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Mike and Matthew’s postgame wrap

Jim Curtin’s postgame press conference

Postgame comments from Chris Pontius, Andre Blake, Joshua Yaro and Richie Marquez

Note: Jim Curtin’s postgame quotes transcribed by PSP. All other quotes provided. Questions have been paraphrased

Philadelphia Union postgame quotes

Jim Curtin

Opening statement

Obviously disappointing, feels like we dropped two points. [I] thought the guys’ effort was good, thought the game was under control for the most part. We struggled to get the second goal and kill off the game. You know, my guys put in a ton of effort. Again, one of those days where it felt like it was going to take either a big mistake from us or a fluky play to get a goal. The kid makes four or five guys miss on the goal so I’m not discrediting it, but disappointing to drop two points here. We have to regroup again, and we have a tough LA Galaxy team coming in two Wednesday’s from now.

On San Jose targeting Josh Yaro and Keegan Rosenberry in the air

They’re a team that plays direct, they have a very athletic team that fights for second balls. We talked about that all week. They’re a team that rolls up their sleeves and is willing to tackle and fight so I thought that Josh and Keegan had good days. The game, again, felt under control, they had a little but of momentum for a couple of minutes there and then we miscleared a couple balls and they punished us for it.

When did San Jose start pushing the tempo?

We got a little careless with the ball. I think for about, from the 45 ’til about to almost the 75th-76th minute we were under control, we were creating chances, we were pushing the tempo. Everything that they had was kind of just long from their goalkeeper up to giving it right back to us. For whatever reason a couple of bounces started to go their way, they pressed a little better, and picked a few balls off, and we were unable to get back to keeping the ball and killing the game off. Got maybe caught in-between pushing for the second goal and going into a defensive posture. But, at the same time, it still comes down to the goal which they scored. On the play, I think six or seven guys could have bailed us out at the point so, difficult, disappointing. The guys are gutted, they all feel like they dropped two points —  which is the truth — and we have to regroup now and go and face a tough LA Galaxy team.

Were you disappointed in not creating chances after going up a man?

Yeah. I think we had a lot of the ball but, yeah, not enough attempts at goal. I think that’s a fair observation. Again, you know, even going back to the first half, maybe CJ can get that one in, it kind of short hopped him and got on him fast; we had an opportunity in the second half, too, when it came across to him. They’re tough plays, but we could have been a little more decisive with our final ball for the amount of possession that we were able to have in the second half, especially up a man. More attempts at goal. Some of the actions were good, though. I thought Tranquillo had a very good day, turning in the pocket and going at them; Seba played a few good balls across the box. For whatever reason, we either would have good runners in the box and the service would be a little behind, or floated it too far. So we’re just a little off in front of goal and it’s something we’ll have to fix.

Why did you take Pontius out when Barnetta and Le Toux looked tired?

I mean Seba is a guy who, he catches second winds, and I’ve seen him in that. He’ll go from tired to all the sudden flying 80-90 yards. So, I think it is a fair assessment, we did hit the wall a little bit at that time. Chris had life in his legs, I thought he had a good performance, but that’s been about where we’ve usually gone with him — I think today was actually a little longer for Chris, he did very well, he had a great game. And, yeah, Tranquillo fatigued a little bit. I still think he had a very good performance, and Seba as well, he had a good performance, just on the goal he had just ran 80 yards and maybe miscleared one and couldn’t move his legs a little bit there, and the ball gets played at the top of the box and you know, four or five guys could have made a play — Dawkins made four or five cuts it looked like and you know, finishes it. So, again disappointing to drop two points.

On the team’s efforts after San Jose scored their goal

Yeah, at that stage at home you’re going to push for the win, obviously. We were still aggressive. All the subs were attack minded — and that’s how we are going to play home and away — it just didn’t come off tonight. You credit San Jose for going down a man and still fighting, and being tough to play through, and limiting us to only getting a point out of the game.

Chris Pontius

On the corner kick goal

It’s something we go over, we go over set pieces a lot. It’s a goal of ours to get points off set pieces. That’s a good pick, and ‘Quillo delivers the ball, my job is to just put it on frame from there.

On having goals in back to back games

Personally, obviously it builds a certain amount of confidence. The overall feeling though is kind of that, that one feels like a loss. You know, being a man up in the second half there. The group is not happy with the result, but we’ll get it going against LA next Wednesday.

On not being able to close out games

Bit of the same, I think we got caught going for the second goal, and didn’t get it. Then ran into little bit of heavy legs at that point. And when you run in to heavy legs, your decision making on the ball maybe not the best. We got caught there and San Jose has got some players that can punish you for that and they did.

Joshua Yaro

On points lost

I mean it’s tough when you’re playing at home, but we were a man up and when you tie a game like that and I know with this team, we have high expectations. We went in with expectations to win. But it feels bad, disappointing dropping two points. But with that said, that’s in the past and were looking forward to our next game now and how we’ll get three points at home.

On defending Chris Wondolowski

I mean, as always every team you play every week is going to be a challenge and I think us as a back line defensively did a really good job at looking where he was, and collectively during the half our biggest thing was that we didn’t concede. But, unfortunately, he didn’t score but someone else did. So it’s tough but so is a new challenge but I think with the guys we have on this team we’ll always a fresh challenge.

On San Jose getting more chances after they went down a man

It’s tough when you’re playing a team that is a man down, that’s chasing the game and you’re going to feel the pressure because they get a goal and that’s what happened and they kept pressuring until the goal. But again, it’s tough in situations like that but I think we can go behind it, it’s in the past and we got to keep looking forward.

Richie Marquez

Overall thoughts

Yeah, this one is tough. I mean, kind of feels like a loss. I thought we were pushing for the win and for the second goal and for them to tie it is heart breaking.

On defending Chris Wondolowski

Yeah, we knew he was, obviously, a dangerous player. But, we wanted to keep him in front of us the whole time and don’t give chances in the box and I think we did well.

What happened on the Dawkins goal?

Yeah, I don’t know, he kind of just cut a few players and it was a great play, honestly. Obviously, he’s got some talent and he showed it.

Dominic Kinnear’s postgame press conference

San Jose Earthquakes postgame quotes

Dominic Kinnear

On Simon Dawkins getting more involved in the second half

Yeah, he did, tried to get more on the ball, obviously the red card makes it a little more difficult, but I thought Shea Salinas came in, too, at that particular point and kind of opened the game up for us with his running and it kind of gave Simon [Dawkins] a little bit more freedom underneath too. Great goal. I haven’t seen a replay. I watched it live, he got around a couple guys in tight spaces and his finish was excellent. It’s something that we definitely needed and it was his first goal of the year for us and it couldn’t have come at a better time.

On the importance of Shea Salinas to the team

It’s huge and I think we got a good contribution from all the guys off the bench. Matias [Perez Garcia] as soon as he comes in, he sends in a dangerous corner and plays some nice passes, and obviously Adam [Jahn]’s work at the end there was tireless for us and it was something we needed. But Shea I thought his work being able to come inside and run at them opened up the game a little bit and it made us more dangerous.

Thought’s on the penalty no-call

From where I saw it, I can’t give you an opinion. I can’t tell you. I don’t know because when the ball got touched and he went down, I looked at the referee so I couldn’t tell you where the ball went. So as far as the play between Blake and Quintero, from my vantage point to make a clear decision on that would be impossible. I would like to have seen it gone our way, but it didn’t so with what happened with us last week, you know, maybe it’s a little bit, if it was a penalty, there was some evening out, but I can’t put the blame on the referee from what I saw on that one.

On the red card

Two yellows… I’ll have to take a look at it. Second one maybe a bit soft with the way the game was played, but I think anytime you get a yellow card you’ve got to be on alert, and I guess he grabbed him and the referee sees that as a yellow card today and you have to live with that.

Any concern with the hard slide after getting a yellow card?

They don’t need to be reminded that if they are on a yellow card they have to watch themselves out there. I don’t remember the play in question, but a couple times we’re saying, hey, you know watch what you’re doing out there and I don’t know how many yellows. I don’t think there was a lot of cards in the game today, but I think the way the referee handled it was appropriate.

You have to remain aggressive, you just have to make sure you do it in a good fashion. If it’s a tie, you know I have to look at it, I can’t answer that question in a couple days with you, can I? Can I call you and answer it? But I think maybe after that, I think, the message from us at halftime had nothing to do with the cards, it was more we have to play a little better. I thought we started off the game pretty good, they got a handle on it, got the goal, they had a good chance with Sapong afterwards. We kind of gathered ourselves, had a good little moment at halftime and then obviously, what time was that red card?

It’s a long time playing a man down but it’s funny, I thought as the game went on, as I was saying with our subs, we looked to be the team… I thought both teams had chances, but it looked like we were going to score a goal more with 10 than with 11.

Great atmosphere, love coming here. Thank you guys.

Shea Salinas

Thoughts on the game

We had a lot of confidence coming in to the game, we thought we could come out with three points. And then once you go down a man, and you’re down a goal, you’re like “OK,  lets get a point out of this.” We fought hard and Simon scored a great goal and we got the point.

On changing the formation

Well, when you go to 10 men, formation has to change. So, yeah, we just tucked Simon there in the middle and Wondo was up there by himself. He put in a shift, he’s all over the place up there, so it was a tough night for him and I’m glad we got a goal out of it.

On coming off the bench

As a competitor, you always want to be in the starting lineup, you always want to play as many minutes as possible. But once you know that you are a sub, you’ve got to prepare mentally to come on and give that 30-40 minutes of sprinting to give your team whatever you’ve got. Coming off the bench, Dom told me to be aggressive and run at them and that’s my favorite thing to do so every time I got the ball, I tried to be dangerous.

Simon Dawkins

On his goal

Yeah, it just fell to me at the edge of the box and I was going to shoot, and I sort of hesitated to shoot, and things just opened up for me. Thankfully it went in.

I want to try to chip in with my goals, like I did the last time I was here. So hopefully that’s the start of something.

On being able to salvage a point

It was really hard fought from us guys to be down to ten men. But we dug in, stuck together and thankfully we got a point away from home.

On being able to play against countryman Andre Blake

Yeah, we had a conversation at halftime on if I would be able to score. He said I wouldn’t, so it was a good end to the game.

He just said “well done.” He was great in goal for them, like he has been all season, but, yeah, it was good to score.

On if the momentum shift after the subs came in

I think so, I think we started to create some chances, but like I said Francis had a couple and we thought maybe we could nick one here if we can. Obviously, thankfully, we got one at the end. It was good for us.