Postgame comments from Jim Curtin, CJ Sapong, and Maurice Edu

PSP postgame wrap with Eli Pearlman-Storch and Mike Servedio

Philadelphia Union postgame quotes

Jim Curtin
On getting two late results in a row

Good because we had a tough start to the season in that regard, where we fought hard and I thought we should have been on the right end of some results early and we gave up late goals. So to score a late one and to stick with it… The guys showed a lot of fight. It was a real battle tonight. Not the beautiful game that we all like, but at the same time I thought we created chances and we pushed and we got rewarded in the end. C.J. makes a great play and Maurice competes for a header who knocks down to C.J. who lost his man. It was a tougher finish than you think. He had to wait for the ball to come down and put it in the corner. It was a good goal.

On CJ Sapong’s performance

It’s great. I give the kid a lot of credit. He had his face literally smashed in week one in the first 45 minutes of the game. He’s a tough kid. He wanted to be back on the field right away. Concussion issues… But for him to stick with it, stay in shape as well as he did during his down time and score a big goal for us tonight. He gets rewarded for all his hard work. He’s been good in training and now he gets the goal in the game

On Maurice Edu fighting through injury and coming up with an assist at the end of the game

He was a man tonight, a man amongst boys to be honest. He dominated as a center back and really is a … I yelled at him at the end of the game. I gave him a hug, but at the same time he lost that one little ball at the end that they kind of came at us. That was his only mistake on the night, but he had a phenomenal game. He won all of his one on one battles. He’s as fast as anyone on the field and it really was a solid performance from him.

CJ Sapong

On what he saw on his equalizing goal

The ball popping up. It’s an opportunity, man. I had a little drought within my own standards and I tried to focus extra today on going with the play. I think the alst couple of games there were some tricklers that I could’ve gotten to if I had stayed with it. That was my motto for the day, was focusing, concentration. It fell for me and I just put it in the net.

On getting his first goal after starting the season sidelined by injury

Definitely been a lot of trials and tribulations to start the season, but this is my fifth season so I know how it goes. You can’t get down on yourself too early. There’s a lot of games and I’m just thankful to finally get my account open. Most of all, save a point for the team. We worked really hard and I think we definitely deserved at least a point.

On a chippy game like tonight’s suiting his style of play

I like playing physical. It keeps me in the game. I think that’s probably going to be the same mode that these games with NYCFC go because they’re in for a dog fight. You can tell that players on the field have chips on their shoulder. I like that kind of battle and I think it’s a test we’re definitely up for.

Maurice Edu

On the game-tying assist to CJ Sapong

I think it was a corner kick beforehand. I knew we still had some guys in the box. I tried to put it in a dangerous spot. C.J. was alert and he did well to finish it off.

On David Villa’s impact in the first half and how his subsitution affected NYCFC

He’s a world-class player, but I thought we were well organized. We didn’t give up too many chances in the first half. I think we did well collectively to close down the space and limit how dangerous he was and how effective he was. In the second half… the goal they scored… hats off to them. It was good strike. I think overall though we gave them as good as we got. I thought the second half we defended pretty well. We gave up a couple of chances, but overall I thought we played well collectively defensively and the goal was a good strike.

On coming back to score late twice against NYCFC

I’d like to be ahead and have them chasing the game a little bit, but for us I think it’s good. It shows a little bit of character. It shows a resilience and a never say die attitude that we have in this group. The guys fought hard until the final whistle. I think even when we gave up the goal, we were still confident that we have the ability to get a goal back. We showed that. We created some good chances. We missed a goal narrowly by a couple of inches on two or three shots. I think in the second half we always felt like we had a goal in us. It’s a credit to the guys to keep fighting hard and to get that goal.