Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 0(6)-0(5) Seattle Sounders FC
Lumen Field; Seattle, Washington
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
Interim Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni
On his message to the team after the match:
“To borrow a phrase that I often hear across the pond, these guys were mentality monsters tonight. We talk about mentality all the time and tonight was a perfect example of what that mentality looks like. It was a tough game against a great team at their home and we found a way to win. That’s what I said to the guys is that no one is giving us a chance. No one has from the beginning of the season and finding ways to win in football is very difficult, especially when you are on the road coming to a place with a history and legacy like Seattle has and digging deep and taking what the game gives you. The guys found it and stuck together and I couldn’t be more proud of the group.”
On David Ochoa:
“For me the most important thing is that the players are playing with a lot of confidence and everyone has a different way of showing that. With David, from the start of the game I knew he was going to be lights out because when he takes on that confident persona he is dialed in. That’s his way of staying present, staying focused and coming up with big plays and tonight he did that. Obviously you want to be careful to not get thrown out of a game, but I think he was focused and dictating the pace of the game as he saw fit. He was a huge catalyst in the result tonight.”
On the performance from the defense:
“It says a lot about their mentality and what they are willing to do for their teammates, for the group and that the objective is to win the game. We’ve had some difficult results down the stretch with most of them coming with conceding two or three goals. Going into Kansas City in our last game where we had to win, I think that kind of changed that mindset. The guys in the back became more vocal, demanding more from the guys in front of them to make plays defensively and I think tonight was a great reflection of that where everyone is doing whatever it takes for the team.”
Goalkeeper David Ochoa
On keeping calm nerves throughout the match:
“It’s definitely not easy, but I will tell you I’m a confident guy. My mentality going in, even to training every day, is that I dreamt of this when I was a little kid and I am not going to let anyone get in my way and stop me from achieving my dreams. It’s not easy. I’m only 20 years old so I am just getting started. I’m not saying this is an easy career that I am pursuing, it’s definitely tough and I am learning every day. But that is definitely my mentality every day, I wanted to do this and I am going to give my all.”
On the penalty shootout:
“All of the PKs, I tried to go with instinct and wait them out as long as I could. I noticed that on the first five PKs, they all shot to my right and I dove to my left, I was thinking that. But like I said, I like to go by instinct. I thought I waited him out pretty good and it was a great feeling.”
On preparing for shootouts:
“We have been studying them all week. With that we have to study their tendencies in penalties, so we definitely studied every single player and looked where they shot most often and then I had a paper right before the PKs. We definitely studied them, but at the end of the day I tried to go with instinct and not really listen to the paper because I also believe that I am a pretty good goalkeeper at penalties, even though today I wasn’t the best. We definitely studied them and after every training session this whole week we did PKs, so we were well prepared.”
