Quotes
Philadelphia Union at Atlanta United FC
March 17, 2019
Philadelphia Union
Head Coach Jim Curtin
On the match:
“No secret that our season has started off difficult in terms of the quality of opponents that wehave played. We have played three of the best franchises that our league has in Toronto, Kansas City and Atlanta. Going to KC, coming here, I think we have had good performances in all games, but now the thing we talked about this week was having the performance and get points. We were able to do that tonight. Obviously, the guys in the locker room are upset. We wanted all three, thought we had enough chances to get all three. Atlanta had a ton of possession but didn’t do a ton with it. I think they only had two shots on goal. Overall, happy with the teams’ performance, but a little empty in that we could have maybe closed out the game and got the second goal.”
On Brenden Aaronson’s performance:
“For any young kid, I think you have to believe in them, you have to put them on the field otherwise you will never know. Some kids certainly step up and rise to the occasion. We had full confidence in Brenden after a great academy career, a great career with Bethlehem. He was ready. It is interesting to make your debut in front of 60,000 people that are cheering against you. Not an easy thing, but something he will remember forever. The goal that he scored aside, I thought he was really solid. He found good pockets, turned. I talked a lot with him. Jeff Larentowicz is a close friend, and he’s going to be about as physical with you as possible. Don’t try and get into any physochal duels with him. Try and find spaces on either side of him because you are quicker than him. He took to that, and he made some plays for us tonight. He played a couple through balls that should have been goals also. Overall, in terms of a debut for Brenden, couldn’t be prouder of him, couldn’t be prouder of the work that our academy has done developing him. Again, with these young guys, youhave to throw them out on the field. I think we had six or seven homegrowns in our 18 tonight. That is what we believe in as a club and I think that we showed, not just Brenden, that we can go toe-to-toe with teams in this league, even the champion in Atlanta. They are a great team. I don’t say that in a disrespectful way. It is an incredible Atlanta group. Our guys were brave, and I thought we played a good match.”
On the team’s mentality:
“I love that the group is pissed off that we just tied in Atlanta. That is a good thing. I think, obviously, we are going to have some call-ups. Columbus is going to have some call-ups. But I believe in our whole roster. I think we showed that today. We showed our depth. I think we had six or seven homegrowns in the 18. There is belief in the group. Everybody that stepped on the field contributed in a big way. It is a testament to the roster that we have. I like that they are dissatisfied that we didn’t kill the game off and get that second goal against the champion of our league. I think there is a belief now that we can play with anybody. Now we have to really start maximizing points, maximizing them at home in particular. Right now, if people eye-balled the schedule when it first came out, they probably would say, ‘Toronto at home should be a win, the other two in Kansas City and in Atlanta are two of the toughest places our league has.’ So, we are still two points behind where we need to be. We will chase those two points against Columbus and then we have to make some up on the road.”
Midfielder Brenden Aaronson
On scoring his first career goal:
“I can’t say enough, I’m super grateful for the experience and them having the confidence to put me on the field. I’m so thankful for that, first of all. I’m thankful for my teammates coming up with the tie that we need to get a point. So, I’m just thankful for that. Through the moment, it was Kai (Wagner) dribbled up a little bit, it came through to me –and they dropped off a little bit –and I decided toshoot, just take a shot. It deflected off of one of the defender’s legs and it messed up (Brad) Guzan and it went right in the corner.”
On making his first start:
“Again, I’m super grateful for them having the confidence in me, but of course, I’m going to be nervous, it’s the first start. But, honestly, it kind of settled in until I got here, then it was a little bad, but I always get nervous, so, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”
On playing at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:
“Walking out, I don’t know if anybody saw me, but I was probably so pale looking at everybody. It was definitely an awesome experience for me. I’m never going to forget this moment.”
On what he learned from this experience:
"I learned so many things out there today –definitely my movement off of the ball could be better. I could have found some better pockets. But I thought it was good and I found some good spots. Defensively, I thought as a team, we were very good limiting them to seven (or) eight chances. I mean itsAtlanta, that’s unbelievable.”
Defender Ray Gaddis
On getting a point as a result:
“It was a great building block for us as a team. This is a tough environment for us to play in. We felt we should have gotten all three points, but Atlanta –they’re the defending champs. We had a lot of great performances, especially from Brenaden [Aaronson]. I’m very proud of him. Great team effort to take away one point."
On containing Atlanta’s attack:
“Our coaching staff did a great job by preparing us with the right film and seeing the dynamic movements that they make, as well as just watching tape and preparing myself. God gives us wisdom to go about these things."
On equaling Le Toux’s all-time appearance record for the club:
“It says a lot more about God and how great he is to give me the opportunity to play in such a great place in Philadelphia. I’ve been here my whole career. It’s been a blessing seeing so many things transpire with this club. I just give God all the glory and honor to reach that accomplishment.”
