FC Dallas 2-1 Real Salt Lake
Post game quotes:
FC Dallas head coach Oscar Paerja
On tonight’s game…
This club has a new heart and they showed it tonight. This is the heart of this club and this is the heart of this organization. In regards to the game, it was a very intense game. I thought we played very well with 11. I thought we were controlling the game. We knew that Salt Lake has the tendency to have the ball in possession. We understood that sometimes it’s fine that they have it against teams that have a lot of automatism and set sequences. Sometimes you have to pick your battles, and we know why we do that. We countered them in the first half three times to lead the game and I didn’t see much of them during the first half in terms of the options. I’d say we played better than them in the first half. In the second half we were very smart – the team understands that tactically you can win these battles, even with 10 players. I have to give all the credit to the guys who were on the field. I don’t know if you noticed, but the heart of the fans and the people who were in the building was laid down on the field. The guys took it and performed that way. I’m very proud.
Was this the most impressive win of the season?
Yes. So far we’re good. We have 42 points, we’re fighting for a spot on top. There are still a lot of games to come and this season is hard. We look on to the next one – to Chicago. Tonight we’re happy. We’re enjoying these points against a good rival with a lot of adversities, which reflect what has happened during the year.
On appealing red card…
Understand that referees are human beings who participate in this game, who make mistakes like coaches and like players do. That’s the beauty of the game. We’ll see what the reaction is from the club.
On playing with 10 men…
Playing with one man down is harder. The field becomes bigger and what you have set up on 75 yards is not easy. The plan stayed the same; we wanted to have some space with Fabian (Castillo) and Tesho (Akindele) and Andres (Escobar), and get them organized in the middle the way Victor (Ulloa) and Michel did today.
On Fabian’s form...
He’s committed. He understands what it takes to get to the next level. Now he’s in a place where he has not been before and he is experiencing that. Now he’s feeling it, and he understands that he will be the one to raise his own bar and keep going up. He’s young. We forget that he’s young – he’s just 22. But Fabian has embraced this program and this project and that’s great. It’s a long way to go, it’s a long journey. He knows.
On Blas’ reputation working against him…
I think he has been stigmatized in the league and that’s unfair. Blas – that’s his heart and that’s the way he plays. Sometimes that’s not what’s seen because the defenders don’t like to have someone that’s working as hard as he works. They normally just have people making diagonals and runs but Blas is working and fighting for the ball and using his body. Sometimes defenders don’t like that and everyone starts talking about the things that are not beneficial to the game.
On team taking a top spot in the league…
We feel like we have a lot of responsibility now that we’ve started on this path. There are still many games, but simply put, we have a heavy responsibility.
Real Salt Lake head coach Jeff Cassar
On tonight’s game…
I don’t think we were really exceptional in anything tonight. We just weren’t good enough. Obviously, defending the set play, giving up a goal from a dead ball situation, can really change the tide of the game. We felt we were in a good position, had a mental lapse on a set play then from there we were chasing the game, and FC Dallas did a good job of staying compact and disciplined and we didn’t do a great job moving the ball quick enough and being dangerous and penetrating their two blocks of four. It just wasn’t good enough the whole night.
On the play that resulted in a Blas Perez red card…
Both of his cards came from contact off the ball, basically, so I don’t know. That’s up to the referees to decide, but it seemed like he (Perez) didn’t have to do any of that, but I thought he did fall down for no reason.
On being tied at half, then losing playing up a man…
We talked about the two ways Dallas scores on you: set plays and counter attacks. We went over it, and couldn’t deal with a corner kick, and they got us on a counter attack. It’s a little bit naive of us, and hopefully we’ll learn from it and move on.
