United head coach Ben Olsen
Overall thoughts on the performance…
“We were unable to score the goal. They had very few chances, but made the best out of the one good one that they had. [Luis] Silva can do that, he’s capable of making the big play. We saw it when he was here. He made the play that mattered tonight, and we didn’t.
On the team not putting away their chances…
"We have to be hungrier in front of the goal and we have to better anticipate the runs in the box…we need better commitment inside the final third."
United midfielder Paul Arriola
On his feelings around his first match with his new team...
“I felt good. It’s always difficult coming into a new team, not just for me, but for the team as well. I thought the first 30 minutes yesterday and 15 today, we came out well and had some good chances, especially on set pieces. It’s tough to give up a goal like that, where it’s a bad clearance, maybe a foul. I shouldn’t have given up in the first place and could’ve stood him up, so thats frustrating. I don’t want to make an excuse that I’m new to the team and chemistry isn’t there, but the fact is that the chemistry isn’t totally there yet. Obviously, we all hope that it would’ve been there right off the bat since we're trying to kick-start ourselves into the playoffs, but I thought there was a lot of room for growth and understanding to be made for both the players on the field and the ones coming off the bench. It was rough, but in the end we can walk away with the optimistic belief that we are going to get better."
On the restart…
“It was tough, no question about it. It was a first for me and a lot of players. But, remember Real Salt Lake had to do the exact same thing. I wouldn’t emphasize it too much, but definitely from my point of view, it was difficult to understand that there were back-to-back game days.”
On the game after the goal…
“We have to give them credit after the goal; I thought they did well defensively and Kyle [Beckerman] especially always does well in the middle. They had a great understanding of what their gameplay was after they scored. For us, we kind of felt the pressure after that to get a goal, and maybe some of our heads went down with some frustration and disappointment. Obviously, we tried to play the long ball a little more after that, but thats where myself and Lucho and other players up top can take control of the game, put the ball on the floor and create chances."
On his mentality after such a big move…
“For all players to succeed, there has to be times like this, where the pressure is on you to perform, and I think thats how I’m going to grow and I’m taking it as a challenge and a positive. I won’t ever try to do too much on the field, I’ve always been a team player. It’s the same here, it doesn’t matter if I’m scoring a goal, as long as we're doing something to win the game, that's what matters to me and is the most important. It's easy for a player to come in amid a big move and think that they’re the one that has to score all the goals when they’re being talked about. For me, its the exact opposite. As long as we're winning the game and have a great understanding as a group, that’s the most important thing."
United defender Sean Franklin
On the game…
"We played well for 60 minutes but yesterday in the first 30, we had opportunities to get a few goals. We can’t do anything about the weather, but today it wasn’t good enough. We didn't have enough good chances in front of goal and we shoot ourselves in the foot when we concede crap goals like in this game and last week we had the own goal against Toronto. It’s been frustrating. We can’t allow teams to stay in games by allowing these goals. Even though we might have 10 chances in a game, they get one and it’s a goal. That’s unacceptable. We’ve got to figure this out as soon as possible because it’s not good enough."
Real Salt Lake goalkeeper Nick Rimando
On mindset restarting match…
“The guys were focused. Mike [Petke] did a good job, and the staff, to keep us focused and it worked because we got those three points today. … It’s a bit of a weird situation. But it gives us time to get organized and know right from the start what we’re gonna deal with.”
On RSL winning at RFK for the first time…
“It feels good obviously. A lot of good memories here at RFK and with D.C. United. The most important thing is we got three points, we go home tonight and get ready for Montreal.”
On replicating away form at home…
“One game at a time, you know? Every game is like that for us. Every game is big. Different tactics for each game. We’re gonna take this with some confidence going into Montreal and then hopefully that can lead over into our home games.”
On playing at RFK for the last time…
“It was nice to come back. Some familiar faces in the stands and, like I said, a lot of memories here. It’s good to get back to D.C. because a lot of my life was here playing with D.C. United.”
Real Salt Lake forward Luis Silva
On the goal…
“A goal is a goal. I’ll take a goal against any team. But, most important I think is the three points.
On the team’s performance…
As a team, we fought towards the end. Every single ball I think we challenged, which shows a lot of character from our team going forward. I think we gotta put this one away and look forward to the next away game.”
On RSL’s offensive performance…
“I think we created a good amount of chances and we just gotta keep building from that and try to keep being more accurate inside the 18.”
Real Salt Lake midfielder Kyle Beckerman
On the unusual circumstances of the game…
“We told ourselves there’s no excuses. Both teams had to deal with what we did last night and we had to have this extra focus coming in to start the game on a corner kick. So, that was kinda interesting. But, I thought we got stronger as the game went on. The fight was always there. The field wasn’t the greatest, so we knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. We knew we had an opportunity with a couple teams losing in front of us, so we wanted to take full advantage.”
On the fight shown by the team…
“The fight was there from start to finish. … We had to make sure we had that as a standard, cause the field wasn’t exactly perfect. [United is] a good team at home, so we knew it was gonna be very difficult and they were able to keep us from getting a lot of chances. But, what a great goal by Luis and we were able to just stick it in there and keep fighting to the end.”
On pressure coming into tonight…
“Whenever there is pressure around the team or person, it just means the stakes are high and there’s something there for you to play for. So, we want all the pressure we can get, because then that just means there’s more and more opportunity. Tonight, we had a little pressure on us because we didn’t win those home games and we were able to step up to the plate and get it done.”
