Seattle 1-4 Vancouver
Postgame Quotes
Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(Opening statement…) “Disappointing and poor performance from us tonight. It seems like the last two games, when the other team shoots they score. We have to find a way to stop that.”
(On how much emphasis they put on the scoreline…) “You can put all the emphasis you want on it now, you can write a big article-we’ve taken nine goals in two games, our defense has been porous, they’ve scored goals, our goalkeeping hasn’t been good, our central defending hasn’t been good, so you can make a big thing out of that.”
(On if criticism is warranted…) “You can write whatever you want. If you write a bad article, I try not to criticize you. You can write ten good articles, but two bad articles, we’ll get on your case for it. At the end of the day, it wasn’t a good performance today, it wasn’t a good performance at Colorado, and it’s unacceptable. We live and die together, we live and die as a team, as a staff, everybody. It’s unacceptable from us as a coaching staff, it’s unacceptable for us as a team, and it’s just unacceptable the last two performances. Everything you say is warranted because obviously we haven’t done anything in the last two games to show a difference.”
Clint Dempsey – Sounders FC Forward
(On improving as a team and individually…) “All you can do is grind, work as hard as you can. Try to make sure you’re being the best player you can be and try to help the team out. I’ve been hurt so I haven’t been able impact the games on the field. Tonight is the first 45 minutes I’ve had in a while. For me it was just about going out there and seeing where I was fitness-wise. There’s some stuff I still need to work on. I was happy coming away from the game with no injuries, after having a strain in the hamstring, but all I can do is work hard in training and prepare myself to be the best I can be for the team. It’s the best thing I can do to help the team out.”
(On going into the game while being behind…) “It’s fine to go into the game [while losing] and try to turn things around, but as soon as I got into the game we conceded a goal. You can’t win games the way we conceded goals like we did tonight.”
(On this recent rough patch…) “It is what it is. Everything has to do with players getting injured and going through difficult times in a season. It’s not all going to be ups-there’s going to be some downs. Hopefully it’s what we need to get right and make sure we have a good push in the next three games and make sure we get into playoffs and do well.
(On the match against Portland…) “The next game is the most important, always. We got to start winning. We got to get a win if we want to get to playoffs, so that’s the focus.”
Martin Rennie – Vancouver Head Coach
(On his impressions of the game…) “Well you know it was a phenomenal game and night for Vancouver Whitecaps fans to remember for a very long time. I think we played a great game tonight. We played some great stuff, kept good possession of the ball, [and] moved the ball well in a tough environment to come to against our biggest rival. I’m really proud of the players. They worked extremely hard and took their chances when they came along.”
(On whether he saw the outcome of tonight’s game coming…) “I was hoping, yeah. I was hoping so. We needed that tonight. These players – I think people don’t believe in them as much as they should and I think the most important thing is that the players are really believing in themselves and that will encourage their confidence even more and build their belief even more. Tonight was a really good night for us and we’ll enjoy that and then we have to then get focused on the next game.”
(On Kekuta Manneh’s hattrick…) “It’s what we were hoping for. We kind of joked before that you’re never exactly sure what you’re going to get with an 18-year-old, but he’s unbelievably talented and he’s someone we’re really proud of and we’re really glad to have him on our team. He’s just showed what he can do tonight and, obviously with young players, you’re not always going to get that consistent level of performance. But you know, we did actually talk about it before that if he showed up, he could make a huge impact on the game and he did.”
(On whether this is the biggest win for him as coach of the Whitecaps…) “I think so. I mean, we’ve actually scored seven goals in our last two away games, so both the last away games have been very good, but that’s certainly up there, especially coming to Seattle, which is a great club and we’ve got a lot of respect for them, so I think getting a win like that is huge for us.”
