Philadelphia Union postgame quotes

John Hackworth

Thoughts on the match:

 “It was a really big win for us. We had some games earlier this month where we probable lost some points…let some goals in late.  We knew we had to come in a place like Vancouver, and try to steal a couple points and that’s what we did today.”

On getting a win in Vancouver:

“It’s a really big win for us against a really good team. They were really good when they went down a man. So, for us to hang in there, and we didn’t for a little while, and pull one out was big for us.”

On if the Hoppenot substitution made him look good as a manager:

“Good players make coaches look good sometimes and he certainly did that. I thought Aaron Wheeler came on and did a great job, I thought Fabinho came on and did a great job. We’re a team that way. Every time we’ve brought a guy off the bench, they’ve contributed this year and so once again, that was the case today.”

On Le Toux’s performance today against his previous club:

 “I think it just motivated Seba. You know he’s a tremendously hard worker… He really enjoyed his time here, from what he’s told me. And he liked a lot what he did for the organization. I think it was fun for him to come here and put on a performance.”

On the early red card:

“Well, I think it’s unfortunate for Vancouver, but at the same time you can’t head butt. My opinion would be that the referee didn’t have an option to do anything other than that. I think if you decide to head butt, even if it’s in the back, we’ve seen in the World Cups with the best players in the world and you can’t do that. I personally thought the play should have been called before because I thought it was a dangerous play. I just think it was an overreaction and one of those things that happened early in the game and then it changed things.”

Antoine Hoppenot

On the goal:

“He sent me the ball and I was through. All I had to do was put the ball in the back of the net, you know? Most of the work was done by Wheeler.”

On how hard it was to contend with Vancouver:

“The guys did a great job keeping them at bay the entire game and creating a lot of chances. Unfortunate not to get one in the first half or early in the second half, but the guys did a great job on defense keeping it to zero and that’s all you can really ask for.”

On whether this goal will create more starts for him:

“Who knows, you know? Right now it’s going well. We’re winning a lot of games the way it’s going and Conor’s coming back from suspension, so if I’m not starting it’s fine. I’m going to come off the bench and create something with the limited time that I get.”

Aaron Wheeler

On ending Vancouver’s home unbeaten run:

“I completely forgot about that to be honest. It’s a great result for the guys on the road; we’ve come all the way to the Northwest, so to get a result, it’s phenomenal. It just shows what kind of team we’ve got here, what sort of character we play. Don’t get me wrong, the red card helped eight minutes in, but that’s the way the game goes sometimes.”

On making a game-winning contribution after coming on as a substitute:

“Any minutes I get I just try to take full advantage of it. I’m always happy to contribute in any way, whether it’s running back to make tackles and stuff like that on the defence or being able to lay off the ball for Antoine to get in the box and score. Any way I can help the team succeed, I’m all for it.”

On the combative nature of the match:

“I think it all started with the red card early on, it was really scrappy after that. The red card comes and elevates everything. From then on the battle just got worse and worse but it was a great result so we’re happy.”

Keon Daniel

On the red card:

“It was just me playing football, doing what I got to do, working hard and that’s about it.”

On Vancouver’s performance with 10 men:

“I think sometimes when a team goes down a man I think they get more energy. I think we did well, we coped with it, we worked hard as a team and stick together. I think when we stick together it broke their hearts and eventually we got what we needed.”

On dealing with the crowd’s reaction to his part in the red card incident:

“For me I love that; I think that only gets me stronger, I think that only makes me better. I’m one of the guys that when they’re against me I’m going to stand strong.”

Zac MacMath

On the momentum that can be generated with the win:

“Coming all the way out here to Vancouver, with the long flight and everything and coming away with three points is massive for this team and massive for the confidence for this team. We need to continue to do this for the next four games because obviously they’re all against Eastern Conference teams and a lot of points to be had.”

On winning at BC Place:

“It’s great. It was a tough game and even going up a man, they played really well and worked really hard and we just had to be really patient and thankfully the goal came in and we’re very happy to walk away with three points.”

Vancouver Whitecaps postgame quotes

Martin Rennie

 Thoughts on the match:

 “Well, I mean, the obvious pivotal point in the game is early on in the game when Jun Marques gets sent off. He reacted in a way he shouldn’t have, he made a mistake and ultimately we paid the price for that. Because, I thought we played well after that. I was really proud of the players’ effort and desire. Even with 10 men they had lots of chances, put a lot into the game, kept the ball well at times and didn’t really look like under too much pressure.”

 On going with the unchanged lineup after the LA defeat:

 “We’ve been on our best form in Major League Soccer with that lineup. We’ve been playing well, winning a lot of games, especially at home. So we felt it was right to stick with it, the same players. And for the most part, I thought they did well again for us today. Just because we lost to LA you don’t want to change the whole thing, it makes sense to give those players another chance. You know I think that was the right decision.”

 On the first loss at BC Place:

 “Just disappointed. You know we’ve been unbeaten here for a long time. We’ve had a lot of good nights, a lot of great results and it‘s disappointing to lose that undefeated record at home.  I feel like even with the 10 men, we put enough in the game to at least preserve that record. And it was disappointing to not have that now. And it’s something that we have to quickly bounce back from.”

 On Kenny Miller substitution:

 “His groin was tight, so we had to take him off.”

 On Brad Rusin’s warrior performance before his substitution:

 “I thought he was playing very well. When you’re down at 10 men, your centre backs have to defend well. And I thought both Johnny Leveron and Brad were defending well. It was just one of those nights, where it seemed that anything that could have gone wrong, did go wrong. He got a knock on his hip…We lost our centre back…Hopefully Brad will be fine.”

Jun Marques Davidson

On his ejection:

“Just, what happened, I reacted wrong and for all of it, I just want to apologize to all the players. It’s very tough to play pretty much the most of the 90 minutes with 10 men. I just want to apologize to all the fans and supporters that came to watch the game. It’s very disappointing and what I did was wrong and I just want to apologize to all the people who support the team and work very hard for this game.”

Brad Knighton

On losing at home:

“We prided ourselves on being undefeated at home. We’ve worked eight months for this. We’ve made this place a fortress over the last six months. It’s a tough one. I felt like we had our chances today and just didn’t take them.”

On playing a man down for most of the match:

“I thought we played well, at times. We had chances to take the game. The bounces just didn’t go for us tonight. Obviously they had one chance with fives minutes left and they snuck three points from us tonight.”

On getting another start:

“That shows a lot from the manager, having belief in you and giving you a run of games. It’s huge for my confidence and it’s up to me to keep this shirt. It’s based on how I do in training and how I do in the games. Obviously having the backing from the manager is huge. Like I said from the get go, I’m trying to get this team points and up the table and as many wins as possible when I’m in there. That’s my job.”

Nigel Reo-Coker

On battling for much of the match with 10 men:

“I said it at halftime, I said I thought we were the better team. Even at halftime, we had good chances then and as the game progressed we still had the better chances. We looked like the more threatening team, we looked like the team that was more likely to score. But again, like what you say, if you don’t take advantage you’re going to get punished. We are disappointed, but the character and the resilience and how hard we worked in getting over the old stigma of being a weak Vancouver side … I don’t think anyone can really say that about us.”

On the Davidson ejection:

“It’s football. I’ve seen a lot worse things happen on the football pitch. You’re going to get punished for it. Jun has to take responsibility, which he has, and we’ve just got to put it behind us.”

On upcoming match versus Portland:

“That’s the best game that could have happened right now for us in this situation. We’ve lost two games now. We didn’t deserve to lose today at all, maybe you couldn’t say the same against LA, but I think we need a game like that that’s going to be full of passion, good derby game, for us to bounce back.”