Seattle Sounders FC 2-0 Houston Dynamo
Sigi Schmid – Sounders FC Head Coach
(Opening Statement…) “Obviously I’m happy we won the game, sometimes when you’re in a little bit of a rut you sort of have to fight your way through to a victory. Sometimes it’s not as artistic as you want it to be or as beautiful as you want it to be, but it’s a little bit of rolling up the sleeves and fighting… For us it’s just a battle. In the second half I thought we picked up our game. We were better in the second half than the first half. There was the penalty and I thought there could have been another one, but I am pleased we got the victory and I am pleased we got the shutout. A big save by Stefan (Frei) on the PK.”
(On winning his 200th game…) “I’ve been coaching for a long time and it’s fantastic to finally get it. I was starting to wonder if I was going to get it. It’s a reflection of a lot of great players who have played for me. It’s great-this can be the year I can get 200 as part of even bigger success I get at the end of the year.”
(On the performance of the back line…) “It’s nice to have Chad (Marshall) back, I’m sure you guys saw that yourselves. He makes good plays, he wins headers, he helps break up attacks, his knowledge of when to step in his very good. I thought he was very good. I thought Djimi Traore was very good as well. I thought he was a little unlucky on the PK. I haven’t really seen a replay on it but according to the assistant referee he said his arm was extended over his head. You guys have the benefit of replay so you can tell me if it was over his head or not.”
(On the team’s adjustments…) “I think we played better defensively. I think we played better in the second half than we did the first. Those two were positive things. We missed a little bit on our passes-sometimes we go a little too narrow, we need to go wider at times. The times we did go wide we had some things created for ourselves-we can still get better and we will.”
(On Frei’s PK save…) “I thought the PK was harsh…Obviously it was a big save.”
(On Brad Evans playing right back…) “Brad played fine. Obviously he can play right back, he can play right midfield for us, he helps us out anywhere on the field. He has some guys who are playing their way back into form. Marshall being out for two weeks, so his fitness isn’t back to where it was, and Gonzalez still trying to get his game fitness, and Traore is trying to get to his game fitness as well. All those things impacted us, but I thought Brad, wherever we stick him, does a good job.”
(On the improvements made during the game…) “I thought we were a little more aggressive bringing the ball forward with our outside backs, I thought that was better in the second half. I thought Marco Pappa and the rest of the team we tried to play more balls behind their back line in the second half. I thought they had a high line in the first half and we didn’t stretch them enough, and I think that helped.”
(On Martins’ red card…) “He can’t play next Saturday so his chance of getting minutes on Wednesday are great.”
(On the biggest key to the game…) “It was them bringing the ball forward a little quicker, more than anything. That’s something we talked about at halftime. We thought at times when we got the ball out wide to our outside backs they didn’t come forward, they didn’t move their midfield. And when you don’t come forward a little more aggressively, then their midfielders have to move and players, angles open up that you can move balls into.”
(On the physicality of the match…) “Houston is an athletic team, they are a strong team, and sometimes games go like that. I think we out-fouled them by three or four, but I thought there were some fouls that weren’t called going the other way. That’s just me-I’m a coach, so I look at it with those colored glasses sometimes.”
