QUOTE SHEET
Real Salt Lake 0-0 Minnesota United FC
Allianz Field; St. Paul, Minnesota
September 27, 2020
Head Coach Freddy Juarez
On getting a result at Minnesota:
"It was a hard game, a hard-fought match. You could see some fatigue in us. Tactically we had to adjust some things, but also maybe individually fatigued where we were not as sharp with the ball. I thought we got better as the game went on and Minnesota really brought it to us. We had to really dig deep as individuals and as a group to get this result. You always want to win, but when you the team is together and you see guys come in and tackle, it's in the right direction. We accumulated a point and that is all you can ask for."
On earning a point after the previous match at Minnesota:
"You need those type of games. They build unity, they build character and they help you become a believer. When you're on the road and you're not scoring goals, you've got to keep the opponent off the scoreboard. Great result overall, everyone did a good job to preserve that draw. Some big saves from Putna that kept us in that match and that's what is needed."
On Putna's performance in goal:
"That's what you need from your goalkeeper. Putna we know is brave, he's a shot-stopper, he puts his body on the line for the team and he did tonight. We have three really good goalkeepers and right now it's Putna's time, and he is embracing it. I know as a team we've had some bad results, but also he's been in tune and in the good results he's been part of why.”
On Justen Glad playing left back:
“I’m proud of Justen Glad. We have good players on this team and good human beings. We were just trying to take care of Donny right now. We have to make sure that we have players that make it throughout the year that give us the best chance of winning. So we put Justen in there and we thought he could help us and nothing would change offensively. I think he did well. We got a shutout. He dealt with a very good right side of Minnesota. Justen Glad did a heck of a job. We put him in there and we got what we needed from him.”
Goalkeeper Andrew Putna
On earning a point on the road:
"We just got it done by grinding the tie out. Some of these game on the road are tough and that's what you've got to do. It was a tough slippery night, we had a lot of blocks. Guys fought for it, so we'll take it."
On getting a clean sheet:
"This is what we train to do all week. I was just trying to do my job back there and keep the game at zero for the guys."
On performance of the backline:
"I think we can plug anyone on the defensive side anywhere on the backline and I think we have trust in every player. Everybody fought on the backline and that's what we need every night, it was good."
On pressure from Minnesota:
"Every time I got the ball back maybe they thought that they could press us and maybe win the second ball and I think they did a decent job at doing that. A lot of times when I got it back, or one of the backs got it back, we had to go big, they won the second ball and it would come right back at us. I think we just put ourselves under a lot of times."
On shot stopping being his best asset:
"I would for sure say shot stopping is one of my strengths for goalkeeper. Obviously, it's no secret that I'm not the best with my feet, so I've got to be good in other areas and tonight I was decent at shot stopping.”
On earning a point on the road in Minnesota:
"I think the point means a lot, but the last two games we've been focusing on not giving up goals, because the games before we were leaking goals. We figure as long as we don't concede then we can give ourselves a good chance to either win the game or pick up a point on the road. I think we had opportunities tonight to win the game, but sometimes it just doesn't fall your way, but at least we didn't concede, and we'll take the point.”
Defender Justen Glad
On difficulty of road games:
"Road games were tough before, but now when you're traveling the same day it's even harder. So we are definitely happy to pick up a point."
On playing leftback and ability to go forward:
"I learned a little bit from last game playing rightback. At the end of that game I was gassed, so I tried to rein it in a bit and not attack as much, let Aaron [Herrera] do his thing, but it's fun getting down that wing sometimes."
On going against Emanuel Reynoso:
"I knew it would be a challenge going into the game playing out of position, but I had Meram putting in a shift in front of me, I had Nedum on my right, so I had good help around me and they really helped me.”
On Andrew Putna's performance:
"In the moment I'm saying, 'thank god he made that save.’ He was massive for us on a couple of occasions tonight, so hats off to him. In road games like this you need your goalkeeper and make big saves sometimes and Andrew did that for us tonight."
