D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen
On the late equalizer and what it does for the team’s place in the East…
"They were better in a lot of facets of the game. But I don’t doubt my group's courage and belief, and we were able to salvage something on a day when we weren't that great. We rode our luck a little bit, but we have a good goalkeeper and found a way to get something out of it. A point in the East right now goes a long way because there's a lot of ties...it's very tight and every point counts."
On the sense of urgency in the last few minutes…
"There was certainly an urgency at 2-0. We had to throw the sink at them. We threw Steve Birnbaum up [top] to get his head on some things and got our outside backs as high as possible. I give those guys a lot of credit."
On this result so soon after the August 21 match and if that had any influence…
“We felt like we gave some points up last week, and to go down and lose that game and then have a response like this, it shows that we've got some character."
On New York’s style of play and getting chances at the end of the match…
"We said at halftime, you don't have to throw the sink too early against teams that play this way because you'll still get chances. They'll at times leave themselves exposed...but they were very good tonight. They could have had two or three goals in the second half. They're a good team; that's the reality."
On goalkeeper Bill Hamid…
"He'll be his toughest critic, but [Bill]'s always going to make a few saves that keep us in the game."
D.C. United midfielder Lamar Neagle
On his late goal...
"I mean it was obviously chaotic on the second corner we had there. I was just trying to be in the middle, you know try to get to it before the goalkeeper could possibly come out. Luckily there was some spin on it and I was just trying to get in front of the post wherever I could and luckily I ended up getting a knee to it."
On another draw from two goals down...
"Obviously, that shows good character, that we can come back and fight back towards the end of games and score goals. Obviously we don’t want to be down in the first place. You know everyone believes we could have had a much better game. They could have finished it a few more times, but you know to our credit we battled back. We ended up getting the goals, we just need to take the next step. We have that in our character that we can battle back, but hopefully we don’t have to."
On getting a point in the Eastern Conference:
"Yeah, it’s huge, we don’t want to lose to anyone. We don’t want to lose momentum most of all, we want to keep going on and into every game as undefeated, but yeah like you said every point at this point of the season is crucial. Hopefully we can get some wins, especially when it comes to these next few games."
D.C. United Defender Steve Birnbaum
On D.C.’s overall performance...
"Obviously, it wasn’t a great game from us but credit to our team for staying in it and we ended up pulling out a tie so we’re not satisfied but we’re happy we got a draw playing like that."
On how his goal changed the game...
"[When] we scored [late], I think we were like “alright, let’s go, we can do this.” We have a little bit of belief, they were on their heels, and our team is pushing. We always think that if we’re in the game, we’re going to push. So credit to our guys."
On the team’s mentality after the game...
"Yeah, it gives us a ton of confidence, knowing that we can come here, a tough place to play, and pull out a result playing the way that we did. Hopefully we can take some momentum going into Chicago."
New York Red Bulls head coach Jesse Marsch
On if the result felt like a crushing defeat...
"Listen, I'm gutted for our guys. I think in all ways they established themselves in this game as a good team. Could have obviously helped ourselves by getting a third goal. It's been frustrating how many points we've given away late in games. When you add them all up and you look at it, you shake your head and go, How in the world does that happen? They seem to come in different fashions. I'm still very 'glass half full'. This is a good team. I know what I'm looking at. The frustration of giving some late leads away, we'll continue to reinforce certain things with the mentality, look tactically at what we do, personnel choices, the whole bit.
On having to play without some of the usual starters...
"Yeah, it does handcuff you a little bit when your options aren't what they normally are off the bench. But we should have been able to take care of that game with whoever, especially at 2-0. I think there's two ways to take care of it. One way is to make it three. But at the same time we shouldn't have to make it three. Should have been able to close it out. But when you keep it at two, there's these late moments where they're throwing Birnbaum forward, they're launching balls in the box, it sets up for some difficult scrambles and moments. At home we've always managed to survive those; on the road not as much."
On Gonzalo Veron and Danny Royer's performances...
"I thought it was great for Gonzalo to get a goal. We've been working on our outside midfielders joining in on the back post, being available to score goals like that. That part was really good. I thought Danny Royer was very good, fantastic. Thought he fit into the team really well, understood the tactics. Dangerous. Set up the second goal. Also maybe could have had a third. Getting himself going with game fitness. I think he showed in all ways he's a guy we're going to be able to count on. That was a real bright aspect of today. So, yeah, good."
On the importance to win the conference and get that home-field advantage...
"I mean, it's important to get the top two seeds, right? Then what the home-field advantage is after that, I'm not really sure. So the one thing it means, if you get to MLS Cup, the right to potentially host it, I think that's where it really becomes important. We're going to keep pushing for those top two seeds. Obviously it would have been nice to get the result tonight, to go to Toronto and have us both tied, now know that everything's on the line. But it's still everything on the line for that game in Toronto. We've been looking at that game on the schedule for a while. Really excited. Really excited to go up there."
New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips
On if there's a pattern on how these results keep happening...
"I don’t see a pattern, it’s unacceptable, it’s rubbish. We keep doing this, we had a chance to go on top, obviously being top right now isn’t everything but come on man. As a team we got to sort it out, it’s embarrassing man. You saw the game, this team, they didn’t have nothing. They had Lloyd’s chance. Great save by Luis, but other than that they had nothing. This was the only way they were going to score, something along those lines."
On being on top for almost the entire game...
"We were cool, like I said they were never going to cause us any trouble apart from situations like that. We let that happen, we let them score by a schoolboy error, two schoolboy errors."
On pushing forward when it was 2-0...
"No but that’s just the way they play, you know. We find that’s the way we play, we’re always trying to attack. We don’t plan to like that but if they are going to give us the room we are going to attack. At that point when we were, it was still 2-0. These are the corners we got to deal with. We spend too much time on these to be conceding those kinds."
On another 2-0 comeback by D.C. but this time at home...
"Yeah what’s weird is that at Red Bull Arena that doesn’t happen. This is what’s the most frustrating thing. At the end of the day when you play at RFK, you can say, okay yeah an away point, but you can’t say that here. We were better than this team, we played better but didn’t win the game."
New York Red Bulls midfielder Sacha Kljestan
On if the result feels different because it’s a rival...
"I don’t really care that it’s D.C., I’m just a little bit more upset that this is maybe the fourth or fifth time it’s happened this year. This game is different than the other ones where maybe we got our foot off the pedal, this one feels a little bit more unlucky and a little bit more unjust because we were really on top of the game. I’m not too upset with the way things have been going with the team because I’m still very high on the team, a lot of confidence in the group and I think we’re still in a very good way but just a disappointing result and it will go away in a day or so."
On not capitalizing on chances today...
"Yeah, that bothers me of course because I had two chances to bury the ball and unfortunately it missed by a couple of inches both times. Hamid made a couple of good saves, one on Sal Zizzo’s deflected shot and one on Bradley Wright’s shot earlier, so he had himself a decent game but I had him beat two times, it’s just unfortunate they didn’t find the back of the net."
On preparing for next week...
"Well first and foremost we have a big Champions League game on Thursday so we’ve got to focus on that and then it’ll be a quick turnaround for Toronto. We know we’ve got Toronto with first play on the line and probably the biggest game of the season up to this point, against a very good team whose gotten some big results at home and on the road lately. It’s going to be a big challenge but it’s going to be a big test for us, we’ll see where we’re at."
