D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen
On Bill Hamid's performance...
“I’ve seen a few performances like that from him in the last couple of years. He gets in a zone where he makes it extremely difficult to score. Their front four is as dynamic as we have seen this year. Their understanding of each other and the way they put you under the gun. They are just relentless in their attack, and if we don’t take care of the ball, and give ourselves some rest they are a good enough team in the midfield to consistently put pressure on you. So, it was a day we needed Bill and Bill came up big."
On getting a point on the road...
“It does feel pretty good, you feel like you sneak a point here. Some days you aren’t clicking and you have got to find a way [to get a result]. I credit the guys for not getting frustrated and finding a point.”
On the defense’s response to Hamid...
“As a coach, you don’t want to see too many of those nights. We know with Bill we have that to use once or twice a year, but you can’t rely on that. I think front to back we were stretched consistently and we lacked an idea of how to defend that. And that is on me, solely on me, so we will go back and fix that."
D.C. United midfielder Lamar Neagle
On Bill Hamid...
“Unbelievable performance. You can’t say enough about him when he saves three or four clear-cut chances and keeps us in a game like that. He’s the only reason we came out with a point. He was the best one on the field for us. We’ve had a lot of injuries this year and it’s been tough having guys come in and out. Having a staple like Bill back there gives you a ton of confidence.”
On keeping the team in tune to get the late goal...
“That’s kind of the culture of D.C. United and it’s been that way for a while. We’re always going to fight to the end of the game and with Bill keeping us in it, he was the only reason we were able to fight that long and get that point. We know there’s always a chance. We’ve done the same thing late in games before – we did it in Kansas City, we had a tough game in Houston we got a result out of and now Salt Lake. Those are the kinds of things you need down the line and those are the games that you can look to and realize that you’ve been through a lot and you can build from that.”
On getting the road point...
“It was huge. We haven’t put together too many streaks this year, so we wanted to keep that going. It isn’t two wins for us, but I think a tie like this after Salt Lake had a lot of the possession is good for us. It’s something we can build off of and hopefully we can play a little bit better in our next away games. But it was great just to get a point.”
On the equalizing goal...
“Good service from Fabi and it’s great to see Jared step in. Whenever he’s stepped in he’s done a great job. Now it’s nice to see him finally get one and get that reward. It’s a good effort from everybody.”
Real Salt Lake head coach Jeff Cassar
On the corner that United scored on...
“Well, to be honest, I haven’t looked at the set play itself. But what I kind of remember of the play is that we had the opportunity to clear the ball and it was a poor clearance. There are some times in the game where you have to make sure you’re good and that poor clearance put us under pressure. They earned that from nothing. I don’t want to become a broken record but this is two or three games that we have completely dominated but found ourselves not getting the result that we want. We need to make sure we come together as a group next week. We’ll talk about a few things. The game ends up being what happens in the boxes and we created enough opportunities to win this game. I thought our defenders defended extremely well. I don’t even know if Nick had to make a save tonight, if he did they were all very routine. We’re doing everything right but not getting the result so we will have to fine tune some things. Again I have to think that if we play like that most of the time we are going to get the results that we want. This time we didn’t. Their goalkeeper had a fantastic game. We did everything we wanted to do and had one mental lapse.”
On missing chances to put the game away...
“We’re going to look at the later chances, but there were other chances before. I thought we got a little bit sloppy with the choices that we made to finish out the game. I think we could have done a better job killing the game off. We should never have been that stretched at the end of the game. You learn from it, you move on. I think we are playing some of the best soccer we have ever seen here. But we are finding that one way to make a mistake and we are paying for it.”
On Javier Morales and Yura Movsisyan discussing the goal on the field...
“I think there are a lot of choices that we should have made to close out that game. We had free kicks that shot instead of playing into the corner, or plays where we could have held up the ball and let our entire team get up. But there are other things defensively that we could have done better. I don’t think there is finger pointing, I think there is just choices. We’re going to have to show them and then explain what else they could have done.”
On a veteran team making mistakes of that nature...
“I don’t know if every position is a veteran position. But, I do think we have very aggressive personalities and make an impact. There are other times when you just have to do something a little less attractive to get the result that you want. That is the most important thing. We have to make sure that we are closing games, finishing out the game. We didn’t do that.”
On the halfway point in the season...
“Very optimistic for what we are capable of. How much this team has grown, and where we are at now compared to last year and where we want to be. I would say optimistic. Where we are at is great and where we can be is going to be even better. I think the guys can see what we are capable of and that is important.”
On a congested July schedule...
“We’re going to have the weekend off and get back on Tuesday then another home game against Montreal on Saturday. It gets a little congested there for a bit. Eight games this month. That is pretty congested when you think about it. A lot of guys are contributing; we’ve played every guy on our roster besides one. We’re going to need everyone.”
Real Salt Lake forward Yura Movsisyan
On RSL missing chances to score...
“Deja Vu from Seattle; it sucks. It hurts, nothing hurts like getting that many chances, to be playing this well and not to score goals. I’ll put my hand up first; I am the one that needs to score. And I didn’t today, so yeah, it sucks.”
On Bill Hamid...
“He is one of the best keepers in the league. It is definitely tough, you know he is a big boy, covers a lot of the goal and does well on the ground. So props to him, but also, a lot of credit to our team. We created the chances. Once these things go in, it’s going to be a different ball game.”
On the consolation of creating chances...
“It is better to create them then not to create them. It means we are doing something right, it means we are finally clicking, and finally starting to play well in first halves, which we haven’t done in so long. Step by step, it’s about understanding better, understanding the front players and the whole team together as a group. So I think we are slowly starting to click as a group, and actually click because now we are seeing. I already know where the guys are going to make their runs and can put the ball wherever they want. And they can do the same for me, so it’s a lot of positives. It’s just terrible to only get a point, especially at home.”
On reaching the halfway point...
“As a team, we’ve not been bad considering the last couple of seasons. We have gotten some big results, if you see some of the game. I guess maybe it’s better if we get scored on first then we can win games.”
Real Salt Lake midfielder Javier Morales
His summary of the game...
“It’s disappointing. It’s almost like the same as the other night [against Seattle]. We controlled the game, we created chances, we couldn’t finish it, but I think today we didn’t do great in the last 10 [minutes]. We have to be smart to finish the game especially at home up one nothing. For me, it’s not one point, we lose three.”
On how the team can improve to protect the lead better at home...
“I think we have to be smart. In the last couple minutes, we have to control the game with the ball. Sometimes you have to try to score two or three or four – especially since we’re tired. We played 120 [minutes] Tuesday… today is Friday. We have to be smart and understand that we have to finish the game. We need to do better.”
On how the team can be smarter...
“Be smart means we have to control the tempo and we have to keep the ball for the last minute. Maybe keep the ball in the corner or try to push the line a little bit higher – not too deep – a lot of things that we have to understand and have to improve.”
On how the team gets better defensively...
“Teams – especially in soccer – it’s both sides: attack and defend. That doesn’t mean that the defenders are doing bad, but as a team, we haven’t defended well because I can’t remember when the last shutout was for the team – April. A long time ago. We have to improve. In the last couple games, we score a goal almost every game. Sometimes we need to keep our goal in zero.”
