Quote Sheet
Chicago Fire 1 – 1 Real Salt Lake
Rio Tinto Stadium – May 25, 2013
Frank Klopas, Chicago Fire Head Coach
Overall thoughts on the game
“That it’s a good result. You get a point over here, it’s not an easy place to play. Obviously, you know, we wanted to be better with the ball in possession with a team that kind of controls the game. You know, we gave up a lot of possession, thus we had to chase a lot of the game. But I thought our guys, even going down one goal, showed a lot of heart and character. Again, the point here was something to build on.”
If this will change the situation for the Fire
“Well, we hope so. It’s one game. We’ll take it a game at a time. But, you know, any time you can pick up points on the road – especially in this place here, it’s a very good team – It’s something to build on, it’s positive. We have a long way to go, it’s a long season. But for us right now, it’s one game at a time and continue to keep working. My team showed a lot of character.”
If injuries were the difference
“No, it’s ok. The guys have been good, you know. I mean, they didn’t give up when Saborio came in and scored a great goal and that’s going to happen. I thought Sean made some great saves and guys gave everything on the field. We had some chances, but like I said, it’s not an easy place to play and obviously getting a point, we’ll take that and look to build on this.”
On Sean Johnson’s performance tonight
“Yeah, you need that. When you’re on the road, you know, you obviously need to defend well as a team and need your goalkeeper to step up big, which Sean did and when you get your chances, you know, put them away. I thought we had some not good looks, but we got in good spots and some final pass execution, this or that, we weren’t as clear in the final third or as good in the final third. But we found a way to come back and, obviously, a big key to that was Sean. With the saves that he made and with that team working extremely hard, especially when we didn’t have as much possession in the game. Like I said, it’s something to build on, it’s a difficult place to play. It’s a really good team.”
On making adjustments after the Saborio goal
“We had to push the game. We took out Logan, who’s a little bit more defensive minded, we put another forward out, we dropped Alex, who we thought would give us a lot more in the final third so we had to push the game at that point.
On snapping the scoreless streak
“No, it’s a point. It’s difficult, you know, when you don’t score goals in six games to get a positive result. The good thing is that in those matches we created opportunities. We just got to concentrate and our focus has got to be better in the final third. I think any time you can score, I think again, even tonight coming from behind shows a lot of character. That it’s good if you can take leads early on, takes a lot of pressure from the team. But being able to score and get a point here, like I said, in a difficult place against a very good team is something to build on for us.”
On the Fire’s two new players
“Yes, one played tonight and Baky’s [Soumare] an excellent player and I think he just needs time. He had a minor injury that kept him away for a long time and now he’s getting in a little bit of a rhythm playing. I think the more games he gets under the better he’s going to get, but he brings a lot of quality to us. Same as Mike Magee, a kid from Chicago, he’s done extremely well. He’s a quality player, someone that’s going to add to more quality in the final third for us.”
Joel Lindpere, Chicago Fire Midfielder
On the team’s performance
“I think we pulled it out and it was a team effort, so I think we continued to battle. They come home to play and I haven’t tied or won here in my career so always when I come here it is very tough with the altitude and they play very good here at home so for me they are one of the strongest home teams in the league. We were down 1-0 and I think today the subs helped us out. We have many games and we always use three subs and we pull out starters and bring fresh guys in. I think today they really helped us. It shows that we really are one team and we fight in very tough situations, as we are in now. We are capable of earning three points and we have to start somewhere. Everybody hopes that this is the start where we can move up so we are going to keep going and concentrate on D.C. United who has also been in a very difficult situation, so it’s going to be an interesting game for both teams.”
Jeff Larentowicz, Chicago Fire Midfielder
On the team’s performance and what the result means for the team
“For us it’s a good result. I think that for any team to come here and get a point is good. They’re a tough team to play at Rio Tinto and we’re a team that’s struggling so for us to get a point on the road is good.”
On the addition of Mike Magee
“You know we’ll see. I’m not sure what the coaches have planned for him but you know when he comes in we’ll welcome him. He has shown he can score goals this year so at the moment we’ll welcome him.”
Jason Kreis, Real Salt Lake Head Coach
On how Saborio aggravated his quadriceps injury:
“I believe it was on that very first left-footed shot. It was his left quadriceps injury that we’ve been dealing with, and I think that he may have re-tweaked it on that very first left-footed shot over the goalkeeper.”
On the recent trend of questionable throw-ins throughout the league:
“I’ll try not to put myself in too much trouble and put myself out there for too much chastisement, but I will. To me, it’s a foul, and I’ve been saying that for the past two years. A lot of these throw-ins that we’re seeing now are just fouls in my eyes. I’ve talked to the refs about it, and don’t get much of a response, but when I grew up, you had to throw the ball in with two hands, not one. We’re seeing a lot of players do it almost completely with one hand. I’m tempted, maybe next game, to send out my players and we’re just going to throw the ball in with one hand to see if that gets called against us. I just think it’s ugly, and if you’re going to throw the ball in, then do it legally.”
On Ned Grabavoy’s performance:
“Really, really effective in the first half – finding gaps, didn’t turn the ball over, lifted the back four. He had two chances to score again. I think he’s just been contributing in all the right ways, in all the right spots, and hopefully that continues.”
On the pairing of Plata and Findley:
“I thought it was pretty decent. The number of chances that we had, for the 60 minutes they were on, was pretty darn high. They were pretty good with the ball, and in holding it and combining with the midfielders coming on, and trying to find spaces in behind. I thought it was pretty decent.”
On Carlos Salcedo’s performance:
“I thought again he had another solid night. He’s dealing with an injury – I think you could see, by the end of the game that he was laboring through it, so he’s someone we’ll have to keep a close eye on as well.”
On preparing for the quick turnaround for Tuesday’s home Open Cup match:
“I think the first thing is to remind the players of [last year’s loss], because that was a dreadful night – the worst night in the history of the club, in my opinion. That’s unacceptable, and we’re going to take a very aggressive approach to the tournament this year. We want to win it, I want to win it, the club wants to win it, and hopefully the players want to win it. It’s a chance at a tournament, a chance at a trophy, a chance at allocation money, and a chance to get ourselves back in CONCACAF – there’s a lot of good things about that tournament. Knowing that we have the first two games at home could put us in a really good place.”
On the defensive error that led to the Chicago goal:
“Actually, I just re-looked at it, and it was not Nat’s fault. There was a player that was told to mark Amarikwa and he completely lost him. As much as I complain about foul throws, we still need to take care of our defensive responsibilities. If you’re given a mark, then you stay with that mark – if you don’t, then there will be repercussions for him. I was disappointed in that.”
On what Nat Borchers and Kyle Beckerman mean to the team:
“Nat and Kyle have been irreplaceable and unbelievably important to us, as a franchise. They’re the core of our team; a center back and a holding midfielder – add an attacking midfielder in Morales and a goalkeeper in Rimando, and you’ve got a really nice spine for your team. Those guys have showed the longevity they have, and I’m very pleased to have them on my team.”
On Kreis’ friendship with Atlanta Silverbacks coach Brian Haynes:
“Brian and I started out at Dallas the very first year of the league in 1996, and quickly became good friends. Our families were very, very close – did a lot of things socially, his kids are similar ages to my kids, and so I consider him a just a comrade, a coach and a friend. Hopefully we’ll be able to welcome him in, and then send him away with a loss.”
Ned Grabavoy, Real Salt Lake Midfielder
On Sean Johnson’s performance:
“I think he made some great saves. He played well without question. We came in at halftime and we talked about being patient. We knew the goal would come, and so it was the same old story. We’ve got to close that game out. Maybe on a different day, it’s not a one goal game. We left a few goals on that team. We’re not a danger at the end of the game.”
On the way Chicago defended for most of the game:
“That was obviously the game plan [for Chicago]. They came in at half zero to zero, so they felt good. They are a team looking for confidence. Small battles and small wins can help your team. I thought they died a little, energy wise, the second half. Once again it was a goal [for the Fire] off of not creating anything. It’s a guy whipping the ball in with spin and the guy knocks it in. It’s a goal. We dropped two points at home. It’s frustrating.”
On RSL’s goal:
“The ball popped out to Sebastian [Velasquez]. Their [Chicago’s] outside back was tucked in a bit. I just tried to make that run. Sebastian did a good job being patient. He made his guy commit a little bit, and then when Sabo’s in there, I feel you’ve got to try to put it up there. He goes and finds it, and he can snap it. It’s a great goal.”
On the amount of chances in the game:
“We’ve consistently created a lot of chances. It’s just a post here, a mistimed header [there]. Sometimes we’re not quick enough to get a shot off, and there’s a misplaced run. The backline drops very deep. So we have to create chances outside of the box. But the keeper played well, you’ve got to give him credit. It’s frustrating because on another night it’s not a one goal game. But still we’ve been in this type of game a lot of times. We know what it takes and we’ve got to close that game out. We need to walk out with three points.”
On tying against defensive teams:
“It’s going to happen. When teams play that defensive and negative, they’ll get results. Obviously we need to break them down earlier. An early goal would change that game. We still scored and had the lead there going in with seven, eight minutes left in the game. We’ve got to pay attention to the details because right now we’re a decent team. It’s the details that could make us a great team.”
Nick Rimando, Real Salt Lake Goalkeeper
On giving up the late goal:
“We dominated in the game. Those are the games that you keep in the back of your head that something can break down. It was a set piece and we broke down and lost the mark and they capitalized on it… There’s a lot of thing that probably happened in that play that we could have done better.
On Rimando’s perspective of Saborio’s goal:
“Great play. Ned Grabavoy has a fantastic cross and Sabo does great to rise up and beat his player and hit the ball into the back of the net on a very good goalkeeper who played well tonight. You got to play the game 90 plus minutes and continue to play no matter what the score is. This time it came and bit us in the butt a little bit for not following out a throw in.”
Alvaro Saborio, Real Salt Lake Forward
Thoughts on the crowd’s standing ovation coming out to play again for the first time in over a month:
“I feel very happy to be back with the team and help, but I’m sad because we needed the win here at home and we couldn’t get it.”
Carlos Salcedo, Real Salt Lake Defender
On tonight’s game:
”We wanted to get the shutout, but we couldn’t. At the end of the day we got one point and I think if we keep getting more points home and away, then we’re on a good way.”
Robbie Findley, Real Salt Lake Forward
Overall thoughts of the game:
“Everybody’s getting opportunities and working hard and playing well. Just didn’t happen for us tonight. Great goal by Saborio, but we got to tighten up things on the other end.”
Thoughts on the goalkeeper always being in the right place at the right time:
“You’ve just got to be patient sometimes. That’s just how the game goes. We knew we were going to get more opportunities and we got one in the second half. We just got to tighten up on a few things and we walk away with 3 points.”
Nat Borchers, Real Salt Lake Defender
On the overall team performance:
“It’s another situation where we dominated the game. We had the lion’s share of the possession. We had a lot of chances to get that goal, and I think we need to shut that game down and be able to see it out. To give up a goal on a set piece is disappointing.”
On tying at home:
“It feels like a loss. For sure it did. To be up 1-0 and not be able to close things out, it feels like a loss.”
On having no goals in the first half:
“We knew we were going to get that goal. We knew if we kept on pushing we’d get it. [It was] a great goal by Sabo. Again we’re just disappointed we couldn’t close it out.”
On playing at home:
“It always seems like we’re in the driver’s seat. Teams like to sit back like Chicago did and try to counter-attack. Again we had a lot of chances. We were pretty sharp in the attacking third of the field. To be fair we need to just close that game out.”
On moving past this result:
“I think we just need to continue to build on all of these performances. [We need to] sharpen up on those set pieces. If we’re a little sharper there, we come out of here with three points. So we’ve got three more home games plus an Open Cup so there are points to be had.”
Sebastian Velasquez, Real Salt Lake Midfielder
On the opening goal:
“Somehow I was able to keep it. I just turned around and started rolling it while Ned [Grabavoy] was making a run. I pass it off and he plays a perfect ball that Sabo finishes.”
On having Alvaro Saborio back:
“It’s good to have him back. It’s always nice to see him play. He’s the type of player where you give him one chance in a game and he scores the one chance. To win games, we need goals. It’s nice to for him [Alvaro Saborio] to get it.”
On tying Chicago:
“We’re definitely disappointed. We’re always expecting three points here at Rio Tinto [Stadium]. [It’s disappointing] especially the goal and the way they scored. It was off a throw in. But we have to clear our heads because we have another game on Tuesday”
