D.C. United Head Coach Ben Olsen
On Jairo Arrieta
I thought he was great. The way he occupies center backs. We’re asking him to connect passes, be in good spots, make it difficult on the two center backs then get it to our wide midfielders or the underneath forward and then be in dangerous spots in the 18, and he did that tonight. I thought he finished off the goal very well. It was a very tough finish, and I’m happy for him. Two goals in two games; so he’s feeling pretty good about himself.
On Miguel Aguilar
I’ve said it before, he’s going to be a fun player to watch. He’s going to be a fan favorite because he’s relentless and he’s going to go after guys. He’s young and a little bit naive at times, but we’ll work on that, but his growth so far and the speed at which he’s growing, even in the preseason, has been pretty good. I expect moving forward that he’s going to be a piece that we can use in our regular 18. Once again in the draft, we pick up good pieces that are going to help this group.
On overall game thoughts
It was scrappy. The field played into it a lot more than people know. I thought the first half was good, and I knew at some point in the second half that would change just because of the energy level we were going to lack. You could see that hitting us around 60 minutes. We started to fade a little bit, which, you know, we had one day less rest than they did. I thought we weathered their stretch in the right way, but it was always going to be one of those games that we knew we’d have to gut it out in the end.
On getting through the labor agreement
It’s good, and you can feel that freshness in the guys. It wasn’t a big concern for our staff, but I think it took its toll on our players in the preseason. To get that behind them I think you see, again, a new freshness about them. The last two games since it has been signed, our guys in particular who’ve been very involved - Bobby Boswell and Chris Rolfe in particular - are feeling good and that part is contagious.
On the attack without Fabian Espindola
That’s a month from now. Fabi’s out for a while, so I don’t really need to spend too much time thinking about that. It’s a good problem to have when Fabi comes back. We’ve found some new partnerships and more stuff that we can rely on if we get into injury trouble. This is how you build depth when guys are out, create new relationships. I think Pontius is still feeling out the forward position, and that’s why I think Arrieta helps him and the partnership works.
D.C. United Goalkeeper Bill Hamid
On overall impression
It was a great game all around. I think the guys will be the first to say that we’re very proud of this performance. You know, the football all around was great and the first half was amazing. Moving them around, opening them up, finding gaps and penetrating every single line of their defense. Second half we weathered their storm. They came out guns blazing, so we weathered their storm and we got our goal when we had the counter.
On CBA talks
The season has already started. That’s over with. Let’s get this going.
On roles during the early stages
Yeah, I mean guys want to figure out what’s going on. You know, every single guy here is on a contract, so guys want to figure out where they stand and what their next move could be and so on and so forth. All of that is important, but now we’ve got games to play.
On Jairo Arrieta’s debut
He is known around the league to be a guy with high energy and very explosive at any moment. He can just punish teams, so I was very happy to see his goal. He worked very hard the whole game, he didn’t stop, he set the tone for us defensively as a team and it’s great. Congratulations to Jairo.
D.C. United Midfielder Davy Arnaud
On today’s game-winning goal
It was a very good goal. I think we went from our box to us scoring in maybe two or three passes. It was obviously a very good finish for Jairo and I am happy for him because he had a very good game today besides the goal. The way that he worked and held the ball a lot and made us a lot better.
On acquiring Jairo Arrieta
When I found out that we signed Jairo in the off season I was very excited. Watching him play last year and over the past few years I have always admired the way that he plays. I like the way that he plays the game. I was wondering how we got him to be honest with you because I think he is very good, and you need depth. I mean you see Fabi is going to be out for the first six games and Silva with an injury we have guys that can come in and do a real job for us and I thought he was very good, and Pontius as well. I thought the whole team was good today. I think that it was one of the best performances that we’ve had since I have been here.
D.C. United Forward Chris Rolfe
On playing with Jairo Arrieta
I mean today he kind of showed all facets. He is good running off the ball but he is also very good with his back to the goal. For me it is great because we can find his feet and he can lay the ball off to me kind of coming in from behind. And, obviously he is a good finisher, so it was a great day.
Montreal Impact Head Coach Frank Klopas
Overall Assessment of the Game
We tried to create 2v1 situations. To be fair I think we had some very good chances. It was unlucky because it was a soft goal. And you know a fairer result probably would have been a 0-0 game, but it’s a long season so… The effort of the guys was very good especially the guys who came in at the end and the subs who gave a lot of energy to the team. We pushed and we had some very good chances, but not every game is going to be like the Pachuca game.
On what happened on the goal?
We got caught going forward and we lost the ball. I think David played a very good ball early, you know, and I think at that point we should have dropped as a team and we didn’t. And they played a ball to Arrieta and it’s just a miscommunication at that point. The goalie comes out, he doesn’t get it and we give up the goal… That’s gonna happen so you know we just got to regroup and move forward and now we’re just thinking about Justin and hoping he gets healthy.”
On the challenge keeping these guys motivated over the next two weeks?
I think we should stay focused clearly on that [the next MLS match]. They’ll have a few days off to recover after preseason and this and in the meantime we can just hope they can get healthy over this break.
On D.C.United
They fell good, they won. No?” [laughter]
No they played good. It was the home opener for them and it was good for them to get the win. As far as soccer being played, the field conditions were not great which didn’t help.”
Dilly Duka (Montreal Impact #11)
On how the scoring play develop?
I’ll have to look at it again, but from what I remember it was a good through ball and they caught our keeper out and from my angle it looked like they had an open goal.”
On thoughts about Justin Mapp
I mean yeah, I hope it’s not too serious. I’m not sure exactly what it is, but I hope its not too serious because we have a long season ahead of us and we’re gonna need him.”
On lacking transition plays
I think we’re a very good counter attacking team with pace on the wings and guys who can thread balls, but DC just came back with a very good ball and capped it off and got the game from us.
