D.C. United coach Chad Ashton
On the team’s momentum after the second goal...
"I think the goal was timely. It was starting to get hairy right around that point, and they sort of had us pinned back a little bit. But that’s why those two are out there--they can counter on you and break down a couple guys, so credit to Sabo and Lucho for both coming on and getting a goal."
On Luciano Acosta’s goal and performance...
"That’s what he does. That’s why he’s here; he’s got a lot of magic in him. I still think he’s got to pick and choose the right times to do it, but you’ve seen it already in the little glimpses when he’s played that he can pull off a big-time play, and again, it was very timely for us."
On the decision for Lamar Neagle to take the penalty...
"Players basically sort that out, so from a coaching standpoint we had nothing to do with that. They sorted that out themselves. It was good to see Lamar step up and hit a really confident penalty."
On if he thinks Luciano Acosta will play a bigger role in upcoming matches after his performance tonight...
"You never know. We have a pretty big core of guys, and so he’s having to adjust to them, and vice versa. You know, there’s no doubt in my mind [that] as the season goes on he’s going to see significant playing time. But we’ve got to pick and choose our times when we get him in there right now, and have a good balance in terms of who we’re putting on the field. And we feel like that will sort itself out. His playing time will come, and he’ll earn that. But it’s tough for any player to walk into this league. We’ve seen it with big-time players in this league--they come in and it doesn’t happen right away. You have to be patient with the player, and--probably even more so--the player has to be a little patient in adjusting to the league."
On Lucho’s ideal partner up top...
"I think it suits him better to have a typical number 9. Fabi, obviously, floats out to the wings, and [Lucho] is a guy who is gonna find seams, and--much like you saw in the Vancouver game--he comes underneath and can spring someone with a great pass. Obviously tonight he showed he can score goals, too. It’s probably better for him when you have a classic number 9 who plays in between the two center backs on the field."
On Fabián Espíndola’s injury...
"Hamstring--how bad, I have no idea."
On what Ben Olsen said to him after the game...
"High five, way to go, all smiles. Obviously we’re all just pleased to get the three points."
D.C. United defender Steve Birnbaum
On Luciano Acosta’s performance
"Yeah, we’ve seen him in practice, obviously, and he’s super cheeky and tough to defend. So we knew something special was going to come at some point...he’s a great player. So none of us were really surprised when he did that, but it was a great finish."
On the defense’s performance
"I thought it was good. Obviously the first fifteen minutes were a little sketchy. Obviously, they had one off the crossbar and had a couple of decent chances, so we’ve got to clean that up. But overall, I thought the team as a whole defended well together, and the back line was pretty solid and dealt with their runs in the box the whole time. So I’m pleased with the performance."
D.C. United midfielder Lamar Neagle
On the overall performance…
“I think it’s one of those nights where you want to continue and put together 90 minutes. Sometimes you put together 90 minutes and you don’t get the result, so obviously we are on our way…”
On the decision to take the PK…
“It’s kind of whoever's feeling it. I’ve been taking a few free kicks and some set plays so I just grabbed the ball. I was confident so I took it.“
On the importance of late goals and a clean sheet…
“Yeah definitely both are things that we are looking for. Its great that we have guys who come off the bench and score. You know Lucho and Sabo seem to have something going so that’s always nice. It’s always a plus when you have guys that are coming off the bench confident and definitely contributing to the win.”
D.C. United midfielder Luciano Acosta
On his play in today’s win…
I needed a little bit of a confidence boost and to show why I came here, and the that goal helps.
On playing time and his overall comfort level…
Everybody always wants to start on the team. That’s the decision that the coach makes and I have to respect it, but I’m happy here and I’m happy to be playing.
New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps
On the game and performance…
“Tough game. Not our best performance.”
On the difficulty to create chances with a final ball…
“I have to look on film. I’m not exactly sure why. We started the game well and I felt like we were going to play well. Unfortunately we played well for about 30 minutes after the penalty call we put our heads down, we didn’t react real well.”
On the penalty call…
“I didn’t like it. I thought it was soft. But again, that’s my opinion.”
On the influence of Chris’s injury…
“That shouldn’t influence [the game] as much as it did but it did. We had to make a couple moves across the back line. But again, on the night we weren’t good enough, whether we made one or two changes it just wasn’t good enough. “
On the changes made after the injury…
“We moved Je-Vaughn [Watson] to the left side and brought London [Woodberry] at right back. As the game went on, we made all pretty aggressive offensive subs.”
On other shifts and tweaking players positions…
“It’s just to shake it up a little bit, try to get a little bit different looks, try to get different things. We worked on that this week, just moving some guys across that front line and we were unfortunately just a little bit off on the passing. To be honest I thought we came out really well. It’s real disappointing to start that way and give up a goal and then not to be able to recover, so that’s why were here and unfortunately that’s where we are at.”
On the status of Chris’s injury…
“No, I don’t know yet.”
On the instant severity of Chris’s injury…
“I don’t know the extent of that I just know it was the right move to take him off just to be cautious. I think that we will evaluate him over the next couple of days.”
New England goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth
On the overall outcome…
“I think, in the beginning of the game, we controlled most of it. The first 30-35 minutes, I thought we played really well. We had a couple of really good chances and then the penalty happens and it’s a bit downhill from there. I just think it’s early in the season, yeah, but we’re just having a little bit of lapses in spots when we shouldn’t be having them and it’s costing us games right now.”
On the early injury and loss of Chris Tierney…
“When we lose Chris, he’s a big player for us. You get a lot of service from him; a lot of stuff going forward, so for him to go out it hurts us, definitely. He’s the best left back in the league. That being said, I think Je-Vaughn [Watson] came in and was solid, London [Woodberry] came in and did what he needed to do and was solid. I don’t think that’s what cost us the game to be honest.”
On the penalty call…
“I didn’t have a good look at it to be honest. I just saw it in the corner and I’m trying to deal with guys that are coming across the front of the goal, so I didn’t really get a good look at it.”
On playing against D.C. United…
“Ben [Olsen] has these guys really organized and they’re getting their blocks and they’re hard to break down, so especially at home it’s difficult to come here and win and I think you saw that today. They limited our chances, other than the first maybe 15 or 20 minutes. We came here in the playoffs and it was kind of the same story, but moving forward we have to stop having the mental lapses and try to focus on getting three points.”
