Seattle Sounders 1-0 San Jose Earthquakes
Sigi Schmid- Sounders FC Head Coach
(Opening Statement…) “[I am] pleased with the victory. We got a clean sheet-it’s been a while since we did that. That’s something we tried to improve this week, concentrating on the defensive aspect as we move forward. I thought in the second half we had some good looks, some good chances. Jon Busch came up with some big saves in the second half to keep it at one, but overall I was very pleased with our defensive effort and the things we created. Fantastic goal by Oba (Martins), showing his quality.”
(On choosing the lineup…) “(Jalil) Anibaba has played a lot of right back last year for Chicago, so that’s what we came with him at right back. Depending on what they were coming with-they like to play long balls and big target players-so we thought Zach Scott was a good choice because he is one of our better players in the air, along with Chad Marshall. We felt that was good for us as well. Leo (Gonzalez) was healthy enough to come to the team, as well as Kenny Cooper.”
(On the offensive performance…) “It’s always fantastic when you get an early goal. We always talk about coming out and putting pressure on them, going after them early on. I thought we did that. After we scored I thought we took our foot off the accelerator a little bit, allowing them to get back in the game. They had some good passing, but a lot of it was in their deep end of the field. I wish we would have pressed a little bit more, but right now I am just happy with what we came away with-three points is always the most important.”
(On the defensive performance…) “I think the defenders did a great job. The outside guys, Marco (Pappa) contributed a much better effort defensively, as did Lamar (Neagle), so that really helped us as well. The nature of (Jalil) Anibaba and Leo (Gonzalez) are little more defensive-orientated than DeAndre (Yedlin) and Brad (Evans), but overall, even with those guys, we would have done well because of the commitment of the team after what happened last week.”
(On the development of on-field chemistry…) “It was OK, sometimes it’s still in the making. The partnership between Oba (Martins) and (Clint) Dempsey didn’t hit full stride, but I think Kenny (Cooper) did alright. He had some good looks as well. There was one time in the first half and another in the second half. And I thought Chad Barrett came in and had a good relationship as well. We will continue to develop.”
(On Obafemi Martins getting more touches…) “He knows he’s got to drop and find the ball a little more. When he drops you saw Oba get touches a little more…I thought Oba was fantastic tonight. He was busy, he was active; he put in a tremendous effort in terms of covering ground tonight. ”
Mark Watson – San Jose Earthquakes Head Coach
(On the match…) “Obviously we’re disappointed to lose. I was proud of our guys tonight. I thought they performed pretty well. We’re chasing the game from pretty early on after a wonder goal, but a lot of positives in the performance. We as a team hadn’t played together and were up against a very good Seattle team. It waw disappointing to lose, but I thought our team played quite well overall.”
(On what a match like this does for the team, playing so many different guys …) “It gives guys opportunities. We have a bunch of players away, suspended and injured, and it gives guys opportunities to get a chance to show what they can do. There were some good performances tonight.”
(On Jon Busch’s performance tonight …) “Yeah, Jon was good tonight. He’s been good for us for a long time so I wasn’t surprised. Once again, he made some really crucial saves that kept us in the game. It came down to the last minute where we could’ve gotten something out of the game, and that was due to his saves and keeping it 1-nil.”
(On who stood out from the guys given opportunities …) “I think everyone did well tonight. I think Billy Schuler came in not having played a lot and I thought he did well. I just think overall everyone played pretty well. We moved the ball really well at times, but we weren’t dynamic enough and didn’t have that little bit of quality in the final third to be dangerous in front of goal and to give us a chance to get back in the game.”
(On Obafemi Martins’ goal …) “I don’t know if anyone knows if that was intentional. In that position, you just try to get the ball across the face of goal and it snuck in the top corner. Credit to him – he got there and put the ball in a dangerous spot where it least has a chance to go in. It happens, and unfortunately we were chasing the game from that point.”
(On the team’s performance overall …) “Everyone is aware of our squad right now – a bunch of guys missing with national team call ups, suspensions and injuries. We pride ourselves in any team we put out and I was really proud of the guys from that side of it. We stuck together and our guys fought right to the end. I think we’ll take a lot out of that performance to take into the next game Sunday and down the road.”
