QUOTE SHEET
REAL SALT LAKE 2-1 SANTA TECLA
SEPTEMBER 24, 2015; RIO TINTO STADIUM
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Jeff Cassar
On the impact of the big guns in the second half:
“I think the guys that were on the field at the beginning were playing with urgency and we were really close on several occasions. They came on with the right mentality, the same aggressive mentality that the guys had before. A little bit extra quality and excellent passing and continued movement. But they continued what the guys had started from the first half.”
On perhaps a frustrating incident with Javier Morales:
“They are all professionals. They were all preparing like they were going to have to play. At the end of the day it’s good that they got a workout in rather than having the day completely off. But, we’ve got to make sure that Javi is ok right now. I don’t think it’s too bad. I think it’s just tightened up, I don’t think it pulled on him. He’s a smart player and he put himself in a position where he didn’t have to play anything long. He had the chance to play some longer balls but played it smart. And the others players knew that Javi was going to be like that so they were tuned in defensively. Luis and Kyle did a great job behind him.”
On Joao Plata’s game:
“I think he is getting better. His game is about quickness and taking people on and I think the more that he is playing 90 (minutes), the more he is putting himself in those positions you are starting to see that burst again. When you take four months off it’s not easy to step right back into it. You lose that fitness that you had. But he’s getting there. That was part of the reason that we played him to get him more minutes and to get him around the goal and I thought he was dangerous all night.”
On if he saw what he expected from Santa Tecla:
“Yeah we talked about our pressure and I thought we did a great job of denying them a lot. I think they had only one dangerous opportunity. I thought they were a little set back; more than I thought they were going to. I thought they just had to deal with our pressure. The field was bigger and when we actually settled down I thought we were pretty dominant tonight against them.”
On if it would have been better to start Kyle and Javi:
“You could look at it that way. You also have to remember that we have a game on Sunday. Several of these players have yellow cards and if they pick up another card they will miss the next game. I had full confidence in the group that started to get the result and at the end of the day I was really pleased with how they played. They created opportunities. Their goalkeeper made some fantastic saves and we got caught napping on one goal. You can look at it that way, but it worked out this way.”
On Juan Manuel Martinez’s impact on the club:
“It’s beautiful. It raises the confidence of the whole club. There is a lot of playing and moving because they know they will get the ball right back. They know that the quality is there. When you have that confidence, your runs are better, your reactions are better. I think there were a couple of times that Abdoulie (Mansally) was surprised that Juan made a couple of plays. But the more that they are around each other, the more they play it gets more exciting.”
Midfielder Kyle Beckerman
On creating chances:
“It’s always a tough game. Sometimes you feel like you create so many chances and you are going to keep creating them, so when you don’t finish you are a bit okay because you think another one will come. The next thing you know, you’re losing. I think we learned a little lesson tonight, which is good. You have got to finish your chances. If we could have scored early I think it would have been a lot easier on us tonight. I think that everybody showed a lot of character, staying calm and get the comeback.”
On how he and Javier Morales made an impact:
“I thought the guys were playing really well. They created a lot of chances and there was a lot of good stuff. Coming out of halftime, I thought that we had a clear breakaway that got called offside. That could have changed the game right there. I think that we just brought some energy. I think as a sub, that’s what you’ve got to do. We wanted to bring energy and try to change the game in a good way, and that’s what we tried to do. We were able to score some goals. Great goal by Olmes (Garcia) and then a great goal by Burrito (Juan Manuel Martinez). Hopefully Javi is not too banged up and ready to go Sunday.”
On the message between him and Morales when they came on:
“Really, we didn’t even think we were coming on. It all just happened really quickly. I thought that we would maybe do some calisthenics and then call it a night. Next thing you know we were going on. We know what to do. We knew that we had to bring an impact to the game and we needed to get a win. That was the most important thing.”
On replacing Morales if he can’t play on Sunday:
“You really can’t replace him. I have said it so many times, how special he is. It will be extremely tough. It will take an effort from everyone to pitch in a little extra if he can’t play. We will look at him tomorrow and hopefully he will be good to go. He is a strong guy and comes back good. He should be alright.”
