BEN OLSEN – HEAD COACH, D.C. UNITED
Your team seemed to be quite physical this match with Giovinco, was that something that was in your gameplan?
I don’t know, I think there is a bit of hoop-la right now, New York foul them a few times and that everybody is playing physical against him. He’s a good player, he’s buzzing around, and he’s going to get fouled. It comes with the territory of having that type of influence on the game.
Steve Birnbaum had a couple big saves for you guys as far as tracking back to help. Talk about his game and the defending in general?
It’s two shutouts in a row for us and we have been trying to get back for looking out for each other and making sure if on the day we are a little off with the passing and things aren’t clicking offensively we can still close up shop and I thought we did that today and Steve was a big part of that. In the air, reading the game much better than a few weeks ago, the rust is coming off and he’s getting back to his form.
Is there a point in today’s game where you think, let’s get out of here with a point?
In the 92nd minute, and then we get two corners and we want to win the game. But tonight it's a positive thing, it is a good point, a shutout and keeps them at bay. They are a hot team right now and they are going to be there certainly at the top of the East down the line.
NICK DELEON – MIDFIELDER, D.C. UNITED
Did the wind play a factor with your header in the first half?
Oh, I’m not even going to bother with that, I missed it. I just missed it, it’s not the winds fault.
Did you hit it soundly or did it skim your head?
Yeah it just skimmed off my head and didn’t get great contact, it was an absolute dime of a ball from Fabian, I should have rewarded the cross but unfortunately it didn’t happen.
DAVY ARNAUD – MIDFIELDER, D.C. UNITED
Are you good with a point today, all things considered?
Yeah I think so; it’s been a good week for us four points out of six on the road. We know Toronto’s going to be there at the end of the year so for us to come here and get the point was very good.
What is it like to be chasing around Giovinco on the field?
It isn’t much fun; his movement is great he is so sharp. You know with him, Michael and Jozy their movements are very good. Him in particularly. He has a low center of gravity, it isn’t easy to defend against him, you need to mark him with numbers. You have to frustrate him try to deny him the ball, you can’t take him out of the game completely but we did a good job of being physical with him and cutting out the lanes to him and offering something else other than that pass.
GREG VANNEY – HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC
Thoughts on the match…
I thought it was a well competed match for both teams they did a good job of getting numbers down on the ball, clogging up the middle of the field, making things difficult for us. They are for sure committed and they did what I think they do, when they do well, is they don’t make mistakes, they don’t give you anything, and they force you to come beat them. They have their moments on counters and set pieces from time to time. So, I think they executed that well. For us we had opportunities, I think we left some real opportunities on the table, we probably should have got more out of. I thought we needed to be a little bit more aggressive on the flanks, I thought too many times we would get into the flanks and real attacking positions and we would cut back and play sideways or backwards and we really needed to attack out of those positions because when we went backwards or sideways they got numbers behind the ball it became crowded in the middle of the field and our attacks sort of got bogged down. Aside from that it was a hard fought game in tough conditions. The wind was definitely playing tricks on the ball so it was hard to read it and the field was running really quick. Anytime we played it in behind and Sebastian was trying to take the balls on the run, it was definitely skipping and there were some tough times. But that was for both teams.
Was it frustrating getting the 0-0 after a win or was this just a game where you will take the point because it is DC?
I think we definitely would prefer three points, I think we left opportunities on the table to take three points but you don’t always make those opportunities, you hope more times than not that you do and today we didn’t. I was happy that we kept the shutout; I don’t think they posed a ton in terms of attacks, they were definitely looking for transitions and they are always a bit dangerous on set pieces but aside from that I thought the game was pretty much in control and we just needed to break them down and get a goal. If we get a goal the look of the game changes a little bit and maybe they come out and look to push more numbers forward. But at the end of the day the onus was on us, to get that first goal and we left a few opportunities on the table. We wanted the three points and we felt like we could have taken three points and we just didn’t on the day. We just missed opportunities.
Are you happy where you are on the table? It is about the mid-point of the season…
I always think we could be higher, I thought at the beginning of the year we went through some growing pains but I thought even then we probably had some points on the table we could get. But that is the way I approach everything with our group, as playing for three points at the end of the day. I think we outplayed a lot of teams but we early on in the season we were making some individual mistakes that I thought cost us points. In this particular game we just didn’t finish some opportunities, where I thought we got into some really good areas. Balls were played into good areas, but maybe they were nicked and we weren’t able to pick up the second ball as we were running through the box. Just a number of little moments like that but in terms of where we are on the table, I think we are in a good spot. I think we learned a lot about ourselves in the first half of the season and I think we if you just look at our last 8 or 9 games we are trending in the right way and playing good soccer. I think we will continue to get better. Obviously, we lose some guys here to the Gold Cup which is going to give some guys opportunities to step up and perform but we are also getting healthy at this moment, which is also a positive. We are seeing guys come back. Everybody has to deal with that, that’s the MLS. But we need to just keep on pushing forward. We also have a lot of home games in front of us too, to finish off the season, in the latter part of the season that is going to be important.
DAMIEN PERQUIS – DEFENDER, TORONTO FC
Thoughts on the match…
I’m happy with a good draw and winning a game after about a 190 minutes but I think we can do better tonight.
Do you think this game was yours for the taking when the ball falls a bit behind, or do you feel like the match was evenly contested between the two. Or do you think you played better than D.C. tonight?
Yeah we had chances to score, maybe they had one during the first half but after that they had nothing. We had some occasions to score, but tonight was not our night and it’s no problem. We take a point and improve game after game and that is the most important.
With the absences of Michael, Jozy, Oso and Ash. How do you think the team will cope with those absences?
I think the player who can play a lot now, will have a chance to show their potential that they have. So we trust in the team. Michael and Jozy is a bad loss for us but we have players that can give their best for us.
SEBASTIAN GIOVINCO – FORWARD, TORONTO FC
Thoughts on the match…
It was a good game, they have been pushing since the beginning and too bad for them they didn't score, at the end of the game they just missed a goal but otherwise besides that it was a great game. But they need to keep working hard and try to put the ball in the net.
What was the difficulty in creating chances tonight?
Maybe a bit of the wetter conditions tonight could be an excuse but in the end we were not so precise as usual but of course this happens during the season. But as long as we keep working hard we will achieve the result.
Midway through the first half you got fouled from behind by Boswell did you think it was a cheap shot or a missed timed tackle?
I don’t know if it was on purpose or not, it was just bad timing. Of course it was a bad one and the referee should be keeping their eyes a bit more open in order to avoid those bad tackles. Because otherwise they can be very dangerous.
