Postgame

Postgame quotes: Chivas USA 0-3 Union

Philadelphia Union postgame quotes

John Hackworth

On getting the win

It’s been a tough week for us out here. It was a tough result last Sunday in the same building, and for the players to respond during the week under some pretty good pressure, and as a staff we didn’t back down on them. They responded tonight. I think you’ve got to work through these hard times, and sometimes, adversity makes you stronger. So it was a good response from our team tonight.

On preventing Chivas USA from having scoring opportunities

We tried to emphasize that we needed to be better defensively. We feel like we’re a team that can play, we even felt like we played good soccer against LA at times. But tonight, we felt like we had to keep a zero, and the longer we did that, we were going to give ourselves a chance. So it was good.

The second goal we scored was really good all the way around. Great defensive pressure, good combination play, ended up being a great ball, good run by Conor in the box.

On Conor Casey’s performance

It’s fantastic for him, I’m so happy for him. I’ve probably been a little tougher on him than I should have been, to be fair. He probably deserved a shot earlier in the season to have more minutes. But, we challenged him, and he certainly answered those challenges, for sure.

On Cristian Maidana and Vincent Nogueira in the midfield

We missed Maidana last week, but he comes back this week and really is good in the way that we want to play — our possession game, our rhythm, our mobility, our movement — and certainly, Vincent like to have those guys to combine with.

I should mention that I thought Fred was part of that. Really good to see another wily old veteran out there and still has game.

[Questioner praises Nogueira’s ball to Cruz that Cruz put wide as the best moment of the game]

Yeah, that was fantastic. I think it was Vincent’s ball to Fred that when Kennedy was coming out — that was a great ball.

Thoughts on Chivas USA

I know they had a tough game on Wednesday night, so, I’ve been on the end of that twice so far this year, where you play on Wednesday, you put your heart and soul into it, and then it’s a tough turnaround to play on Saturday night. I think they have some quality there. I said to Wilmer and the few guys I know — like Eric Avilla, he used to play for me — I said, “Look you guys got a good team, you just got to keep your head up, you know. This is a crazy league that way.”

We were kind of in the same boat going into this game, one of us was probably going to come out of it with a little momentum. Unfortunately for them, they got to keep going after it.

Will the win give the team some momentum going forward?

I certainly hope so. I think our performance all year have been better than our results show. So, you got to get the results in order to get confidence. Reporters were asking me during the middle of the week , what do we need to do? And I was saying, “Look, we need to have a good game, and we need to score a couple of goals, and we need to get a shutout.” Nothing I can do in training or anywhere is going to replace what that experience is going to be in a league game.

Did you bring the whole team to the Chivas game on Wednesday?

Just the staff. The team got together on their own and watched it the game from a restaurant.

On the decision to start Fred

Fred has been playing really well in training. We’ve wanted to try and get him into a game for the last several weeks, it’s just the situation in games didn’t present themselves the last two weeks, in particular. We had Brian Carroll have a little bit of a hamstring issue at the end of the LA game, and it just opened up a spot. We constantly talk to our guys about when an opportunity arises that you take it and make the most of it, and that was great for Fred. Conor, as I said earlier, is a guy that I’ve probably been a little too tough and hard on, and he probably deserved some more minutes earlier in the year, but we’ve had some tough talks, some honest talks, and, you know, great response. I’m really happy for Conor, because I think he still has the quality to be a goal scorer in this league, and you saw that tonight.

Conor Casey

On scoring

First and foremost, I think our team played better than we have the last couple of games, just more organized. The PK, I wanted to take and, luckily, Mo let me do that to kind of get this year kicked off. I hadn’t scored yet, so it was nice of him to let me do that and I was happy to be able to put it away. We came out in the second half and had a lot of the possession again, and Chaco played a great ball in, put it on a platter for me and I was able to put it in from a couple of yards out. Great ball from him, good movement. Happy I was in the right place.

What was the difference tonight?

I think some of it is execution, and I think some of it was that we were able to find ourselves in good spots. We didn’t always pull off the plays but I think we were looking to try and get balls in the box, which is important. We’ve played against some tough opponents this year, and this was a game that we definitely wanted to win, one that we needed to. It’s important that we did that.

What will the road win do for the team’s confidence?

Hopefully we’ll be able to take that confidence with us this week. We need to follow this up with points at home. We haven’t played well at home and we know that we’re behind point-wise this season. We’ve played a lot of games and haven’t gotten points. We need to make sure, especially going into the break, that we follow this performance up with another good performance.

Fred

On win over Chivas USA

It’s been a long time that we don’t feel this and now a win. We got three points and played well. We feel much confident to play at home after last weekend against LA [Galaxy], we didn’t play well, but [today], I think everyone played good. We try to stick together and now try to get three points at home and keep our heads up. It’s not finished yet and just keep going.

On the goals

I thought we moved the ball well, and in a good connection from Cristian Maidana. That last pass from Maidana was amazing and found a good corner and scored. We had a free kick inside the box and we tried to play and a guy hit it with his hand and we scored a penalty. From there, we got confident and everyone just started playing better.

 On his first start since last June

It’s been a year that I didn’t play the 90 minutes. Before the game, I was so excited to play, I felt like I was 20 years old. When I started playing, the football flowed in and I’m very happy. I feel a little bit older, they call me grandpa, but I [felt] great today on the field and I think I can help Philadelphia get to the top.

Chivas USA postgame quotes

Wilmer Cabrera

Thoughts on the game

It was a very important game for us where we were expecting to try to get out of this situation where we can’t win at home and where it’s becoming difficult mentally for all of us to try to even tie at home. Sadly we have to make some last-minute changes because we played in the middle of the week and we had another red card so we had to improvise a little bit in the back. I would say it’s more on the details that we have to pay attention because when you get a call for an indirect because of six seconds, you have to try to be more focused and pay attention to the details. We cannot make mistakes because we are going to get punished. And then in the indirect free kick, you put your hand right there and it’s a PK. They did a good job in the second goal, it was a very good goal and even though we tried we weren’t clear up front. We tried to bring Mauro [Rosales] in the second half, gave him some rest in the first half, it was positive but we weren’t clear in the last touch, the last cross. Leandro [Barrera] was very good going forward but that last cross, we are missing that, so we had to continue believing and then the third goal came in. We are all sure that was an offside. The lineman even put his hand up, but the referee ruled off the situation. The sad part came in also with Oswaldo [Minda]. He cannot lose [his temper] even if it’s a foul, we cannot lose a man on the field.  The positive thing is that we are going to play away against the LA Galaxy, so we are going to be visitors and that’s a positive thing that is coming right now.

On the six-second call

To be honest with you I don’t have a stopwatch with me. Twenty-six minutes into the first half, and the goalkeeper catches the ball in a cross and then he was jogging trying to throw the ball and the referee saw that, and I don’t know it’s the first time that I see that but I’m not going to say it’s bad, it’s wrong, it’s difficult this time. What I said to Dan [Kennedy] is ‘Dan, we have to understand that we cannot make one mistake, because it could be called against us.’ So maybe yes, maybe not, but this is the first time I see calling a six-second rule for a home team that is trying to play quick and the goalkeeper is trying to see where to play [the ball].

His assessment of Eriq Zavaleta and Tony Lochhead starting at center back

That was a last-minute decision, because Carlos [Bocanegra] was a little bit sore and he had a little problem with his hamstring that he didn’t feel 100% to go, so Tony has a little bit more experience and he’s a lefty so we sacrificed him.  We asked him if he could play right there because we didn’t want to send Michael [Nwiloh] yet.  Michael and Eriq are two young boys so we needed someone with at least a few games on them and Tony was doing good. For me the key right now is how we can manage how to avoid little mistakes right there that can cause PKs, red cards, six-second rules and fouls that are going to give options. But the way they scored the second goal, that was a fantastic goal.  The first and the third, we were involved with that, we cooperated in some way, how details giving the chance.

On how to break out of current stretch

The only way to get through this is that as players we have to be a little bit more united, we have to understand that we have to battle this, just by being together on the field running, not making any mistakes for 90 minutes, we are going to be able to do it. We are battling, we battled that way when we were trying to play away, and we broke that situation, we played, we won, we scored more than one goal, we ended with 11 men and that changed.

Martin Rivero

Thoughts on the match

We wanted to come out and win in front of our fans but it was a tough match. In the first minutes of the first half we were doing things right, until the penalty. I think things fell apart because of the penalty against us. It is becoming difficult to win at home, to gain three points. We have to keep working, there is no other way and play the upcoming match like a final to start moving forward again.

On how to break out of the current stretch

Being united, being together, working hard day after day and doing what we do best, which is play, work on the pitch, and the results will come on their own. But we have to be aware that we are going through a bad moment and we have to get it moving forward.

On not being able to capitalize on their chances

Very frustrating, you go home feeling sad because the results are not coming. But we have to be calm and work, because only with work can you move ahead.

On bouncing back next week against the Galaxy

It’s good for us because we are going to get to play against a great rival and what better way to rebound than against the Galaxy. The upcoming match against the Galaxy is a beautiful game to play in and we are going to face it with a lot of desire and a lot of seriousness.

Dan Kennedy

On the team’s struggles during homestand

I felt like we were coming home to these two games in the last four days really optimistic off a couple good performances. Things just didn’t go our way and it’s early on, we need to stay positive and now we have a little bit of time to regroup, we have eight days to prepare for a Galaxy team that’s getting going. I love this game that is coming up and I love preparing for it. My goal as always, is to make sure we have a positive environment [in the locker room] going into that game.

On whether the pressure is adding up

I feel like it has been tough, but I don’t say we go into a games feeling pressure. We all have a sense of pressure, but that’s what makes you feel good to play. I think tonight we were just certainly hard on our luck.

On whether he received a warning regarding enforcement of six-second rule

I don’t even remember. It’s so casual and there’s a little bit of joking going on. I would expect at the [27th minute], that certainly if you see the play, I’m not trying to delay the game, I’m actually trying to get a player to open up. Then someone told me [Tony] Lochhead was open, so I turned and threw it and then he makes the call. It’s tough to think that you have the ball in your possession and out of nothing they get a free kick inside of the box. Tough to swallow.

On the third goal of the match

You get so focused in. I’m so ball-oriented at that point. Anything that comes into your peripheral vision, it affects you.

9 Comments

  1. LOVE YOU FRED!!! Good solid win even if it was Chivas USA. OMG and they were a man up! Now if Hackworth has any soccer IQ(jury is out) then he’ll give that lineup time to gel. Don’t give us any crap about how individual players practice or train. This isn’t high school or U/17. Leave Carroll on the bench as a sub. I would still prefer Le Toux over Cruz skill wise. Cruz did an admirable job running down balls, but some of those rushed crosses into the box with no one there is getting old. As was stated on the Doop cast you can teach a retriever(golden) to chase down balls. You have to have your head up to see who’s there to receive your cross, otherwise it’s a turnover. Cruz doesn’t have the skill to hang on to the ball. I’d even like to see Pfeffer start on the right. My fear is that Hackworth is going undo everything he has learned in Germany. He really looked good and shows real touch. The latest incarnation of the back 4 looked serviceable. Again this was Chivas. Hopefully they can gain some confidence but they’ll need time. Vancouver will be the test. Hackworth still needs to go.

  2. The marketing team is printing up the “We suck less than Chivas” tee shirts at this very moment.

  3. instead of “we played a good game” those quote should probably be “we played a better game than chivas”. that was painful to watch even with the result.

  4. OneManWolfpack says:

    As I said in another comment, I’m glad we won and got the 3 points… BUT HOLY CRAP… Chivas is a joke. Ha!

  5. I hope that whoever takes over Chivas USA(new name to come later) will move them out of the shadow of the Galaxy. That is just adding insult to injury.

  6. philpill says:

    “We really wanted to get Fred in the game sooner, but I didn’t see how bad Leo was the past several games until I read PSP.”

  7. I could live with this lineup with one change. Cruz out and LeToux or Pfeffer in.

  8. Man, Wenger sucks. He was offsides so many times. Including where he interfered with Kennedy. Good job, Hackworth, with that idiotic trade. Because, you know, we wouldn’t want to pay McInerney what he’s worth to score 10+ goals a season. Instead we’ll pay Wenger half that to score 2 goals a season. Wenger learned how to make offsides runs from Divaio, evidently. Too bad he didn’t learn how to score goals from DiVaio too.

Leave a Reply to Ben Cancel

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*