Philadelphia Union postgame quotes

Philadelphia Union Head Coach John Hackworth

On the match as a whole:

“Two teams laying it out on the line. My compliments to Real Salt Lake. They’re well coached. It was always going to be really tough to beat them no matter what. We should’ve done a better job closing out the game at 2-1, but it’s something we’ll have to work on. Credit to Salt Lake. They made it tough and pushed numbers forward. They made it really tough and there is a reason they are the best team in the league.”

On the finish of the game:

“I’m losing a lot of hair. I’m aging like crazy. We’ve just got to improve. This is the second game in the row where we’ve just lost points at the very end of the game. A couple silly mistakes on our part, but I thought we would learn.”

On the result:

“If you told me coming in to this game I would’ve had a point coming out of here, I’ll take it. The way it went down, no. We’re disappointed. The locker room is gutted. We feel like we’re snake bitten. Two times in five days is hard to swallow. Everything in perspective, we’ve got to learn and keep going.”

On the penalty:

“I thought it was a foul. Ray [Gaddis] got pushed in the back which is clearly why he was going forward and his arms were flailing. I can’t do anything about that. It’s our responsibility to do better.”

On Conor Casey’s play:

“We are really, really pleased with how he is playing right now. He’s huge for us. He allows us to play the ball forward and he holds it up. He’s creative. The first goal, he does a fantastic job of keeping his composure, dribbling a guy in the box and slotting a ball to Seba [Le Toux]. He’s class.”

On Sebastien Le Toux’s chance at the end:

“You know, I really didn’t think about that until now. Those are hard to swallow. You look back at the game film and that one’s going to be tough. But, Josh made a save on it too. Sebastien had done so much in that game. I mean it’s hard to fault any guy who has run as much as he has and has done it the length of the sprint and effort he had. We can always say, ‘Shoulda, coulda, woulda.’ But we have to realize that we have to do better.”

Philadelphia Union MF Danny Cruz

On his current injury status:

“I picked up a knock against Dallas this last week and today I was just trying to play through it. While I was sprinting I could feel it pull and tighten. We got that goal early and I wanted to be smart and make sure that someone who could make the runs was getting the ball. It doesn’t hurt when I’m walking just when I’m sprinting so hopefully I can make a quick turnaround for this upcoming game on Saturday against another really good team.”

On coming out only with the draw:

”I feel that we deserved more than the one point but that means the ball bounced the wrong way and they got that penalty at the end. This atmosphere was phenomenal, it’s a tough place to play, at altitude as well. It was a well fought game against a great team. We are not happy with the draw by any means but if you ask people ‘if you drew at Salt Lake, how would you feel?’ most people would say pretty good.”

Philadelphia Union FW Conor Casey

On the defensive effort during the first half:

“It’s been great. Our positioning has been good, our backline has been great, midfielders have been great in terms of our sharp; as a team that is something that we are definitely dedicated to and something that we will continue to do.”

On the relentless attack tonight:

“Yeah, that was kind of the game plan coming into tonight. First and foremost we wanted to get numbers behind the ball and then break and we had some chances. We did that really well throughout the game, picking our chances.”

Real Salt Lake postgame quotes

Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jason Kreis

On the resiliency of his club in overcoming the 1-0 and 2-1 deficits while playing a man down:

“After tonight, it’s amazing; I can’t say enough.  We went through a lot of adversity being down a goal, down a man, and what I felt were a lot of strange decisions by the referee.  Continuing to battle on – scoring a goal to tie it, then giving away a goal right after it – again I think the referee is involved there.  Our guys just kept pushing and pushing and pushing, and my hat is off to them.”

On his comfort level with the players available, after losing starters to national team duties for the Gold Cup:

“We have to be very comfortable to send out a group like that, that has that much fight and that much spirit to come back in this game.  It says a lot about them; it says a lot about their character.  Tonight wasn’t the best night for some guys, soccer-wise, particularly in the first half.  What they did give was everything they could, and that’s really appreciated.”

On the performance of MF Javier Morales:

“We trusted him to be captain for a reason.  His goal, not only his position, but linking the defending players to the attacking players.  He’s been great in the locker room between the Hispanic players and the American players.  He’s just such an important figure for us – has been, since he’s gotten here – and we’re really pleased to see him reaping some rewards after all that he’s had to go through.”

On GK Josh Saunders’ breakaway save in stoppage time:

“That right there was the game.  I could sort of feel that, as it was brought down.  You rely on the goalkeeper so much to make saves at the right time, and he made the absolute biggest save at the absolute best time.”

On the referee’s decisions throughout the match:

“I think it needs to be said that that referee was not ready to referee that game.  That game – with a sellout crowd, July 4^th, in front of our fans in that kind of atmosphere that we provide here – is too much for what I think is a very inexperienced referee that doesn’t have a good feel for the game.  I don’t think it’s his fault – I’m not going to berate him for it – but I think that the person who makes that assignment ought to be thinking about that as we go forward.  Just the same as a coach does with a young player who is not ready in a big game, somebody needs to think about that going forward.  Referees like that aren’t ready to be involved in that type of match with that type of atmosphere.”

Real Salt Lake DF Lovel Palmer

On the first half:

“We started the game a bit slow. But we weren’t playing sloppy. We were getting stuck in. You know, they just had one break, they got a goal. I guess it kind of wake us up a little bit more. We started pushing, we had some great looks at the goal. I lift my hat to the guys tonight, we fought for 90 minutes and we got a result, which is awesome.”

On when things don’t work out the way they’d like:

“I mean, sometimes but the coaching staff here is awesome. And whether you believe it or not, they prepare us for every situation that could happen in a game. There’s times when we train 9v10 or 10v11. So we’re ready for whatever situation arises. But it was just unfortunate about the red card. The referee made a call; in his eyes he made a call that warranted a red card. I’m sure when he goes home and he looks back at it he’s gonna think twice about it. But he’s human and it’s real time. As I said, I hope he can go home and look at it and think to himself that maybe he made the wrong call. But it’s a part of the game and I’m happy we got a point. I lift my hat to the guys and I personally congratulate all the guys and tell them thanks for pulling it back.”

Real Salt Lake MF Luis Gil

On ever scoring with his feet:

“I don’t know man, I’m hoping. I have more goals with my head in my career than I do with my feet. I’ll start working on that.”

On RSL upcoming four-day break:

“Yeah, definitely. Everybody needs it. Me personally, I’ve had a long week with the national team and these guys as well, back here. We’ve had a lot of games that are Saturday, Wednesday, so it’s a good break for us. We’ve got a hard month coming up ahead of us. So we’ve got to prepare for that.”

Real Salt Lake MF Javier Morales

Overall thoughts on the match:

“I think it was a step forward for the team because we’re down a man and a goal and we showed character to go and look for the win all the time. We were losing time but always looking for the lead with 10 men.  So that is a good thing for me.”

On his penalty kick goal hitting the post:

“Yeah, it adds a little bit more drama to the game. It was nothing. I tried to look for one post and it was a little too close.”

On the red card:

“I was right there and I think it wasn’t even a foul. So no red card. Nothing, he kicked the ball first and the guy come. Maybe he’s hurt, but that’s because he came and kicked [Lovel Palmer’s] foot. It’s weird because the referee was right next to me and I was like two feet from the play.”

On RSL’s upcoming break:

“Yeah, after four games in [12] days we’ll be needing it. So now we’ve had to rest and thinking about the next game.”

Real Salt Lake DF Nat Borchers

Thoughts on the team’s tie and the second half:

“It was a crazy roller coaster type of a game. We were down a goal going into halftime, creating a lot of chances and we knew we were going to get goals but we didn’t know we were going to lose a man. I mean I’m proud of the guys. The second goal is my fault and that’s what good teammates do. They pick you up when you’re down and we just kept battling and going after them. I’m just shocked we had so many chances.”

On the Union’s play:

“I thought they sat back most of the game. They were trying to bait us to play the ball wide to our outside backs and they were going to try and trap us. But there was a ton of space in the midfield I though. Once we got behind their midfield and running at their backs we found a lot of joy with those chances.”

Real Salt Lake GK Josh Saunders

On his save in stoppage time:

“It’s a situation where we were pressing trying to get a goal and he [Philadelphia MF Sebastien Le Toux] got a chance to come in and score and you make him think a bit, stand him up, and try to make the save.”

On his reaction to RSL’s second goal:

“I was ecstatic. It is the Fourth of July and with as many fans that were here supporting us and cheering us through the game and that’s what you want to give them. You want to give them hope and the character our team showed to come back from a goal down was awesome.”

On the resiliency of the team:

“It is a character builder. A lot of teams would crumble in this situation but we showed the bite we have the will to win and the will to play for each other and that’s what we were able to do.”

Referee’s postgame quotes

Referee Ismail Elfath

On his decision to show RSL DF Lovel Palmer a straight red card – Quote spoken to pool reporter:

“From our vantage point, the tackle was considered serious foul play that endangered the safety of the opponent by way of contact of the cleats, exposed cleats, with the shin area of the opponent that ended up being injured.”