Sporting Director & Head Coach Gregg Berhalter
On Ola Kamara:
“You know you have moments where you talk to guys and you say ‘Are you ready to play? Are you recovered?’ and they all tell you ‘Yes’ and that’s not always the case. But with Ola we saw the focus and I think we saw the fire in him coming into this game. He desperately wanted to be a part of this game and I think he showed it from minute one.”
On his play against RSL in the past:
“His movement is excellent. I think he gives a lot of defense issues but his movement off the ball is outstanding. He’s always looking to get behind the line and his finishing is pretty good as well. When he gets a chance, you know, I’d say it’s nine out of ten are going to go in.”
On recovering from RSL’s quick second half start:
“It was difficult. You got to understand this is our third game in eight days and we’re traveling across the country, we’re playing in this heat and it wasn’t the easiest. You know there was a chance where we could have buckled but the guys, they kept the determination, they kept fighting and we got back into the game. And not only that but I thought there were opportunities after that to potentially sneak a win away from home.”
On the chances missed:
“I thought in the first half we could’ve more effectively played out the counter attack. I didn’t think that was good enough and then who knows. But this team, Salt Lake is a very difficult team. They created chances in bunches and they have a very dynamic top four players and they’re able to create chances. You got to withstand some beating sometime in the game and we were able to do that.”
Forward Ola Kamara
On his minutes played in the last two matches:
“I feel like we analyzed the game well. We knew what kind of chances we could get. I’ve studied the defense a lot to, so I knew how I could get my chances, but I think the guys were tired and we were grinding it out. We’re proud of the boys how we fought the whole game. It was a good team performance for sure.”
On his team’s response:
“Of course it’s tough when you come out of the break. You say you want a good maybe 10-15 minutes instead they get the good 10-15 minutes. They score. I don’t know about the penalty, but it is and was a good penalty from Plata for sure, and then scored another one. It’s tough, but I think we reacted well. We didn’t lose our minds. We stuck to the plan and then we got a result in the end. They were pressuring us and having possession, but we had some big chances too. Me, I had two big ones and a close one on the crossbar, so the game could have tipped both ways, but we’re happy with 1 point.”
On previous performances against RSL:
“Probably should have had a hat trick today, but I’m just happy that we get a point, 3 points next time, but I think my place I’ll fit playing RSL.”
Midfielder Connor Maloney
On his first start and his first assist:
“The guys had a lot of confidence in me going into the game telling me to just be simple the first couple of minutes, and that’s what I was doing and that gave me confidence going throughout the whole game. I had guys behind me like Josh and Nico Naess, so those guys are veterans and they had my back the whole time, I had their back, so those guys really gave me confidence on the field. Going into the game I thought we played well against a team that’s in good form right now and I think we got a good result. This is our 3rd game in about 7 or 8 days, so I think we came out with a good result against a good team.”
On his start:
“I wouldn’t say I was nervous, I would say I was more excited than nervous. Obviously I got 45 in against Houston, but getting the start here today was a big accomplishment and guys had so much confidence in me going into the game, and so I just went in there and did my thing and luckily we came out with a point and it was a good result by the team.”
On getting a result:
“I mean definitely we were going for the win, but it’s tough to get a win against a team that’s in such good form, away at their place, and they’re playing so well, so I think we came into this game we came down 2-1, we all buckled down and we fought. We fought for one another and got that second goal and we tied it, and from there it was just fight, fight, fight until the end and that’s what we did and we got a point out of it.”
