperience put more pressure on the defense…
Not really. If you’re at this level, you’re at this level for a reason.
New England Revolution Head Coach Jay Heaps
On coming away with a point and the team’s overall performance…
A little disappointed in not getting the full three points. I thought we went about the game the right way and tried to create as much as we could. I credit our guys, we fought to the last whistle even getting a chance there in the last couple of seconds.
On Charlie Davies’ status…
He came out of the game. I haven’t gotten a full assessment, but I don’t want to hold on that. He walked off all right and got treatment and we’re hopeful that he has good week. It changes things a little bit. I think that in terms of what I thought, Teal [Bunbury] did it, went in and did a great job creating some length in the field and getting in behind. Juan [Agudelo] was ready to go. I thought Juan had a good game and so it’s one of those - we preach all week that we’ve got guys that can play any time and I thought Juan stepped up and did a nice job.
On the difference between last week and today…
I felt like last week Houston was open as well, they were trying to go for the game. I think DC was very smart and compact and didn’t give away a lot and any time we got in the box they were six, seven, eight guys behind the ball. I think you train all week and we prepare for this and I thought we were good enough up until the final third and the final ball, but I still thought we created enough. We hit the crossbar, I think the chance at the end, Juan’s [Agudelo] chance. We had some things in there that if we were a little bit cleaner would have gone our way and we could’ve scored.
On Kelyn Rowe’s return…
Kelyn [Rowe] went in and did well. It’s hard to go into a game like that, but I thought Kelyn went in and adapted well and found places in the game, won a couple of balls, and set himself up perfectly for the last chance. I know Kelyn and there’s no one else I’d rather take that shot. Unfortunately, it slid underneath his foot a little bit and he didn’t get it clean, but in terms of how he played I thought he was really good. He and Daigo [Kobayashi] I thought went in and really changed the game. Daigo was in for seven minutes and had a cross and had some three or four really good touches and again my only regret is probably not going to Daigo a little bit sooner.
New England Revolution Midfielder Gershon Koffie
On how he felt the game went…
I think we did well. We did all that the coach asked us to do. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find the back of the net but we got a lot of chances and for me this is a positive to get more chances. The next thing is to just get the goal.
On how tough D.C. United made it for the New England Revolution to capitalize on chances…
I think D.C. came here, they played their game plan and we did our game plan, too. But I think they did what they have to do but we still break through and we got a couple of chances. For me, that’s good thing for me. Like I said, we just have to capitalize on those chances.
