Quote Sheet: Philadelphia Union 3, New York Red Bull 2

Philadelphia Union Head Coach Jim Curtin
Opening statement...
Before we get started about the game, which was pretty exciting, I would like to personally thank, and on behalf of the club, Dick Schroeder for his time with the Philadelphia Union. This will be Dick’s last game. The impact he's had on this group, behind the scenes that you guys don't get to see day in and day out. The work he has done with our players, pushing them pushing me, is something that not a lot of people see or know about, but he’s a big part of the reason that our team and our club is where we are this year. He’s obviously moving on to a dream job in the Bundesliga at the highest level. We are incredibly proud of him, I do just want to say a thank you to him for everything that he has done for the club and he will always have a special place here. Onto the game, Ilsinho’s good at soccer. It goes without saying. The team overall continues to amaze me. When you get into half at 2-0 it could be a “here we go again” moment where a team can bunker in and just kind of hang on and we can get frustrated. Or we can push in the way that we did. I thought that the game, credit to [New York] Red Bulls, it was at the intensity level of a playoff game. They play at an intensity level that, to be quite frank, we haven't played against this year. Our guys went toe to toe; I thought it was an exciting game for the fans obviously. Two really, really good teams that got after each other in a good way. Again, Ilsinho comes in and changes the game. He's a different level. There are levels to things. Whether you are in the business world, whether you're a doctor, whether you're a basketball player or soccer player, there is levels. Ilsinho is at a level that very few can get to, ever, in their lives. He changes the game; it was a night where he would not be denied. I'm sure the first question will be, I have to be the dumbest coach in America that I don't start him every game, I understand that's probably what's next. No, full credit to the guys, we go into the break now 17 games through and in first place. Very proud of it, but at the same time we know that there is still a lot we can work on and there is room to improve. It's a good half of the season, but we have to finish now the right way.

On the atmosphere of tonight’s game...
I'll be honest, when were down 2-0 and you look up in the crowd, it was a full house, and I felt like we let them down. We finally got a full house here, and it was loud, and everyone was waiting to explode, and you go down 2-0 it’s a real gut punch. But again, credit to the guys, we talked about it at halftime; the next goal in this game will change everything. That got the crowd really going, they pushed us. Obviously, from the second Ilsinho got on the first ball, you could hear the level of the crowd go up. In a lot of ways, fans maybe don't recognize how much of an influence they do have on the points. They really pushed our guys on today. Great atmosphere for our guys today, and our players have stepped up now. They deserve the applause and the cheers, they did a great job. Certainly, a special atmosphere, even all the Red Bull guys said it felt like a playoff game. The intensity of the crowd, the intensity of what was going on, on the field, was special. It was a big three points.

On the last two emotional wins and now looking ahead...
You can see how small the margins are; we played good soccer in some of the ties we had at home. Now, we didn't play our best in Minnesota, and now we play against the team, let's be honest, Red Bull has dominated the Eastern Conference in recent years. We want to have something to say about that this year, and this was a good step forward. We did it in our building, which is easier to do than on the road, but we know we play them one more time and it'll be a real fight. The margins are so tiny, things can go either way, but games like tonight certainly propel teams forward, that's for sure. Builds confidence and now going into a bit of a break, minus the [Lamar Hunt U.S.] Open Cup, it would have been a shame if we had that bad taste in our mouth from now until the New England [Revolution] game on the road. We do have three games coming up that are difficult in conference on the road. Again, Red Bulls have been the king of the Eastern Conference and I think we stepped up today in a big way.

On things to work on moving forward...
There is certainly always room for improvement, that's for sure. If you look at the first two goals, sometimes you just have to tip your cap. The layoff that [Kyle] Duncan makes at full speed to knock it right into a play like Kaku’s stride, we were a little but lazy closing the ball in the air and probably didn’t expect such a good touch from Duncan. The good teams, the Red Bulls, the Atlanta’s, they punish you in those moments. And Kaku punished us. The second one is a little bit of a miscommunication and something that we could have solved well before it happened. It was kind of just an aimless long ball, mistakes happen in the game. It's a sign of character. When the team got in the locker room there was chaos, or people blaming each other. We did some things that were really good in the first half so we talked about those. We cleaned up the defensive side and really didn't give up chance in the second half if you think about it. Andre Blake had maybe one save early to prevent it from going to 3-0 which you need, a big one. And then from there, after we got our goals, I was actually proud that it never really got too chaotic, they never threatened too much. It was disciplined, but again certainly always room for improvement and things we can clean up to eliminate going into a hole at home especially.

On New York Red Bulls’ tactics...
That's who they are, they are not going to change, no matter who's here, who's not here, whose healthy whose injured, they're going to look the exact same way. Listen, Brian White, while he's not Bradley Wright-Phillips, he had a heck of a game. He's a kid who we’re very familiar with, who was in our academy. He was a handful all day, he was excellent, so no matter who they plug in, they're going to high press you. I know Chris [Armas] very well, I know what he's about, he's a winner. His team played like winners tonight, we just made a couple more plays in the second half. Overall, both teams really got after it, but it was certainly it was a different look than we've had now when you think about Portland [Timbers] and Seattle [Sounders FC] here when you had nine guys behind the ball and just countered. That was different tonight, they came after us in the first half a bit and we kind of went toe to toe and sorted things out in the second half.

On the team’s attitude this year compared to past seasons...
We get criticized as a team for our record here in this building, but I did the math on it the other day and it's like out of our last 50 game in this building, were something like 35 wins. It’s solid. I think you're still exercising old demons that's like, “when will they go away?” Probably when we win a home playoff game, that's probably when people will stop talking about it. The “here we go again, the Union are going to blow this,” or have negative thoughts. It takes a lot of hard work to kick those negative thoughts down and our players are doing that and they're giving our fans reason to have belief and hope. But they fight that every day and they kicked through it today. Again at 2-0 at halftime, it could get tough. It could turn into a point the fingers, blame each other who could have done what, but they stuck together and they deserve the credit. Our players are a first place team right now which is something that they should all be proud of. But you’re right, we do kind of have to exercise some old thoughts, but you do that by games like tonight for sure.

On his team’s recent comebacks...
We’re not dissimilar to other teams in our league and in European soccer, whatever league you want to look at. We play better obviously with a lead. We play better up a goal when teams have to open up and we can kind of punish them. It's difficult to comeback; you put so much energy into it. I was actually worried once we got it to 2-2; there was probably a five minute stretch where we kind of lost a little bit of control of the game because you put so much effort into chasing the game when you go down. Obviously were built to play ahead, our team is good at that. But i think a couple times this year now, our team has shown some character, where we've been tied or we've been down and we've kept going and gotten points out of it. This is a powerful win; it's a big one for the guys.

On getting official word of Andre Blake’s eligibility...
Believe it or not were in constant contact with all these guys even when they're away. He has obligations with Jamaica, we will talk with them. Ernst [Tanner] has done a great job communicating with all the different national team staffs. We will see.

On official word on Auston Trusty and Brenden Aaronson’s eligibility...
Again, it's great when you're players are in the discussion for these national team camps, that's what we want. We want that positive press, publicity. They've earned it, so again, we've talked with Jason, we know where things stand and you guys will see soon enough. I'm not the one who should be revealing these types of things, who's here and who's not. So we will respect the national team at this time, but again, our guys, a lot of them are in discussions for these camps, which is very good to have their names involved in it and we will do what's best for us and the players and the future in the national team as well.

Midfielder Alejandro Bedoya
On opposing teams’ mentalities when Ilsinho comes into the match...
Well I think their left back gets scared, right? No, I don’t know. I told him at halftime, “Listen man, I felt it in the first half, we just didn’t switch the ball over to my side at all, but I was wide open a bunch of times. I think Brenden [Aaronson] got caught on the ball a couple of times, not turning all the way switching sides, we talked about the blind switch, but we were just playing too much on the left side. I came in at halftime pissed off and I told Ilsinho, “When you come on just play. Get the ball and just go at them”. I knew Ilsinho could take that guy on; the guy is just unbelievable. I think [Philadelphia] Union put that he’s a cheat code or something; that’s funny. The skillset that Ilsinho has is just unbelievable. He makes defenders go back and then as soon as they commit or something they can’t; he’s just too quick with his hips or something. I think me and him have a great understanding of each other. That ball at the end that he always plays to me when I make those runs, I know that I’m going to get it from him and that we can play with each other. Tonight just bow down to him, because what a performance he put on. If it wasn’t for him then this comeback wouldn’t have happened.

On Ilsinho’s impact on the match...
Absolutely, I mean it's easy to say in hindsight that he should have started or something, but I mean he can break teams down. What better player to have to bring your spark of energy. He has an unbelievable skillset, like I said and it's great to see him do so well. It's like 30 minutes and he gets a shine every game.

Midfielder Ilsinho
On his thoughts of tonight’s match...
Tonight was special, not even in my best dreams I could think about this, jumping against Red Bull, our derby and then 2-0 to them with me scoring two goals, the assist and almost the third one; I’m so happy. Every time inside guys would have to take risks being down 2-0 and we just try, you know. Things happened, we tried and I’m just so happy.

On his second goal...
Against [FC] Dallas, I think, I told Cory [Burke] to go to rebound and he scored on the rebound. Today I just told Sergio [Santos] to go to rebound on that side and I’ll go on this side and we hope he scores, but he does not score and the keeper saves it; we have to be there. I got lucky again, so tonight was special for me because I [had a lot of luck] in there.

On how loud Talen Energy Stadium was after his second goal...
Yeah, it would have been my first hat trick, you know. It was special, but the three points was the best thing tonight.

On how to keep up this momentum as a team in the second half of the season...
Every game is different, you know. I think the good thing about this team is that every game is different, every game we’re playing in is always different and today we just showed our character. It was 2-0, I think we played better than them in the first half, we just made two mistakes and they punished us and the second half we played like the top team does. We played to win and I’m glad we won.

On the team’s attitude during halftime...
2-0 is tough, but the spirited guys here pushed the older guys. We had to change a lot of things, they pushed us, Jim [Curtin] said things to us and then we just changed the attitude and went on and played the second half.