SPORTING DIRECTOR AND HEAD COACH GREGG BERHALTER
About the team’s effort…
I think (the effort) was important. The message to the team before the game was, ‘it’s one at a time now. One at a time, and we have to earn the right to be able to play for something next week or in ten days.’ So it was about getting a win. Our last regular season game at home, I think the crowd was fantastic, (they) really got behind us. All this was about was getting a win.
On the timing of good performances…
The whole thing’s been frustrating. The guys will tell you that as well. But we don’t give up. We keep going. I’ve said a number of times, we don’t feel bad for ourselves, we don’t make excuses for ourselves. This is the situation we’re in and we’re going to deal with it. And we’re going to try to get wins from here on in. We’re not out of it yet. So, we’ll keep playing.
On the lineup…
It was about getting some fresh legs on the field. That’s what this was about. We got four guys in, Dilly [Duka] included, and I thought they all did really well. We needed a boost, we needed more energy, you could see in the DC [United] game we were dragging a bit. I think with those guys did is they raised the level of the rest of the guys because they were working hard and they set the tone of what the physical performance was going to be like.
Onthe level of fan support throughout this season …
It’s great and I’ve said this before, I have a lot of respect for the fans. I thank the fans a lot for sticking with us and getting behind us. You know we’re disappointed with the year, they are disappointed with the year, and to show you are a true fan you come to the stadium. We’re not done yet and we are going to keep fighting, three games left, and hopefully we can make this a little bit interesting.
Onpreparing for the ten day break…
We give the guys a couple days off. Listen, what we went through last week and Chicago [Fire] very similarly, except they played their first game on Saturday. Playing Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, with travel involved, it isn’t easy, So the first thing is let the guys get away, let them get away, let them recover, get back together. We’ll train next week four days and then we’ll give them the weekend off again and then come together for three days and focus on getting a win in Chicago. We know it’s not going to be easy, you see today, it’s not a bad team at all and they are going to be proud. They are playing in front of their home fans and they are not going to want to lose the game, so it will be tough.
On Hector Jimenez and Adam Jahn working together…
I would say that in general, the natural tendency wouldn’t be for Adam [Jahn] and Hector [Jimenez] to have a strong relationship in build-up, it would tend to happen more toward the penalty box where we get our forward involved and our leftback giving him service. But, I think we wanted to take advantage of the space on the field and some of that was putting guys in different positions. We talked to Dilly [Duka] about dropping a little bit deeper in the second half to free up some space for Justin [Meram] and to get on the ball more. So, I think overall we were pretty effective doing that.
On Harrison Afful’s performance tonight…
What I would say to you guys is: don’t be surprised by anything Harrison [Afful] does. He’s a phenomenal player. He’s a real player. He showed it tonight. David Accam, in my opinion, is one of the better wide players in the league and he had to switch sides to be able to stay in the game. And a lot of that has to do with Harrison and how effective he is at one-v-one defending. And then attacking, he gets forward, he’s relentless. Great shot, good pass, good dribbling. He has a lot of good qualities.
On the play of Mohammed Saeid recently…
Mo[hammed Saeid]’s been strong, also. Think about this: him playing all the games this week and still going. That’s not easy to do. We had a decision to make if he was going to be able to go or not, and he was ready. He recovered really well from this last game and he put in a strong performance.
On the teams’ ball movement and tempo…
I thought it was good. I thought it was pretty good. I don’t think it was outstanding but it was good. It is something we still want to work on, not getting caught and getting out of situations we can get out of and then being able to hurt the opponent offensively.
On Wil [Trapp] and Nico [Naess] working together in the midfield…
I think again it was trying to get some fresh legs in the midfield. Nico [Naess] and Mo [Saeid] covered a lot of ground this week. You could see he started to get tired and we needed some support so it was good that Wil [Trapp] was able to bring that.
On Justin [Meram] sitting out the last couple minutes…
Yeah, he did pick up a knock. It looks like it’s a groin, we are going to have to get an MRI and he may be out.
On what he says at halftime to not bring up bad habits…
No, we made some adjustments. Listen, you guys keep bringing up those old demons, and that hasn’t happened in a while. But we made some adjustments on how we wanted to pressure them, specifically on goal kicks, and then offensively we made some adjustments with positioning, specifically Dilly [Duka] dropping a little lower. And then third was taking advantage of counter-attack opportunities. They started putting numbers forward and we were pretty sure there would be opportunities to counter them. That’s how we got [Dilly’s] goal.
MIDFIELDER DILLY DUKA
On his play…
I thought I’ve been training pretty well this past week and I thought if I got an opportunity in the game, I’d be able to contribute. Not necessarily an assist or goal, but just contribute in a win. I thought today was an overall good performance. I thought everybody on the field had a strong game. Last home game of the season, it’s really good to get three points for our fans.
On the mentality…
Yeah, (we were having fun). It was our last home game. Gregg [Berhalter] said it before the game, enjoy it. Obviously, we wanted to win, so we were going to work hard and try to enjoy it and look good. Everybody was sharp. Harrison [Afful]’s first goal was a huge relief and after that everything just started flowing.
Onhis team’s mentality for tonight’s game …
Yeah. It was our last home game. We definitely, I mean Gregg [Berhalter] said it before the game, enjoy it and obviously we wanted the win, so we’re going to work hard and try to enjoy it. And we looked good. I mean everybody was sharp, Harrison [Afful]’s first goal was a huge relief, and then after that everything just started flowing.
Onstaying focused on the rest of the season …
As a locker room, we believe we are a better team than the standings show. We’re not really in control of our own destiny, so we have to just take it one game at a time and just look to finish this season strong just for our fans, our club, and ourselves as players.
MIDFIELDER JUSTIN MERAM
General thoughts on the game…
We set a goal to score first, and then we knew they were going to have to come out and try and get something from us. Then the game opened up and we got a second and third. But, you have to give a lot of credit to Harrison [Afful], the strike he had was phenomenal. I’m lucky enough to shine his shoe, after he scored.
On his goal…
It’s typical how we play. Dilly [Duka] had great awareness to play it one time. Steve [Clark] always tells me the hardest shots to save are the ones that go back across through the defender’s legs. So, I saw it and I decided not to go with the curler. I might retire it.
On the formation shifting right of center, and the pockets it created for Hector Jimenez…
Dilly [Duka] is a very crafty and technical player and I think we both build off each other. We both kind of wanted to be closer together and combine and kind of draw them in, like you said, which gave room for Hector [Jimenez] on the outside. So, it was a good game plan, and it worked.
On Chicago giving space for the Columbus work with…
Yeah, I think they started off well, and they like to play pretty good, attractive soccer. Maybe they just didn’t have all the right players to press us, and that’s why they gave us space.
On the fan support tonight and throughout the season…
Yeah, they were incredible. Like I said earlier in a tweet, I’m just very thankful, the cheers here and all these fans always out over here. We’re really blessed to have fans like that that come out, show their support no matter the weather and really embrace us through a great season or difficult seasons like this one. Nothing but love for all of them, they put a lot of money and a lot of time to come and support us. I tip my hat off to all the fans, not just this year, but every year that I’ve been here and every year that this organization has been going strong.
