Columbus Crew SC Head Coach Gregg Berhalter
On the strategy behind the pair of 62nd minute substitutions...
“We wanted to get some fresh legs in there. I thought that we could take advantage of particularly in-swinging crosses, so we put a left footer on the right side, and then Niko Hansen is just a case of fresh legs.”
On the team’s mindset going into the second half...
“That we can get a goal back. You know, disappointed that we gave up two goals, thought that we controlled the first half and we wanted to improve in the second half and try to get a goal back.”
On positives the team can build off of ahead of Friday’s match against Toronto FC...
“Well we’ll re-group, we’ll look at the tape and prepare a team that’s ready to compete on Friday for sure. It’s a good opponent, another good test on the road and we’re looking forward to it.”
On takeaways from the game...
“I think our mentality could be better in games like this. I think that you know the game was certainly there to win and then we come away with no points and to me it comes down to keeping the ball moving, sticking to the game plan, spreading them out and trying to tire them out when we were up 1-0 and we did the opposite of that. We played right into their hands, and it’s unfortunate because we had a great start to the game.”
On Kekuta Manneh’s performance today...
“He’s getting into it. He’s getting into it, a couple of dangerous actions you know through the focus on that position in our team is to be dangerous, to provide goals and assists and we need to keep him moving forward in that direction. But positive performance.”
Columbus Crew Forward Ola Kamara
On his goal and thoughts on the game...
“I think the first goal was a nice pass from Wil [Trapp] in the back space and then it was a nice strike for me. It was a good feeling scoring a goal like that. I think we were still doing well in the game and I think we were the best team up until then, but suddenly we’re losing a couple of balls maybe a little bit easy and then they counterattack and then they score two goals. It’s hard to get back into the game again.”
On the team’s mindset going into the second half...
“Of course we wanted to go out there and have the possession and try to create a lot of chances. I think we created some but we didn’t finish them off and then also we didn’t maybe create enough to score a goal. So, for us, it was a very disappointing game.”
On moving on to the team's next match vs. Toronto FC...
“I think it wasn’t that much positive for us in this game. I think possession wise we were okay, but I think we have to step up to be better in Toronto because it’s going to be a tough game.”
Columbus Crew SC Midfielder Wil Trapp
On the game...
“We gave two goals away. They scored two goals, we were the better team for most of the game and we just gifted it to them. That’s how I feel about it.”
On the team’s mindset going into the second half...
“We had good possession the whole game, I think we just needed to be smarter with it. We gave two goals away. The second half we just wanted to get the ball wide, try to get guys running behind and we created some chances, we just didn’t finish them.”
On moving on to Toronto...
“Absolutely. It’s a big game Friday, so we have to recover and get ready for it.”
