D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen:
Overall thoughts:
Down 2-0, we were travel-weary early in the game, just a little bit out of sync in the first half, and I thought our subs came in and really changed the game. Their energy was good, and the entire team just raised it a level in the second half. It’s not always perfect, you don’t always play at your best, and you find ways to keep inching along. We did that tonight.
On Luis Silva's play with Fabain Espindola out:
I think he takes a bit more responsibility out on the field. What a classy free kick and stepping up and taking the PK. He’s been as big as anybody this year for us. It’s nice to see him continue his scoring form.
On the third goal:
When you get guys like Perry [Kitchen] pitching in five goals, that helps. It really helps your scoring total that you need to get into the post-season.
On the Last goal for Chicago:
It was a blue-collar game, a lot of balls in the air and 50-50’s, scrambles in the box. To get out of here 3-3 when you were down 2-0 at some point, I think we’re happy. These guys are looking forward to going home for a week and playing some games at RFK.
D.C. United forward Luis Silva
On his free kick (second goal):
I told him I was going to go to the keeper’s side. I think [Chris Pontius] made a move like he was going to hit it and then Bobby [Boswell] moved out of the way and it went in. It felt good when I hit the ball, it felt good coming off my feet.
On stepping up in Espindola's absence:
Yeah I mean it’s the first time [Espindola’s] not here and [Johnson’s] not here and I thought I had to step in there. I try to do my best, my teammates around me helped me a lot and we were able to get a point even though we’re always looking to get a win.
On coming back from 2-0 down:
I think it says a lot about this team. I think that we just try and focus on every game, one game at a time, and try and not worry too much about traveling and all of that. I give a lot of credit to the boys for that, for sticking together and coming back from 2-0.
D.C. United midfielder Perry Kitchen:
Overall thoughts on the game:
It wasn’t a great start, I think we did well to respond and I think even still we need to be able to see that out and get a full three, but saying that this was still a big point for us.
On the important games ahead:
All the matches left are [Eastern Conference] opponents and they’re all big.
on coming back from 2-0 down:
Everybody kept their cool, we never panicked, we kept trying to find a way through and eventually did. It’s good to know we can do that but it still needs to be better from the start.
On Luis Silva:
He’s been great, he’s obviously a guy that can unlock teams for us, he’s been setting up goals and scoring goals for himself. He’s been very good for us and it’s great to see that he puts in the work every week, and he deserves it.
D.C. United Captain and Defender Bobby Boswell
On the goal that Perry Kitchen may have scored right before Boswell:
You know, Perry got in, and he flicks it behind, and I thought it went over the line, and then the guy clears it out. I was just there to tap it in. The [assistant referee] had already raised his flag, and he was running back so it’s one of those “I think it’s a goal either way” calls. Obviously we just wanted to take the lead at that point. That’s what happened.
On the field conditions:
It wasn’t awful. I never like to blame the field because both teams have to deal with it. It wasn’t like anyone slipped and gave up a goal that way, it was just wasn’t the most ideal. I don’t think it changed the game too much.
On the differences between the first and second half:
I think they came out on fire. They were really pushing the game. We were being a little more physical and a lot of the calls were going their way with the way we were playing. They were able to capitalize on some things. It wasn’t our best start, but like I said, getting a goal at the end of the half was huge. It got us a little momentum. It put a little bit of doubt of their minds. We come out in the second half, and we’re all over them. It would have been nice to go up 4-2, but they fought back and got a goal at the end. I feel like they have tied so many games this year. It was almost destiny. We would’ve liked to get the three points. Any time you’re down 2-0 on the road, and you’re able to come back, and actually take the lead was pretty impressive. I was proud of the group for that. We’ll try to tidy it up. We feel like we shouldn’t give up three goals to any team in this league. Obviously from a defensive standpoint, we have to work on that.
On it being a ‘blue-collar’ performance:
I thought the guys responded well. We aren’t a group that feels sorry for ourselves, we also are not a group that throws chairs and punches walls and stuff. We came in and even two down, we weren’t turning on each other. I think we were more mad at the referee than anything. We knew we had ourselves to blame for the two goals, so to come back and get one, just the way we started the second half was pretty awesome. At the end of the year, it’s not how you got the points, it’s just that you got them. It turned out to be a huge point in the end.
On the road trip making the end of the season more difficult:
This was one of the toughest road trips anybody can go through. I think a bunch of us have been doing this a long time and it was definitely not easy. We got some results in tough places so I can’t be too upset with that. We can’t rest too much, we have a big game on Wednesday. It’ll be nice to get some home games and I think our fans are awesome, and we will take care of business at home.
Chicago Fire Head Coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop
On struggling to finish the game out
If you look at the first goal for them, I don’t see the call, for one. The second goal is not a foul; the free kick is fantastic, take nothing away from the kick. But those things change games. Yes, we can’t hang on to a lead but I thought we played well tonight. I thought we deserved to win, but we didn’t. You probably have a different view. For me, we deserved to win that, because two calls go against us in the match that cost us the game. Momentum is everything; we’re two goals up, they get a phantom penalty kick, I don’t know what the call is. So they go 2-1, they’ve got life. He gives them another foul that was not a foul, I’ll show you it. Razvan [Cocis] wins the ball, pokes it away, gives a foul to a good player in a good spot; great free kick area for a great finisher like [Luis] Silva is, and he likes that, and they score. Third goal, I’ll live with that one, but we’re on the ropes at that point. So it’s tough.”
On moving forward
We’re going to keep going, we’ll keep fighting, we’ll keep doing our things. We’ve tied 16 games; maybe we should have some more points out of that. But I keep saying, the table doesn’t lie. We’re in the position that we are because of us not being able to see games out or put the game away. I think it was twofold tonight. The calls didn’t go really our way tonight, and that’s being kind. We didn’t really see the game out. At 3-2, though, we come back and got an equalizer, and probably looked more likely to score and get the winner. I was pleased with some aspects of our games; but the big one is that we only got one point.
On positives to take away
Quincy [Amarikwa] had a good goal; our energy was good from the start. I thought that we looked like we wanted to win the game. On the front third, we did some great stuff. I thought our set plays were excellent; we always look dangerous on those. We dominated most of the game. You know, D.C. are a good side, we know that; they’re going to come into the game at some point in the match. We just had to dig in and make sure they didn’t get a hold on the game; they were given holds on the game, which I didn’t like. I think, as a team, you have to make sure the players know that. We’re trying our best to weather the storm. At halftime, I said, ‘I don’t know what the penalty was called for, but it was being called with 2-1. So we have to make sure we come out and do our thing.’ We tried to do that, but we got another call that doesn’t go our way. But at least we came back, and looked more likely to score at the end, which is good.
On tying a record for most draws in a single season
It’s okay if you get ten wins and sixteen ties, but in the position we’re in, we need wins. I think the big thing is, you have to build on the positives; we’re difficult to beat, but we don’t win games. It’s a fine line, but it’s one we have to work on. We have to make sure come next season, and obviously the end of this season, we can put those things correct. That’s a big thing for us. When you lose seven games, it always looks good, but you have to have the wins to go with it.
On not conceding the season
I have players on the bench to make the difference in Flo [Sinama-Pongolle] and Ernie [Robert Earnshaw], to come off the bench, Patrick [Nyarko] too. It’s three attacking options I had, that we used. It’s not easy for a player that’s been in France trying to get his visa to come in and look good right away; Ernie’s been injured for two and a half weeks, so he’s a little bit behind as well. But those guys are dangerous, they’re good players. It’s not a concession at all; it’s an attempt to try to win the match. Again, I’d say that we were pushing towards that, trying to get that last touch in that last 5-10 minutes of the game to win it. It takes time for guys to settle, but I still feel good that the guys gave me everything they had tonight./p>
On Harry Shipp’s performance
Harry did well. As normal things happen to young players, he took a little bit of a dip, and lost the way a bit. I thought Harry did well tonight; I think he was dangerous, he had a good finish well-saved by [Bill] Hamid, and after that, I think he picked his game up and was good. In the game, we’re just trying to change things with bringing him out, but I thought he had a good showing tonight for sure.
Chicago Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson
On the record tying draw
The record reflects how our season has been, if we have half the amount of ties as we have we’d be in first place or somewhere close. We’ve lost less games than the team in first place, so that’s tough to deal with. We still have a fighting chance and we have to go down fighting – if we have any chance to save the season we have to go after it.
On positives and negatives of the result:
It’s a little bit positive and negative that we couldn’t hold the lead, obviously you never want to give up a two goal lead, especially given that the other two goal lead we had this season was to Real Salt Lake and we let that one slip away 3-2, you never want that to happen. Then again, tying it up shows our fighting spirit, we’re a never say die team – that’s our attitude which allowed us to tie it up. On the night, I thought we deserved to win, we played well enough. There were some unfortunate bounces here and there, but I think we definitely deserved to win.
Chicago Fire forward Quincy Amarikwa
On the team’s performance:
We did what we needed to do as a team, I thought we defended really well. Some unlucky calls didn’t go our way, and that was what resulted in them jumping back into the game, but overall as a team I think that was one of our better performances collectively over 90 minutes and you could see the result from the guys at the end.
On his performance:
Statistically it was one of my better performances of the year; but we’ve been working really hard as a team and I think it’s paying off because you can see chemistry amongst the guys. Everyone is joining in and helping each other on and off the ball. I think that makes my job easier up front when we play like that, and it gives me the opportunity to finish the balls when they come inside. I think overall it’s just a good performance from everybody.
On his feelings accepting a draw after a good performance:
Dropping points is always hard to swallow. Everyone wants to win every game, we’re all competitive, that’s what we’re here for – that’s our job and livelihood. To come out with a point is good, but we’ve got to get some wins with this playoff push. We’re really close and I think we’re going to squeeze in there come the end of the season.
On what he was asking the referee after the call leading to the D.C. penalty kick:
I had a discussion with him. I wanted to know if he was calling the penalty on Sean [Johnson] for coming out and being strong in the box or if he calling it on something he saw that Baky [Soumare] did. It’s a tough gig being a ref, you can never be right and everyone’s mad at you. I would have liked things to go our way, but what can you do? He said from his first impression that, that he thought Baky came in with his elbow a bit high. It was pretty crowded in the box there, the only way to know for sure is to go back and look at the tape.
