QUOTE SHEET
Real Salt Lake 6-0 Colorado Rapids
Dick’s Sporting Goods Park; Commerce City, Colorado
August 25, 2018
Real Salt Lake
Head Coach Mike Petke
On six goals, a clean sheet, and the Rocky Mountain Cup:
“I’m very pleased. I’ll just talk about the time before the second red card. It was great that eleven-v-eleven, we scored a beautiful goal. It was great to see guys like Joao [Plata] and Jefferson [Savarino] understanding how we wanted to defend them tonight, which was a little bit more narrow because of the diamond - put that into play and do some very good stuff out of it. Kyle [Beckerman] and Sunny holding down the fort in front of the back four. We had a specific plan coming into this game and you could tell the guys were up for it, the guys embraced the tactical game plan and put it to play, so I’m extremely happy for many things - the cup, but mostly the three points.”
On adjustments in the second half:
“The two real main adjustments we made were, I thought that Joao [Plata] and Jefferson [Savarino] positioning-wise didn't have to come as narrow as they were, they could have come to an in-between spot and I thought that they burned us a couple of times on that and so we made that adjustment. The other adjustment was exactly what we said it was 0-0 according to us at halftime, we had to have the balance. We knew that they were going to play for counter attack as well as set-pieces, so just being patient on the ball, drawing them out, and then looking to penetrate behind, I thought they did a good job at that.”
On back-to-back wins on the road:
“It shows that they learned a lot throughout the course of some tough times on the road, and at the end of the day if we’re fortunate enough to make the playoffs, we most likely are going to be on the road for at least a game, so we have to flip the switch on that mentality and start understanding how to manage games It’s okay to get a block and sit a little deeper at times as long as you know you’re doing the right thing out of it, whereas early on in the season, the mentality of our guys’ we wanted to go, go, go and we got stretched, so from Houston [Dynamo] last week to Colorado [Rapids] tonight we did a great block defending, denying, and looking to counter out of it - we did a great job.”
Midfielder Kyle Beckerman
On tonight’s win:
“It feels great, it really doesn’t matter, we would’ve been happy with 1-0, to get those goals I think it’s good for the confidence of the guys and we have to use this to get some momentum moving forward.”
On the message at halftime:
“We felt like they were going to get a break at halftime, so they’re going to come with some energy. It was a matter of taking control of the game and just keep going and see if we can get another chance to score and just control it.”
Goalkeeper Nick Rimando
On the match:
“We wanted this bad. We wanted it for the fans. Obviously we wanted it for ourselves. Like Mike said, the most important is three points. We had a good game plan going into this. Some bulletin board material from their coach. We’re happy the result came this week.”
On back-to-back road wins:
“It’s good – a hard-fought win against Houston on the road. We knew this was going to be difficult but some luck came our way and decisions came our way. But again, I think we played well, we deserved to win and we’re three points higher in the standings.”
On winning the Rocky Mountain Cup:
“It’s rivalry week. It’s a big game always when we play Colorado. There’s no easy game when it comes to them. To win it on their home turf is special, but again I can’t express how those three points feel.”
Colorado Rapids
Head Coach Anthony Hudson
General thoughts on the game:
"First of all, I have to apologize to the fans. They've been fantastic all season, especially at home. This was such a big game, such an important game. We went into this game prepared, off the back of a really good run, performing well, really confident. We knew how important this was to the fans. Coming away after the result, it's not what they deserve. We apologize, we can win this come next season. Not a good night for us."
On the postgame locker room talk:
"We're a team that does really, really well. We've got 11 players working together. When our best players are on the pitch, we know they can give us a performance and when we go down to 10 men and then even 9 men, it makes it very difficult for us. The guys know that it's an uphill battle. We literally have to put it behind us. What we can't do is forget about all the good we've done in the recent run of games."
On how this can be a learning situation:
"I'm disappointed and it's something that we have to learn from very quickly. We had only 9 men, there's not a lot of takeaways from that other than the discipline side of it. There is and has been a good feeling in the group. Everyone’s working incredibly well and performances reflect that. It's just one of those night’s we have to put behind us."
Midfielder Kellyn Acosta
His thoughts after the tough loss:
“It’s not the result that we wanted. Credit to Salt Lake, they came in and took care of business. We went down a goal early, went down a man early, and it’s hard to backtrack and try to find the game. The second red card defeated us in the sense that we were chasing bodies and shadows around the field. It’s a game to learn from and we have to move forward.”
On the red cards and if the referee gave an explanation:
“For the first one, it was during a corner, so I wasn’t even close to it. On the second one, I was across the field, so I didn’t get a chance to talk to Ted (Unkel). They reviewed both, so it’s hard to argue after they’ve watched it on VAR. At the end of the day, you have to respect the referee’s decision and move on.”
On what his team can learn from this game:
“After going down a couple goals, we need to find a way to close the game out. A two-goal defeat sucks, but you can’t let it get to four, five, or six goals. We have to play ugly in a sense that you see the result out from there.”
On what it’s going to take to move on from this game:
“First, we are going to have to review some film. There are a lot of corrections that need to be made. We gave up some soft goals. Even though we were down to nine men, I thought some of the goals we gave up were soft. We’ve got to put it behind us and move forward.”
