Conference Semifinals first leg: DC United 0-1 New York Red Bulls
New York Red Bulls Head Coach Jesse Marsch
Opening statement…
“I thought it was a hard-fought match and a playoff atmosphere. D.C., I thought, played well, battled hard and made it difficult on us all over the field like we knew they would. We know the heart of the team of D.C. United, we know that they’re going to make you earn every inch at all moments of the game, and that’s what the game was like today. We managed to get one, get a big lead and now set ourselves up to go back home and push the game there.”
On Dax McCarty’s goal…
“There’s a lot of little set plays that we build in; the little movements to try and unsettle the team or try to keep them guessing. It’s always kind of up to Sacha [Kljestan] to be the quarterback of these different moments and decide what play we’re going to use and when. It’s not just that. It’s a great ball in the box, which I thought he served a bunch of great balls all night, and then Dax [McCarty] does enough to gain a little bit of room and finish the goal, so good job from those two.”
On taking time for the team to settle in…
“Yeah, especially when you go on the road in the playoffs. A lot of times, the game doesn’t settle down and it could have gone 90 minutes. I thought it settled down a little bit in the middle of the second half at some point, but that being said, the game was on edge and on the balance at all moments. Big credit to our guys to come into a tough place to play against a good team and get a 1-0 lead.”
On Ronald Zubar’s challenge on Markus Halsti…
“It looked like he got ball and it was an aggressive challenge, obviously, but you could argue that it wasn’t even a foul because I think he got ball. One of the things with some of these guys that come over from different leagues is sometimes fouls are interpreted differently here than they are in different places, but I thought a yellow card was fair.”
On Damien Perrinelle’s injury…
“We’re mildly concerned right now and hopeful that it’s not terrible, so we’ll just have to take a couple of days and get a scan on it and see where he’s at.”
On holding D.C. United to zero shots on goal…
“I didn’t know that statistic, but I still think they were very dangerous at times. Guys like Espíndola and Saborío never make you feel at ease because they’re always able to pull off a play. Our defense did well tonight and stood them up in different moments. Most of the chances they got were either from set pieces or shots from a far distance, so that’s a credit to our guys. It won’t be easy to repeat the same feat at home.
On taking the lead on aggregate…
“We’re not taking anything for granted; it’s the playoffs. D.C. is going to come to Red Bull Arena fighting for dear life. If you have one slip-up all of the sudden, the game can be in balance there. With the away goal rules, we’re far from out of the woods here. We’ve gotten to halftime, we’ve gotten a lead, but we certainly have a long way to go.”
On getting control of the game…
“D.C. comes off a short week and they’re low on numbers and everything else, so we were able to now start to get control and get a grasp on the game a little bit, but again, at any moment they could have made a play and they made us earn everything, so big credit to them and we know what kind of game it’s going to be back at Red Bull Arena.”
D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen
What was missing offensively…
I think we had a few good looks. In the first half, Sabo had one or two chances that came from service. You don’t need a lot. They’re a good team, and we’re not going to get a boatload of chances against them. We understand that so we have to do well with the few we have. We didn’t do that. We didn’t have many, but you only need a few. You’ve got plenty of set pieces to get a piece on and you have a few chances there again in the first half. In the second half, you saw which team has been off for a week, and you see a team that’s been grinding and slogging through the last 10 days. Everybody was going into the reserve tank to push the game. That’s a tough thing to do. But we’ll have a week to recover and put our full team out there again.
On looking forward to the second leg…
Again, I’m happy with the performance today for the most part. Obviously, we need to get the goal in the few chances that we have or do better on set pieces. We have to shore up the other side. They are better at home. They’re as good in New York as any team in this league. It’s a very tough place to play. I don’t care. That doesn’t concern me or these guys. It’s a great challenge now to go in there and get the result that we need.
On injuries…
[Franklin] has been battling an Achilles now for 6 months. Again, I think the second half took its toll. We’ve pushed these guys. Hopefully he’ll be able to take a couple days off and get back for the weekend. Farfan tweaked his groin a little bit early in the week. [As for Pontius], it’s too early. We are going to do everything in our power to get him back. But you can only speed these things up as much as possible. [Rolfe] was just gassed. If Rolfe is full energy, he’s not coming out of the game. But we were under it a little bit and the game needed some new energy. I thought [Conor] Doyle did well and I thought Miguel [Aguilar] brought a little juice to the game. Again, I’m disappointed especially giving up the goal on the set piece but optimistic this is still a series we can win
