D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen
Thoughts on the first half…
“No one player stands out in that first half, which is a beautiful thing. It was a complete collective effort. We were high alert with every little play for the entire half. Now, how can you sustain that? It’s a lot of work…it’s a lot of thought…it’s a lot of energy…and I think we put so much into that effort. In the second half guys started to cheat a little bit and at the same time they started throwing crazy numbers…they’ve got some real players. They had some dynamic guys coming off the bench and caused us a bunch of trouble in the second half. We weathered that storm but I’m surprised we didn’t get more looks in the second half. I thought they did a pretty good job being aggressive and not leaving themselves exposed. Overall it was a good night….and I am happy for the guys that we have clinched playoffs. It’s always an initial goal for us at the beginning of the year, and now, we focus on moving to a spot to compete for a trophy. That is something we haven’t be able to do the last two years and we are looking forward to that opportunity again.”
On the different mindset going into the playoffs this year compared to last year…
“I think there is certainly an upward swing. In the last two years, I agree that we were limping into the post season and that was a big factor in us getting knocked out. So now it is about figuring out how we can continue to move in the right direction and not fade, including next weekend. We can enjoy this tonight but we want to be as high in the table as we can moving into the playoffs.”
On the biggest difference between now and three months ago…
“Well [Patrick Mullins] is one of them, Patrick Nyarko coming back healthy is one of them, Lloyd Sam is one of them. Lucho coming into his own, learning this league and understanding his role within our team and his relationships with others has been huge. Lamar [Neagle] has been chipping in with goals and has been a valuable piece of this offense. Defense, knock on wood, hasn’t been our issue - we’ve always been pretty sound and committed on the defensive end and we have experienced center backs. But, Sean Franklin is out, Marcelo Sarvas is out, Chris Korb didn’t play this year and Chris Rolfe has been out since day one. Guys like Rob Vincent and Jared Jeffrey, a bunch of guys, Sabo, Kennedy…everybody is chipping in. Nick DeLeon has moved to right back and is filling the void. There a lot of things…this has been a real group effort, and that is very satisfying as a coach.”
On Patrick Mullins playing his former team and his mindset…
“No. I don’t have to do a lot of coaching with Patrick. I think he is pretty motivated and he has the right chip on his shoulder. He’s a competitor and he is going to do what he does. He is going to give you everything he has and hold up balls, and he has a nose for the goal.”
On the big crowd…
“It was great. The place was rocking and hopefully they will come back. Hopefully we can get a playoff game here so we can put another 10,000 people on top of what we had tonight. But again, we have to get that home game and make sure we are in a situation to give our fans a treat.”
D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid
On the team's mentality...
"I just think we have a confidence and a swagger about us on the field that is aggressive. It's a very positive mindset. You can feel it in training sessions and it's just translating over to the game. I don't want to jinx it but we just have to keep this going."
On the first half...
"We took our chances and we took them well today. We know what they're [New York City FC] capable of, and we know we've dropped a lot of points to them earlier this year, so there was extra concentration and focus for this one. We knew they were very dangerous and we knew that this was the match that would launch us into the playoffs."
D.C. United forward Patrick Mullins
On his first goal…
“You see that play happen all the time and usually the ball just trickles through. Once I again, I think me and Patty [Nyarko] just had a good understanding. He knows how to get to the front post, and he got there, so I knew I wanted to get to the back post because he had done my job and I wanted to do his. Sometimes the ball just gets there and you have to put it away when it does.”
On the
team's
last goal…
“It was a shock because I’ve trained with Andoni Iraola for a long time. I’ve never seen them make a bad pass, really ever. It rarely happens, and it was just a crazy sequence. The ball got to my feet and then I saw Rob and he finished it off.”
On what it is like playing NYCFC…
“From the get-go, I was always thankful for my time there. I put a lot of equity into that club while I was there. I wanted it to be special there and the club to be special and obviously they have had a great year. I think both the club and I have moved on past that and have respect for each other.”
On the mindset of the team right now…
“I think sometimes when you get on these rolls you feel like you are inside your teammates' heads and you know what they are thinking now and you know what they are going to do. Of course, in this league you want that kind of mind melt to happen at this point of the year. I think we need to take next week extremely seriously and finish off the season strong and ensure that we can hopefully return back here."
New York City FC head coach Patrick Vieira
On the reason for struggling in the first half…
“I think it’s just a lack of concentration. I think in the first half we didn’t play, we didn’t turn up. But it’s not fair that we didn’t play. I think we just didn’t compete enough in the first half. Of course the way we wanted to play, the quality of the pitch as well didn’t help us. We didn’t manage to find the solution, and we struggled.”
On whether the trip to Mexico affected the team…
“Nothing to do with the trip. I think we had a lot of days to recover from that. That is not an excuse. We didn’t perform, we didn’t play well. We may …… and the decision that I make, but it’s nothing to do with the trip to Mexico.”
On Josh Saunders’ performance…
“I think like the rest of the team, it’s difficult to pick out one player who came out with a performance today. I think Josh was like Andrea [Pirlo], Andoni [Iraola], David [Villa], everybody. I think when players don’t perform, it’s difficult to get something from the game. You guys analyze the game and I analyze the season so far. If you remember quite well, last year in the same period I think the football club was out of the playoffs. Tonight, we are disappointed because we can’t fight until the last day to win the Eastern Conference, and I think that shows how we improved as a football club.”
On team spirit heading into the playoffs…
“I know the players really well. I’ve been working with them in the last few months. If you go to the dressing room now, you can see how disappointed they are. When you have fans traveling from New York to come support, we need to give more. We didn’t do it in the first half. We had a really good reaction in the second half, and we had the chance. I think if Andoni’s pass to David was a bit better, and then David scored the goal, 3-2 with 5-10 minutes to go, I think we have a chance to get back into the game. But the players are disappointed, and we’re going to recover from that. We have our last game at home to play. It will be a really important game for us because we want to finish second. We don’t have any options. I think we are where we wanted to be at the beginning of the season. Now it’s in our hands.”
On difficulty of playing against D.C. United…
“I think they make it difficult because they are in a really good moment. When you look at [Luciano] Acosta’s performance tonight, you look at Patrick [Mullins], [Lloyd] Sam, I think the front players did really well today. They gave us a lot of trouble. They played well. It was a big challenge for us, and we didn’t turn up, we didn’t compete. This is the reason why we are going back home with nothing.”
On waiting to make substitutions…
“I was thinking if we could go three in the back, put in Maxime [Chanot], [Jefferson] Mena, and Jason [Hernandez]. I was thinking about it a little bit, and then I decided to go with Diego [Martinez]. If I make an early decision, we may not concede the first goal. I have responsibility with that as well. I will have to make a quicker decision next time.”
New York City FC midfielder Tommy McNamara
On coming out against D.C. United…
“It was a difficult game for us. They did a good job in preventing us from playing. We didn’t do a good enough job ourselves. We were second-best in a lot of ways today and it was seen in the result.”
On the lack of execution and moving forward…
“We need to get to how we were two weeks ago. Prior to that, we played some really good games and everything was there for us for the most part. We just need to get back to being ourselves again.”
On the crowd…
“It’s nice when stadiums are sold out or when the lower bowl is sold out. It makes the atmosphere better and it makes the games more enjoyable to watch. It’s not something to overcome, it just makes things better."
D.C. United defender Jason Hernandez
On the takeaway from the game...
"I think this was a tale of two halves. The first half, I think offensively, D.C. put us under a lot of pressure. They were very good with their chances. With the couple of looks that they got, they made no mistakes and they really punished us. In the second half, we made a couple of adjustments and we won the half 1-0. Obviously, they were playing a little bit differently having the lead but I think it was the tale of two halves, and it's something we just need to look at going forward and in preparation for next week."
On facing an in-form D.C. United...
"I think in our previous matches against them, they've shown that in the offensive third they're a very strong team. We really wanted to control the game and control the possession of the ball and the tempo. We didn't really do that in the first half. I think you saw the result. We had some turnovers and some tough situations in our own goal. They made no mistakes. I think that if we see them again in the future, we're definitely going to have to do our best to neutralize that."
On moving forward...
"We just need to have our performances look more like the second half rather than the first. The last 45 minutes, we can hold our hat on. Going forward, that's the type of performance we should have for the whole 90 minutes."
On the specifics of the first half...
"There were some instances where maybe we turned over the ball when normally we wouldn't. That was something we were trying to avoid. We avoided it a little more in the second half and we got punished for it."
On the stakes being high and sticking to their traditional game plan...
"For us, our identity is our identity. We're going to play the way we play from the first day to the last day. I think from where we sit, we've been tied for first place for a lot of the year. That says a lot about our style and how we play. It's nothing that we're going to change now. In reality, if we execute the way we want, it shouldn't be a problem. In the first half, maybe if we don't do the things well that we usually do, you can get punished for it."
