MLS Playoffs: DC United 2-1 New York red Bulls (2-3 on aggregate)
New York advance to the Conference finals to face the winner of Columbus and New England match-up.
New York coach Petke:
“It’s another ghost to put back in the closet,” . “All credit goes to my players. They listened to what we want to do, and it wasn’t pretty at times, but we’re okay with that. We’re good at what we do, and we were good enough today to advance.”
“It was a release when Luyindula scored. I’ll be honest, this was one of the toughest days, if not the toughest day, that I’ve had in all my time as a head coach. It was just these weird feelings today. I know our guys were up for it, I know we’re a better team on paper than D.C., but D.C. obviously earned the right to be No. 1 seed in the east because of what they did throughout the season.
“It was a huge release when we scored. Huge. “It’s all worth it at the end of the day because we’re through to the conference finals. These guys showed determination. We have guys with bloody lips, getting stitches, we have a guy with a lump on his head. I’m extremely proud of them and they earned the right to be in the conference finals.”
DC United head coach Ben Olsen:
“I’m gutted for our guys obviously,”
“They gave us everything today that they had and we fell short. They’re a good team and they’re a tough team to keep off the board. You have to be perfect in particular when you’re going for the second or third goal, you gotta make all the plays on the other side. They found the goal, it’s tough to come back after that.”
“Overall I’m extremely pleased at the effort tonight and the performance they put on. I’m sure we’ll look back sometime soon and say this was a good season and pat ourselves on the back. Right now it doesn’t feel great.”
Midfielder Davy Arnaud
“When we got that first goal, you could feel it. You could feel the energy. We came in at halftime and we felt it. I feel like we missed a great chance maybe five minutes before that, you know – it could’ve be 2-0 at that point. I felt like the goal was going to come for us, I felt like everybody felt that. We give up the goal and I don’t know what else you can say about that. The away goal when we didn’t score [on Sunday] is tough to come back from.”
