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Quotes & reaction to Union’s winless streak ending win, more news

Photo: Daniel Gajdamowicz

Philadelphia Union

After scoring only four goals over since the end of July, the Union finally found their scoring feet with a 3–1 win over Houston Dynamo, so ending an eight game winless streak and keeping their slim playoff hopes alive.

Postgame interviews with Chris Albright, Michael Farfan, Raymon Gaddis and Antoine Hoppenot. For John Hackworth’s postgame press conference, click here.

John Hackworth said after the win, “This is a coach’s dream when he can come into a press conference and say, ‘I told you so.’ Joking—but in all seriousness, I knew the goals were going to come for us. More so than that, I think we put together a pretty complete performance today. We were really good against an excellent team on both sides of the ball…Three points with our backs against the wall, we would have been out of the playoffs with anything but three points, so my hat’s off to the team, they did a terrific job.”

Freddy Adu said about leaving the game early after scoring his second goal of the game with a penalty kick, “Trust me, I really wanted to be out there. But sometimes you’ve got to take care of yourself, too. I’m just glad we won the game.” Adu explained that he felt a pull below his left hip when taking the penalty kick. “Hopefully I won’t miss any time. That’s my goal. But I’m also not going to rush back and make it worse.”

Adu said he liked playing forward. “It’s definitely a good feeling and hopefully I’m able to stay in that position and play hopefully the rest of the games in that position.”

Josue Martinez finally opened his account. “I am very excited,” he said, “and it was a great feeling getting that first goal.”

Hackworth said of Martinez, “Josue, along with other young attacking players, need opportunities. He did a really good job of playing how we asked him to in training and that made a big difference for us today.”

With Sheanon Williams moved to left back for the injured Gabriael Farfan, Raymon Gaddis put in an excellent performance at right back, including helping to set up Adu’s first goal. “Ray was excellent, the way he got forward in the first half the energy that he brought and his defensive responsibility,” Hackworth said. “I can’t say enough about that kid and what he brings every single day.”

Williams said after the game, “The only part of playing the game that’s fun is winning. When you don’t win and you have one of those streaks, it definitely gets a little bit frustrating. We know that we’ve been playing well. I’ve said before that we thought were better than a lot of the teams that we had lost to, but that we were just unlucky. These goals are going to come, and tonight (we got) three.”

Brian Carroll said, “Today really was about doing anything that we can to get a win…We really wanted to stress keeping the ball. [Houston] is a big, strong physical team we wanted to do anything in our power to offset that. So we needed guys that are good in tight spaces and able to find the ball in the feet and maybe keep the ball on the ground a bit more and I think with the pairing [of Adu and Martinez] we are able to find that a bit today.”

About the playoff prospects? Carlos Valdes said, “Doesn’t matter if we don’t have a chance to be in the playoffs. We have to do work because a lot of fans are coming to see us every game to support us and we have to give them the work.”

Reports and recaps from PSP, MLSsoccer.com, The Daily News, The Inquirer, Delco Times, CSN Philly, Philly Soccer News, Brotherly Game, Houston Chronicle, Goal.com, SB Nation, The Sports Network, and the AP.

MLS

In Eastern Conference action, first place Kansas City (55 points) and seventh place Montreal (40 points) played to a 0–0 draw. Second place Chicago (53 points) came from behind to defeat sixth place Columbus (45 points) 2–1. Third place New York (50 points) drew 1–1 with now ninth place New England (29 points). DC ((50 points) moved into fourth place with a 1–0 win over Chivas USA. Houston (46 points) remain in fifth place after losing 3–1 to the Union (30 points), who move into eight place. Toronto (22 points) remain last place after losing 4–2 to LA.

LA and Real Salt Lake both clinched playoff spots with wins over the weekend.

The Guardian has five things learned from the weekend’s games.

“Coincidentally convenient.” That’s how the New York  Times explains the Disciplinary Committee’s decision to suspend Thierry Henry for the New England game after footage showed him headbutting Kei Kamera in New York’s 2–0 loss to Kansas City last week. Henry wasn’t expected to travel with New York for the game anyway because he will not play on turf.

The New Yorker considers why the Red Bulls have such poor attendance.

The Frank Lampard to LA Galaxy rumors can begin again after his agent was reportedly spotted at LA’s win over Toronto on Saturday night.

The LA Times notes the growth of soccer statistics and asks if the sport is really a numbers game.

Grantland looks at the Marcus Tracy story.

Australia’s A-League is considering implementing their own version of the so-called “Beckham Rule.”

US

The US opened play in the Women’s U-17 World Cup with a scoreless draw against France on Saturday.

US Soccer head Sunil Gulati has been appointed chairman of the CONCACAF Gold Cup committee.

Elsewhere

Ahead of a hearing before an independent panel convened by the FA to investigate charges that he racially abused Anton Ferdinand, John Terry announced he has retired from playing for England.

What do you know, among Liverpool and Manchester United fans, there remain a couple of idiots. It’s the same in most places.

 

2 Comments

  1. Great win. Valdes is right though. They need to put the playoffs out of their minds and just put in the work. Hopefully this game will instill some confidence that they can build on.

  2. Was anyone else not able to get on here earlier or was it just me? Anyway, good win, and I think Gaddis is becoming one of my fav players. And I agree with rob about agreeing with valdes.

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