Head Coach Jim Curtin
Opening Statement…
“Overall a point on the road is always a good thing, however we know we didn’t play our best tonight. We needed guys to step up due to injury, we needed to use a little more of our bench then we usually do. I thought the guys did put of lot of effort, work and fight in for the point that we got. We knew it was going to be a tricky night: first game back, obviously no atmosphere with the crowd, playing on Astroturf, playing on a field that the dimensions are a little wider, almost 78 yards wide, the travel for the first time and having to play a game right off the plane was unique for us, again we know the soccer can be sharper, but there are some factors that led to us being a little bit not clean with the ball. I thought when you look at the game though, it’s good to keep the zero at the back. I thought Mark McKenzie stood out and was excellent, made a lot of big key blocks, put out a lot of fires individually. A real positive too is, we worked everyday this week defending restarts and we certainly gave up way too many fouls and way too many corner kicks and wound up doing our job and executing defensively on those restart positions; a check in the positive box for improving that. Overall, we know we need be sharper and we will be next week, finally getting a home game at Subaru Park against Red Bull.”
On Kai Wagner injury status…
“Him and Ale [Alejandro Bedoya] went into a tackle, and initially we didn’t think it was too serious. He had an x-ray that was negative, but then had a further MRI that showed just around where his old injury was, they called it a contusion, but there was some things that showed up on the MRI that caused enough discomfort to keep him out of the game. That was later in the week, last week actually. It’s difficult to lose, in my eyes, the best left back in the league, but I thought Matthew [Real] stepped in, did a great job, did his job, got a little tired towards the end so we made the change and Olivier [Mbaizo] came in and by committee we got a zero which was important. Again, I have to stress, Mark McKenzie was excellent tonight and bailed us out a lot, so that was good for him.”
On factors affecting play…
“In terms of what causes the rustiness, we’ve had about as a unique of start as we could possibly have. It almost feels like this is the fourth time we’re starting our season again. It’s tough to get energy when there’s no fans in the stadium, that’s certainly clear. It’s eerie, it’s strange, I’m not going to sugarcoat it. It feels different. The accommodations were great, we felt safe on the road, but there’s a strangeness to getting on a charter, coming here, going to a hotel room for a couple hours, then coming over to play a game on Astroturf. It was just a little bit off on the night, and our team wasn’t as sharp as we wanted to be. Again, credit to the guys for sticking together. On a bad night good teams get a point and we did that.”
On the team’s defensive play…
“It’s not easy to play as a centerback on a yellow card, especially with New England. To New England’s credit tonight they almost pushed four guys up high into our back line. They approached it a little different and gave us some issues for sure. Having said that, we gave up a couple clear cut chances early on in the game. I thought we settled down in the second half quite a bit and it’s a sign of progress that Andre [Blake] is not making eight, nine saves, like he was in Orlando. Again, I’m not going to be happy with the result. Our team has made a lot of progress this year, had come off a group that has really grown and improved in Orlando. This wasn’t us tonight. Having said that we’ll take the point and move on to Red Bull. We have a lot to improve on, a lot to work on both on the defensive side and that attacking side. Certainly, I thought team defending was better tonight in terms of not having to have Dre make those seven or eight saves.”
Midfielder, Brenden Aaronson
On chances in the final third…
“For New England, I think they defended really well tonight. It was hard for us to break them down, but there’s points where we need to be cleaner in the final third. It’s a tough night, but we could be cleaner in the final third. For me, on the play that I run through the goalkeeper, Matt [Turner] takes the position, comes out, I probably could have taken another touch, but I was trying to lift it over him when I made that touch into the inside, so I think that it was just a tough angle, but I could have done better with it and maybe have gotten the goal.
On playing in an empty stadium…
“That was the first time we’ve played in an empty stadium with 80,000 seats, it echoes, it’s weird, but I think that us going to Orlando and having that in the back of our minds, I think most players think of it as normal now, it’s something that we’ll have to get used to because who knows what will happen in the future. Every game it will be something like that, we’ll just have to get used to it, but it’s weird for sure.”
Defender, Mark McKenzie
On getting back into the rhythm of the game…
“It’s good to be back out there ultimately. We had a good run in the tournament, now it’s like the third resumption of the season. At the end of the day it’s about getting on the road, rolling up our sleeves, understanding what the game is calling for. We dug deep, got the point, wasn’t the prettiest, but it was a solid first game back. We understand with the third resumption, it’s not going to be the smoothest transition, but we do our best to make sure we get a result at some point.”
On tuning out external factors and focusing on MLS season…
“We have a good group of young guys and veterans. Guys who have been through this and guys that are going through it, so having that balance has been key in the midst of everything going on. We’re both up and coming players and we recognize that there is a lot of outside noise going on, but at the end of the day we have a job and that is to go out on the pitch each and every day and give our all for the club. We came up under this badge and we’ll do everything we can while we’re still wearing the badge to get points, win games, bring trophies back to the club. It’s great having that, but ultimately, we have a job. We both were raised in good households where humility is a key trait to have. In this industry a lot happens, but you have to keep your head down and do your job to the best of your ability.”
On both centerbacks playing on a yellow card…
“You try not to change up your game too much. Ultimately you have to be smart with the caution on your back, but at the end of the day as long you time your tackles, you position yourself in a way where you’re preventing situations from occurring, being proactive as Jim [Curtin] always reiterates to us, putting fires out before they can get crazy, that’s what helps when you have a yellow card. It’s not a position you want to be in, but ultimately, it’s what the situation was and I think we handled it well.”
