D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen
On the start of the game…
“We were not ready to start the the game. When that happens, I have to look at myself and maybe take some blame on that. We’re in Seattle three days ago, and that probably had something to do with the start…but it’s no excuse. We had a poor start, went down 3-0, and then the game’s very difficult at that point.”
On subbing in Nick DeLeon…
“We wanted Nick to get back into the fold and it was the first game he was really available to get significant minutes. He’s fearless and he doesn’t blink no matter who he plays against or what position he’s in. He just comes onto the field and brings what he’s brought ever since he got to this club. And we need that right now. We need guys like Nicky.”
On regrouping from two tough results this week…
“We’ll be ok. Next week we’ll have a full starting lineup, and we’ll compete in training this week. We’ll put together, probably, our best lineup of the year next week and we’ll be rested. Our inability to still find ways to make plays in the defensive end right now has been very poor. We've given up very soft goals…if we can fix that, we can get back to being a sound defensive team.”
On belief in the team…
“I know you guys don’t believe it when I say it, but I do have a lot of belief in this group. I do.”
D.C. United defender Bobby Boswell
On what went wrong defensively...
“A team like Houston, they counter attack. That’s their whole game plan, we already knew they were going to sit back and try to counter attack. When you give them a free goal to start that off, I think we got a little out of our element and started trying to go chase the goal right back and they score another one. Then one, two, three: It’s pretty much game over at that point. For me, it comes down to the first goal. You know, you can’t give up a set piece goal. … I think the players need to look in the mirror, myself included, and realize that no one has a spot on this team. You gotta earn it every day. If we do that, we give ourselves more of a chance.”
On holding players accountable…
“They say on good teams, coaches hold the players accountable. On great teams, players hold the players accountable. We gotta do a better job, I think...fighting for each other. We gotta figure it out as a group or we’ll die individually.”
D.C. United defender Nick DeLeon
On Ben Olsen’s message before going in..
“He just told me to find a spark and flash, so just to go in and bring some high energy to help to turn the game around and my mentality was that when I got the ball to just try and make something happen—go forward, I definitely went back a little bit too much. My mentality was just to push and bring energy to the game.”
On bringing high energy…
“Whether my touch is on, whether my touch is bad whether my shot is on or my passes are on, you can always bring high energy and you can always play with that spark—you can always play with that fire and that’s what I try and do.”
D.C. United defender Chris Korb
On the first half of the game...
"We gave up three goals in the first half, that’s not good enough. First fifteen minutes really."
On the losing stretch...
"We’re just trying to push through and it’s been tough, it’s just one of those stretches … something’s just not clicking right now."
D.C. United forward Deshorn Brown
On the scrambles and chances in front of the net...
"It was pretty difficult, we came in here at halftime talking about what we want to do and trying to get back in the game. Like you said, there were a lot of chances in the second half in front of the goal and I guess it just wasn’t our day today, nothing was going our way, it’s just one of those games."
On staying focused...
"It’s pretty rough to be honest, but it’s just a part of football. I’ve seen worse happen and you just can’t let these two games get in your head. I don’t like to lose, nobody does, so you just have to tell yourself next time to be better."
Houston Dynamo head coach Wilmer Cabrera
On the team winning their first road game of the season…
“It was about time for the players—they deserve it and they’ve been looking for that. It’s been difficult, but I think that for right now it’s just confirming how solid the team has been playing. It was positive and we could capitalize all of the opportunities really quick, so the difference between two days ago when we played against Minnesota United is that we put the three opportunities that we had in and that changed everything for us. Obviously, it was a very tough situation for D.C. United because you don’t expect that we were clinical, we were finishing and then we did a good job holding because they threw everything on us—all of the possibilities—and we helped our defense and we were a very solid team. We never lost our control and it’s important to win these first three points away because the momentum of the season is critical for us.”
On the team’s overall mentality after the win…
“The good thing is that the team doesn’t change [the way it thinks]—we have to make subs and changes, even in the last minute because [DaMarcus] Beasley was a little bit tight with his muscle during the warm-up and we have to make last minute changes, but we don’t change the way we think, the way we play and the way we face the games. The players—everyone—have been stepping up and responding very well to the opportunities and today was the opportunity to debut Charlie Ward and he went in and played very well and Memo Rodriguez got his second goal of the season being a rookie, so we’re really happy because everyone is bringing something to the table. That shows that the team is very humble and everyone is waiting for the opportunity and taking advantage of the opportunities.”
On playing with a lead…
“It’s a good problem, but the whole season we’ve played away, we’ve never been up 3-0 at 15 or 16 minutes, so because of that you have to be mature enough mentally and they reactions of the players were good—they understood that [being up] 3-0 at 15 minutes, the opponent is going to come after us no matter what and is going to take risks, but we were solid and we contained them very well.”
Houston Dynamo midfielder Memo Rodríguez
On the positives from tonight’s outcome…
“We did what we did Wednesday against Minnesota—we were sharp defensively, but the only difference is that we had that killer sequence in the final third and we scored three goals in the first 15 minutes.”
On finding the right mentality before games…
“I try to approach every game, if I’m on the bench or if I’m going to start, with the right mentality and things are going to go right if I have that right mentality.”
On scoring his goal…
“Andrew [Wenger] played in a good ball—I thought it was pretty high, but I got up there and headed it pretty good. I haven’t seen the replay yet, but I had good contact with the ball and thankfully the ball went in.”
Houston Dynamo midfielder Charlie Ward
On making his first appearance with Houston…
“I’m excited and I’m mostly thankful to the coaching staff associated with Houston Dynamo for giving me this opportunity, so I’m excited and thankful. Obviously, the win is the biggest thing tonight—first away win—so I’m more happy about that.”
On Wilmer Cabrera’s message before going in…
“He just tells me to enjoy it. I’ve worked with Wilmer [Cabrera] before and he believes in me, he’s put me on the pitch in the first place, so that’s all I needed enough to tell me anything. Like I said, I’m thankful to him and everyone for giving me this opportunity.”
On gaining the first away win…
“It’s an away win—the first away win. Now that that’s finished, we can go and get more now. We’ve won away now, so let’s go win away now—if we win at home and win away, let’s win the league.”
