Team Manager John Hackworth
On Conor Casey’s performance…
“He scores two goals, fantastic. What he did early in that game changed a little bit of it by dropping deep in the midfield and giving us the ability to play into him, off of him, it changed things for us at the start of that game. So really happy for him and he continues to do those things. I have said it all along, I am really glad we have him.”
On Fabinho’s performance…
“Fabinho had a good game for us. Gives us a different look on that left side for sure. His service is excellent and he gives us options and I think going forward Ray has still had such a stellar season and when he comes back we will have some difficult choices. But that is what you want especially this time of year and we knew going into this game, having 11 games left, it was going to be really important for us. Having Fabinho and having him playing well is fantastic.”
On when they’ll know about Ray Gaddis returning…br /> “We will see probably on Monday or Tuesday. He is back and he is running so it looks good for him being available next week.”
On the youth in D.C.’s line-up and whether it changed the Union’s approach…
“It didn’t really change our approach, but I think it is difficult to deal with. I said it on Wednesday, when you are a team like DC right now, coming off two very good results; when you throw out a young player they have nothing to lose and they can, they know what they have to do and you saw that from them. Full credit to Ben and his staff; he’s got them playing well and they even had us on the ropes a little bit at the start of the game and it was good. I mean I think there is some quality in those young guys. I know what it is like because I think we went through that last year.”
On the importance of work done on the wings to bolster the attack…
“Clearly we are a team that likes to man the flanks if you will, but I think for me when we push Sebastien a little inside and we cut Conor back and that really opened up things. We had kind of gone down that left early and often and the one time we went back to the right with it actually opened up the whole field for us on the left so it was good to see we went down both sides. I think we can actually do a better job once we spread a team out like that and going through the middle and make some combination plays and we were looking for that in the second half and it didn’t come off the way we wanted...”
On the team’s comfort level playing with a one goal lead…
“We talked about it at halftime, we didn’t want to play for the 1-0 result; we needed to go out and search for goal. You have De Rosario and he is one of the best players in this league and there is a reason for it. You have a team and we knew they were going to get their chances, but we hadn’t made a critical play and the clearance by Sheanon exemplifies that kind of critical play that we knew we had to make tonight if we were going to get the three points.”
On the team’s resiliency…
“I think, and I have said this all along, that we have a group of players who believe in each other, they trust each other. I think the character you see out of our team every time we have a negative result, to come back and have a positive one. We have done it all year long and I think our resolve that way is excellent.”
Amobi Okugo
On the result tonight…
"It's good. It just shows the resolve on our team. This week was a tough week. Guys were jawing at each other, and you could just tell we were tense … We did a great job; we saw the lineup, and Coach [John Hackworth] stressed that it wasn't most of their starters, but he made us stay focused to the task, and we were able to come out with the victory."
On if the tactics changed based on D.C.'s lineup…
"It doesn't matter. They have a lot of good, young players, and with the way that the season's gone for them, they tested them out against us, and we took advantage of it."
On if the team follows the standings…
"Yeah, we follow the standings. Last week, after the loss, we were all looking around the league for the results to go our way. Luckily, they happened for us. It was good to get the win, and to get the points back."
Conor Casey
On what the Union did to get out to a faster start…
"I don't know, just the mentality. Coach [John Hackworth] harped on it all week that we came out flat last week, and it was definitely our number one priority coming into the game to come out flying."
On what it means to have nine goals on the season…
"It's been good. It's a pretty good place with ten games left. As a forward, you're always wanting to score as many as you can, so it's good to have a lot of guys scoring (Jack, myself). It's something to build on for the rest of the season."
On Jack McInerney's scoring drought and what it will take for him to get out of it…br /> "One goal. It's just how it is as a forward. Sometimes, you go through stretches where you do a lot of things right, but it just won't go in. You know, one goal changes everything, and they usually come in bunches. I'm sure he's hungry to score, and I'm sure it will happen soon."
On how it feels to be healthy and back to his scoring ways from prior seasons…
"It feels great. I've put in a lot of work this year, and in preseason, to get the base fitness. It's been great to have the minutes this year to keep it. It's been awesome."
Fabinho (through a translator)
On the match tonight and notching another assist…
"I was really happy to produce like that for this team, and I think that I can continue to get better in the attack, and over time, to contribute more and more."
On how much John Hackworth tells him to attack versus staying back to defend…
"John [Hackworth] tells me to play my game involving defending and going forward in the attack. I think that, over time, I will continue to progress in both aspects. Along those lines, I thought that in the first half, it wasn't as good, but in the second half, I played a lot better, and I was able to get more involved and contribute."
On how much it helps to have a big target forward like Conor Casey to serve to…
"I think that, obviously, in soccer, size can matter. Having that helps a lot. Over time, we'll continue to develop and work harder and harder to move up the table."
D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen
Opening Statement…
“We knew it was going to be a tough task tonight, we were hoping for a bounce to go our way and to come out of here with some kind of result. They were good on the day, we almost leveled it at 1-1 our hope was to get that back and hold but they made a big play clearing that off the line. It’s a learning experience for a lot of people out there, a lot of guys.”
On whether the youth on the field was by design or necessity…
“We’re banged up. Do you want me to go through the list? I mean you guys know the list better than me.”
On Collin Martin’s performance…
“Great. I think he is one of the guys on the field that, at least from a confidence standpoint doesn’t care what type of game he’s in. He’s calm on the ball, he has ideas. The problem with Collin going forward is we have to find him a position, but I love his starting point; he’s a great soccer player and I was happy that he had a pretty good performance today.”
On Michael Seaton’s performance…
“He is doing great with his development; he has a ways to go but our relationship with Richmond has been perfect for him. He has gone there; he has scored goals and gotten valuable minutes in a real league, real games and he comes back and his growth from the time we saw him in January to now is pretty impressive. Now, he has a long way to go but he has got some things about him that we like. We will continue to teach and help him grow to help us one day on the full team.”
Collin Martin
On the game…
“It felt good to get a start, it was an amazing atmosphere. It was fun to be out there with that group of guys. In the end though it doesn’t really matter because we lost; that was disappointing. You take each milestone and you build on it, I am excited to get back to work and improve on this start.”
On whether he got any advice from the older guys on the team…
“Yeah, it’s pretty simple what they said to me, do what you’ve been doing the past couple weeks in training and just have fun cause in the end that’s why you play the game, to have fun and just basically work hard. If you work hard then good things are going to happen.”
On starting as a youth in D.C. United’s academy and now playing for their first team...
“Yeah it’s awesome, it means a lot. I love playing for this club, I’ve played for them for the past five years. It just means a lot.”
Michael Seaton
On his debut…
“It’s great. I came in at a rough time though, down two goals, but hopefully next time I can perform better and help my team out.”
On the atmosphere and whether he was nervous going in…
“I guess I was. Before the game I got booed and I guess that always happens. You just have to tune them out and play your game. Five minutes into the game I was alright I didn’t listen to them, I was listening to my teammates whatever they were telling me to do and I was fine.”
