D.C. United head coach Ben Olsen
On the first ten minutes compared to the rest of the game...
"We knew there was going to be a storm coming early; the way they play and the talent that they have, they cause a lot of problems and force you to make tough decisions. We weren't able to play our way out during the first ten minutes, but after that, we started to solve some problems. Bill was incredible—he came up with some huge early saves for us and had a great performance overall. We dropped Ian flat next to Jared to clog up the passing lanes to Almiron and Asad, both of whom caused us fits all night. We were extremely efficient with how we countered in the first half and got back in the game. I thought the way we handled them in the second half, for the most part, was very disciplined. We could've hit them again a few more times on the counter in that second half. Down the stretch, legs started to play into it; it was our first real hot game, and our guys had to dig in and defend the box."
On Bill's performance...
"I'm pleased with how Bill hung in there and made some great saves. It wasn't an easy atmosphere, but it's a lot of fun to play here with the noise level. It's nice to see another soccer-rabid city in this country."
On Le Toux's performance...
"He's an intelligent soccer player. His work rate is unbelievable, he gives us a threat in behind, and he usually makes the right play, so he's been big. He's filled in very nicely."
On Lucho's performance...
"I thought Lucho was great in the first 60 minutes. His ability to relieve pressure, especially on the counterattack, is always going to be a big part of the game."
On finishing a three-match road trip with a draw in New England and a win in Atlanta...
"Every week you’re trying to pick up as many points as possible. It’s very difficult to pick up points on the road in the MLS, whether it’s one point or three points, so if you pick up points you usually get out of there feeling pretty good about yourself. It gives us a little momentum and it gives us some points in the bank that we need. Now we’re looking forward to getting back in front of our fans next week against Montreal."
On whether United had something to prove in New England and Atlanta...
"I think our guys have the right chip on their shoulder. We have something to prove every weekend. It’s a big three points for us, no doubt."
D.C. United midfielder Lamar Neagle
On conceding a goal early...
“Yeah 10 minutes in seems what we’ve been getting ourselves into. Digging ourselves a little hole and trying to dig ourselves out. Last couple games we’ve shown we have that in us, we just need a better start.”
On composure in second half...
“Like I said, those starts keep getting us but eventually we calm down and realize we can play. As the year has gone on we’ve gained more composure and turned games like this into wins instead of ties.”
Forward Sébastien Le Toux
On difference between opening 10 minutes and the rest of the match...
“I don’t know, I think we just got used to the fans supporting their team, the field and the weather. It was kind of humid and hot and maybe we are not used to playing at 3 p.m. too. Since the beginning of the year we’ve been starting very slow. We’ve tried to get better, but I guess we need more work. After that I think we get into a rhythm.”
On his goal...
“I score a lot like this. I know I’m good at that type of run. I’m lucky I have good players on my team like Loyd Sam last week or Luciano this weekend to have the vision to try to find me right away in space and luckily it worked out well twice.”
On the last three road matches...
“We had a lot of home games to start the season and we did alright, but we wanted to get on a good run away. It was important to get the first win, especially in this environment it’s very good for our confidence. We still can be better.”
D.C. United goalkeeper Bill Hamid
On adjustments after the first 10 minutes
“I think we just dealt with their wave pretty well. Thankfully they didn’t get three goals in the first 10 minutes and we were able to make two of our own.”
On if a win, loss and draw in last three road matches are good results
“If you look at the positives, yeah. There’s a lot of positives in this three-game stretch.”
Atlanta United FC head coach Tata Martino
On what went wrong for the club today...
“I think we played a great first 20 minutes of the game. We created many scoring chances. Although after that we made some defensive mistakes that ended up being very costly. In addition to that, we were lacking consistency at times throughout the game.”
On what specific areas the club lacked consistency...
“We did control the game at times, but we weren’t able to do that for long periods of time. We couldn’t take advantage of all the chances we created. We were missing playing at the same level throughout the whole game to find those kinds of opportunities.”
On how to fix the team’s inability to finish chances...
“The good thing is we are creating chances and that’s really important for us. What we have to do is when we are ahead in the game we can’t give the other team an opportunity to come back in the game. We have to make sure we don’t give the other team those chances to score.”
Atlanta United FC defender Tyrone Mears
On the mistakes of the game...
“We made little mistakes, individually and as a team. This can happen; the expectations have definitely been raised for this club, which is a good thing because we want that. You can’t take anything for granted and I think a lot of people are expecting DC to come to us; it’s a win for us. But the MLS is a difficult league, and certainly the Eastern Conference has improved I think from last season. For us, sometimes you need that. You need a little wake-up call. There are a lot of things that have been going well for us. Today was a setback and it’s going to be back to the training ground. I think you saw, certainly in the first half in the first 20 minutes, we created a lot of chances. We could’ve finished the game off then, we didn’t finish them off. They got back into the game and they frustrated us the whole game. You have to give credit to them, they came here to do a job and they did it.”
On not getting many points at home and then the pressure of going on the road...
“Yeah, like I said, for teams to finish in the playoffs you should only win your home games is less important. I think that we’ve got a great away record and I think we’ve shocked a lot of people with that. But it is important; we have to win our home games. It was a setback today, but we are not going to get down, we’re not going to change things. It is just going to be more hard work on the training ground. We will go to New York again, feeling fresh and looking to win the game.”
On what D.C. United did right...
“I think certainly on my side, I was playing against Neagle, I know very well. He stayed with me the whole game, trumped me. Everywhere that I went, he was there. You know, I think that the wings did a very good job defensively and like you said I don’t think they had too many chances, but the chances they built they took them. That was the difference between the two teams today.”
Atlanta United Fc defender and captain Michael Parkhurst
On whether the missed chances affected the team for the rest of the match...
“I don’t think so. We still went up 1-0. Of course we would have liked to bury a couple, but that’s Bill Hamid. He’s a very good goalkeeper. We started the game exactly how we wanted to. We put them under a ton of pressure. We got the goal. We were in a good spot and it was downhill from there.”
On the missed chances being a recurring theme so far this season...
“Well, when you create as many chances as we create, you’re going to miss some. I think overall our percentage of finishing quality chances has been pretty high entering the game today. Today was an off day for us, but credit Bill. He made a couple very good saves.”
On D.C. United’s first two goals from his perspective...
“Yeah, the first one we just didn’t get a good clear on it and then they come down. I know he’s going to cross the ball. We just get a little unlucky where on another day I block it and it goes out for a corner kick, but today it goes right in. The second goal was just too easy. I think it might have been straight off a throw-in and he just collects it and dribbles at us. I should have closed him down maybe a little bit tighter. I thought I had it blocked and it snuck through my legs. That’s a tough play for Alec [Kann]. I’ve got to block that.”
On how the team bounces back from this result...
“One game at a time. We’ve got a tough one away to Portland. That’s a tough place to play. They’re a very good team. They are playing well, but we’ve shown we can get results on the road. We have to especially. We missed this opportunity today. It’s our only home game within a seven game span and we took nothing from it so we have to pick up points on the road.”
