The Loons picked up three points on the road over the weekend, defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps 3-2 in the first match of the MLS season. Here is what the squad had to say following the final whistle.
HEAD COACH ADRIAN HEATH
Thoughts on the match:
“After the first goal I thought we were outstanding in the first half. We dictated the tempo of the game. I thought we dictated the play. We looked the more likely to score. So to come back to get it to 3-1 after you’ve gone down so early shows a lot of character. But as I said before the game, this is a different group than we’ve had before. These haven’t got any baggage from the last couple years, going on the road and losing games and not being able to dig themselves out of bad situations. This is a different group, and I said that before the game. I thought some of our play at times on the counterattack was outstanding. With a little bit of better finishing we could have killed the game off before we did.”
On the poise of the team:
“I think the two midfielders helped us enormously, Jan [Gregus] and Ozzie [Alonso]. Their composure to take the sting out of the game, to keep the ball, to play the right ball at the right time, play it forward when they have to, kill the game; they were terrific today. But I thought there was a lot of good performances. As I said before to the guys, its’ what it is, it’s a start, we’ve got a good start. Now we’ve got to go again next week at San Jose.”
On the shock of conceding the first goal after a good preseason:
“Well we didn’t look like we were going to do that in preseason, we’ve looked really good on set pieces. We’ll have a look at it, have a look at the good things, have a look at the stuff that was not so good, and try and correct it and get ourselves prepared for next week.”
GOALKEEPER VITO MANNONE
On the poise after conceding the first goal:
“Kind of a shock. We went down on an easy goal on a free kick. I think after that we showed a great reaction, great character to stay composed, play well and create chance after chance.”
On being a new group and not giving up:
“This team believes in each other. We showed that today and we have to carry on doing it every week. Next week is another three points on the board to take, so that’s what we’re aiming for.”
On playing his first MLS game and his communication with centre backs:
“It’s good. We’re getting along a lot. Obviously with the time and with playing time, probably it’s going to get better and better. So it’s only a matter of time, working each day on the training field and producing great performances like today. Hopefully we’re going to improve, and we want more clean sheets.”
DEFENDER FRANCISCO CALVO
On the comeback victory:
“We believe in each other all the time. We trust in each other all the time. In other times, when the team we play against scores first, it would be a missed thing for us. But now, we showed a lot of character, a lot of personality. I always believed we were coming back.”
On adjustments after falling behind:
“It’s just more details. If you’re going to be a winning team, if you’re going to be a better team, we have to work on those details. With the personality we showed with the ball, with defending, we’ll be fine.”
On controlling the match:
“For 70 minutes, we controlled the game. At the end, it’s normal that we give the ball to them. They’re home, they’re trying to tie. We demonstrated character when we defend. The only way they could’ve scored was in set pieces. They did it in that way.”
