D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen
On tonight’s game...
“That one hurts…but there are always games during the season that hurt. I’ve never gone through a season in my career as a coach or a player that you don’t have games like this. They hurt for a day or two and then you have to move on. We had the chances to finish off this team and I thought we were in good control of the game. But momentum swung after their goal… the energy rose and the play picked up. They made a few plays that were executed well but again it all stemmed from giving them a goal.”
On trouble defensively in the last ten minutes…
“Well the numbers they threw at us, the chances they were taking…it was tough to deal with. The only way to deal with it is to punish them on the other end. We could have done that at the end of the game and we could have done it in the second half but some of the execution wasn’t there. We have some young guys who had overall very good games. But sometimes against guys like Villa and Lampard, you have to be perfect.”
On thoughts on Jalen’s game...
“I thought he was good overall and he is going to be a good center back. For guys like Luke and Jalen, these matches are vital for their development. He is going against one of the best forwards in the world for 90 plus minutes and that is great experience for him."
On lessons from this game…
"The lesson we continue to learn is when you have a chance to go up two zero, you go two zero. You punish them…because there were plenty of times we could have punished this team.”
D.C. United forward Patrick Mullins
On what it meant to be playing back at Yankee Stadium…
“Honestly, it’s a place I put a lot of myself into and it helped me grow into this moment. It’s special for me, I got to see some faces and people who put in the same effort day in and day out with me.”
On United giving up the late lead …
“We worked so hard, I thought we did extremely well many times throughout the night. I think we learned a lot in terms of closing the game out and finishing the chances we got to get that second goal.”
On if it was awkward playing against former teammates…
“No, it’s pretty much like playing against anyone else to be honest.”
D.C. United midfielder Lamar Neagle
On United’s inability to close out the game…
“It’s one of those things that we need to get rid of before playoffs come around. We need as many points as we can get, especially against East Coast teams, and it’s a really unfortunate loss for us.”
On refocusing for the team’s next match against the New York Red Bulls…
“At this point in the season, it’s always good to have some days off to get some guys healthy who are out right now. We can come back refocused and get ready for New York [Red Bulls]. Obviously it would have been a lot better going into this break with a win against New York, but it is what it is.”
D.C. United midfielder Patrick Nyarko
On the team’s securing playoff positioning…
“Unfortunately we couldn’t finish it, but we just have to regroup. There are more games, we still have a chance to grab some points coming up so we need to go into the break mentally strong and come back knowing we put together a good performance here, we just didn’t put together a full one, and we need to come back from that.”
On tonight’s result…
“Every game in the league is tough, especially on the road. Especially against this team, they’re a really good team... It’s just going to come down to who can mentally hold strong for 90 minutes in that game and we’re looking forward to bouncing back.”
New York City FC head coach Patrick Vieira
On the fight and determination of the team to get the win tonight…
“I think the fans and the people in front of the TV really enjoyed the game. It wasn’t a pretty game. I don’t think we played our best football, but sometimes I think it’s important to win when you don’t play well. I think tonight we showed a lot of character, a lot of desire, a lot of passion, and we kept believing until the end. And of course it takes something special to score in a crucial period of the game, and tonight it was Frank (Lampard), and I’m really pleased. I’m really pleased for him because he went through a difficult period early in the season where he didn’t play and the way that he responded was fantastic. I think he really showed how good he is, and to see him score goals, that’s something that we’re used to, but to see him keep scoring goals at this level, I think is terrific.”
On Khiry Shelton’s contribution tonight…
“He was really important, and he did what I was expecting him to do. I was really pleased, and the way he played in the last 15 minutes, that’s the way that he trained in the last 10-15 days. I think he began a little bit more mature. I think him not playing too much football in the last few weeks made him work even harder in training.”
On his change in tactics in the second half and how the younger players welcomed an intense atmosphere...
“I think the idea is to bring Federico (Bravo) and (Steven) Mendoza to bring a little bit more intensity because I felt in the first half, we were a little too passive and we wanted to put them in a little bit more pressure. When you don’t play well, you need the crowd to be behind and to lift you and tonight they were fantastic. I think the crowd was one of the best thus far. They’ve always been behind to give their support and we really needed them to win this game, so today’s a really good night for the football club because we showed our togetherness and the relationship that we have with the players, the fans – it was a really good night for us.”
New York City FC midfielder Frank Lampard
On what the comeback victory means for the team…
“Good teams and big teams come back from bad moments and Orlando wasn’t great for us one the weekend. We weren’t our best then and then in the first half again today. I think it was a real important moment for us to show our spirit, to change the game with desire, with good play, and that’s a huge result for us. It doesn’t mean anything quite yet in terms of what we need to do, which is trying to get as close to the top of our conference as we can, get into the playoffs and then push on from there. It’s a great first step forward for us and we need to continue on from there.”
On what changed momentum in the game…
“They made a mistake for the goal and David stuffed it away comfortably and that changed it. I don’t think they controlled the game, but I think you’re right, they were defending pretty comfortably, they defended the box pretty well and it was hard to find some of the spaces in and around the box. Once we got that goal, we got momentum, we took control of the game and the crowd lifted.”
New York City FC midfielder Andrea Pirlo
On tonight’s game…
“It was a great victory until the very end. It was tough for us, but towards the end, we came back with a lot of drive and really wanted the victory.”
On how good it was to see Frank score twice today…
“We had just finished celebrating his 300 goals so we have to celebrate again these two more, and it’s great to have him on the team.”
On whether this victory gives the team more confidence going forward…
“Yeah, it’s a victory for the whole team. The whole team contributed to this victory, especially the guys that came in in the second half, so it’s a good reason for all of us to celebrate.”
