Photo & video: Daniel Gajdamowicz

John Hackworth’s postgame press conference

Postgame interviews with Zach Pfeffer, Ray Gaddis, Maurice Edu, Michael Lahoud and Amobi Okugo

Philadelphia Union postgame quotes

On whether it’s disappointing to not come away with the win tonight

Yeah, definitely disappointing. You know, it was a very strange game in that we were down 2-0 in the first half, and really felt like for large parts of that first half we played pretty well. But our inability to keep an opponent out of our net is pretty troubling, and we did it again at 3-2. It’s frustrating that we didn’t get three points in that game, and, at the same time, there was a lot of character shown on that field by our team to come back and put that kind of energy in. Clearly, Vancouver was putting all of their players back and playing for that 2-0 victory, and we broke them down again and again. I thought we should have gone up 4-2, to be fair. A couple chances and it just didn’t happen.

On Cristian Maidana’s improvement over the last few games

Yeah, we’re just trying to push Cristian in the right ways and be a complete player in this league. I said it earlier that I think there’s an adjustment period for guys and he certainly was going through that earlier in the year, but he’s come along. I wouldn’t say I was happy with his first half, but I was very pleased with his second half. To get three assists in that fashion was an excellent performance by him.

On the Sons of Ben calling for him to “shoot the f’ing ball” from the River End, did you talk about that at the half?

(Chuckling) I can’t shoot the f’ing ball, I can’t do anything except sit on the side. No, despite popular demand, I did not say shoot the f’ing ball at half time. I did not think that was our biggest problem, to be fair. (Editor’s note: The game stats have the Union with 29 shots in the game.)

On how he’s feeling about the club right now

I feel like we’re, all year long, we’re a team that can play at such a high level and yet we let ourselves down in these little moments because to go down 2-0 at home, unacceptable. But to come back and score three straight goals, fantastic. And then to give up a goal again, it’s a roller coaster of emotion and it’s not one you really want to have, to be fair. I feel like we’ve let points slip away, you know, all year. I wouldn’t say tonight we did that. It was brave of us to come back, and it showed great character, but at the same time, we had that game in our grasp late in the game, and we didn’t finish it out.

On what they were looking to exploit from Vancouver tonight

We thought we would be able to get Conor Casey some good service. And don’t know whether this is a correct stat at halftime, but one of the coaches told me that we had something like 20-something crosses. We thought we could exploit them that way. Jay DeMerit going down, I think was a big loss for them. You know, I like their backline too; they’re kind of like us. For whatever reason, they’re just giving up a lot of goals.

On what he’s seen from Conor Casey lately

I would tell you that we’ve had a lot of tough conversations, Conor and I. Very honest ones. Whenever I have challenged him, he’s taken that to heart and he’s come out and he’s done everything that we could ever have asked and for the last two games, I’m really for him because I think so many people were feeling like, hey, he’s at the end of his career and maybe he’s not as good as he was, but the last two games, he’s shown that he still has a lot of goals still left in him. I’m really happy for him, and the fact that he played a full ninety tonight and went as hard as he did, I thought he was one of the hardest working players in the first half and the second half for us. Did a lot of work besides scoring those goals, he really did.

Conor Casey

Thoughts on tonight’s game

In the first half we created some good chances, but we weren’t able to put them away.  We were getting a lot of balls in the box, which is great.   Unfortunately, they scored on both their only chances.  We knew were going to be able to create chances.  We came out in the second half and really pushed the game.  We did a great job of fighting back in it.  To let the lead slip in the end is definitely frustrating given how the season’s gone, but I think it was a great reaction from our team to get back in the game.

On making a run in the second half of the season

I know the guys we have in our locker room. I know that things haven’t gone well this year, but we’ve had some games that we’ve played really well. There’s been games that we’ve played really bad. Today, first half wasn’t good, but second half was really good.  Everyone still bleeds.  We have a lot of time left.  Although we didn’t win today, it’s been two games now that we’ve gotten really good results. Vancouver’s a good team. We get a little break now and we come back and attack the second half of the season.

Thoughts on the past two weeks personally

It’s been nice. I’ve been able to play and get minutes and that’s always what you want. As a player you always want to be on the field. I’m happy I was given a chance and help the team out with those goals.

On chemistry with Maidana

He’s got a great eye and gives a good ball. He’s found me time and time again. He found me a couple times today and sometimes I couldn’t put them away, but he kept looking and I was able to in the second half.

Zac MacMath

Thoughts on the call in the box and penalty shot

I decided to stay in the box. (Darren Mattock) took a little bit of a bad touch and I think he actually steps on my fore arm and falls down. Obviously, the referee anytime he sees contact with the goalkeeper in the forward he’s going to give a PK.”

Thoughts on the penalty kick

Yeah, I had a good read on it and knew which way he was going, but unfortunately it took a weird bounce right in front of my arm.

On the ups and downs this season

After the first two goals we fought back really hard.  The team was playing some if it’s best soccer of the year and really unfortunate to give away two points.

On assessing where team is entering the World Cup break

We obviously don’t want to be on the bottom of the table but we can take this break physically and mentally to get away a little bit and hopefully come back stronger and gain more points.

On guessing right on the PK, but still missing it

It’s very frustrating. Like I said, I had a good read on it. For it to take a weird bounce, a kind of lucky bounce, it sucks.

Vancouver Whitecaps postgame quotes

Carl Robinson

On Jay DeMerit’s status

I think it’s a tendon, his tendon is very sore on the Achilles that he hurt last year, so I’m not to hopeful. I obviously wanted it to be a lot better than he said that he thinks it feels like, so at the moment no, but obviously the moment I know I’ll let you know, he’s walking past on crutches now so that might tell you something.

On the tale of two halves

We took our chances in the first half .I was under no illusions, Philadelphia is a very good team, they get balls in the box, Conor is a handful, he gets his head on the end of things. The two goals we scored in first half were excellent football and something that I’m trying to instill within the club. Second half I think we went away from what we were doing very well in the first half, I’ll review it and analyze it but I think we looked a little bit dead on our feet after about an hour and if you give Philadelphia, who are a very good team, a little bit of momentum in front of their supporters it’s difficult. They got back into the game and then obviously went 3-2 up but again credit to my team to come back.

On if he’s disappointed with the change in style

Yeah totally, not making excuses, you’ll find in me that I never make excuses but travel didn’t help; the weather didn’t help Russell Teibert who is the fittest player on our team and was gassed after an hour, then that’s a fact.

On if he’s happy on his team’s position at this point in the year

I am delighted because ,obviously, again you know we picked up a point away from home. I’m disappointed for the guys because they put in a fantastic effort here today but I think it shows that the club is moving in the right direction that we come away from home, score three goals and we pick up a point. It’s difficult to play away from home in any venue, we are moving in the right direction but we still got a lot of work to do. I’m trying slowly to make a style of play for this team and it’s not going to happen overnight, we’ll continue to work.

Erik Hurtado

On coming back from 3-2 down

It’s the courage of our team knowing that we’re never going to give up. We’re always going to try and score goals and when we went down 3 to 2 it didn’t matter because if we’re home or away we’re going to try and score goals.  We were fortunate to get that point on the road.

On the depth of the team

The depth of our team is amazing, we have great character on the team, anyone can come off the bench, anyone that can start, anyone that can be in the game, and they’re going to make a difference on the field.

On his feeling about the team going into the World Cup break

We do feel happy, obviously we’re disappointed that we got only a point on the road but that just shows the character of our team, we want to win away just as much as we want to win at home. We’re going to look at that and not going to take a physical break just a little mental break so we’re going to come back fit and ready to go.

On the team’s commitment to style and creativity

That’s just how we are as players, we have a lot of players that want to get forward and score goals, create opportunities. We also have players that want to possess and think that showed a little bit when we were ahead, we were trying to maintain and control the game and I think we did pretty well for a bit.

Nigel Reo-Coker

On if the game was positive or negative

It was a good point away from home, that’s what it’s going to take that game had everything in it. We were fantastic in the first half, great football, but in the second half they were the better team. We defended well to a certain point and to go 3-2 down away from home and get that goal to come back 3-3, it’s a good result. We’re disappointed in the way we conceded goals tonight but overall we have to say it’s a point away from home.

On how the Union took them out of their game

I think we stopped doing what we were doing in the first half, we needed to be braver on the ball and have more confidence in ourselves. We tried to make more of an effort in the second half but we didn’t do that.

On his feeling going into the break

We get a week off to relax, a bit of mental relaxation then come back fresh and ready for a busy schedule.

On where there style of play comes from

I think it’s something Carl has instilled in us since he’s taken over and it’s growing stronger with every week that goes by. We’ve played some great football, shown some great strength of character especially to come back from games you know we’ve done it quite a few times this season. To continue to do that and do it away from home it’s a lot of credit that has to go to the management, and also the players. I think in the second half today we let ourselves down because we just didn’t believe enough and stick to our principles.

On if he’s happy with where they are in table

We’re not really concerned with the table, we’re just taking it one game at a time, so far we’ve done well, we’ve set our standards, we know what we’re doing these past couple of weeks and have to stick to what we’ve been doing. We’ve got time now to mentally relax, get our minds away from football and come back fresh and ready to go for a busy schedule ahead.