Self-Inflicted Wounds Thrash RSL Again (RSL shoot themselves in the foot after another defensive breakdown allows Chivas USA to collect full points in front of 26K fans on a rainy Salt Lake City evening)
"Obviously a huge, huge disappointment for us," said coach Jason Kreis of the team's first loss of the season at home. "Very disappointing, now, to drop down below Chivas (in the standings). We've dug ourselves a bit of a hole, made things very difficult now through the last five games."
"Goodbye and good riddance," RSL coach Jason Kreis said moments after Chivas' 1-0 victory before a record crowd of 26,391.
Post Match Comments...
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On the implications of tonight’s loss for RSL:
“A huge, huge disappointment for us; very disappointed now to drop below Chivas (in the standings). We’ve dug ourselves a bit of a hole and made things very difficult for the last five games. I think the mentality has to be that we have to go on the road and pick up a win now. We had kind of counted on getting three wins at home and now, obviously, we’re not going to have that, so we have to go on the road and pick up a win there.”
On his team’s play tonight:
“I thought defensively, and overall, I thought the whole effort tonight – the way we played, the number of chances we created, the number of chances we didn’t allow them to create – I thought we did everything well. Again, it’s similar to last week where the game comes down to plays sometimes. Plays in front of their goal and plays in front of ours, and tonight we made a mistake there and we paid for it.”
On whether RSL must change its approach for upcoming road games:
“I’d say a little bit. Had we gotten a win tonight you can go and play a little more defensive and pack things in a little bit and make things difficult at San Jose or New England, and now we’re probably not going to have that luxury.”
On RSL closing its tenure at Rice-Eccles Stadium:
“Good bye and good riddance (laughs). No, we’re just really excited to get into the new building. October 9th will be a huge date for us, and I know all of our guys are looking forward to that first match there.”
REAL SALT LAKE GK NICK RIMANDO
On the miscue that led to the night’s lone tally for Chivas USA:
“It was bad; communication was a bit of a problem. I say, ‘Leave it,’ and (Borchers) gets in my way. But it’s one of those things where you have to stay positive because if you start pointing fingers it’s not a good thing.”
On bouncing back from tonight’s loss:
“It’s tough, for sure, because you don’t want to lose like that, especially at home and especially against Chivas USA because they’re a Western Conference team. It’s one of those things that you can’t dwell on. As much as you want to think about it you can’t, you just have to move forward and be positive and look towards the next game.”
REAL SALT LAKE FW YURA MOVSISYAN
On his effort in defeat:
“I’ve got to feel disappointed because I’ve got to take the blame for not scoring goals. In this game (tonight), you score a goal, you win, and if we had put our chances away then we could have walked out of here with a win.”
On his scoring struggles at Rice-Eccles Stadium:
“For some reason I can’t score in the League (matches) at home. Hopefully that will change once we get to the new Stadium, but I haven’t been lucky here (at Rice-Eccles).”
REAL SALT LAKE MF WILL JOHNSON
On carrying the play but not getting the result:
“I think that’s been the story of the last three games. We could have won all three, but somehow something always happens at the end, or we get all these chances and we don’t put one away. Then one chance for the other team and you lose the game.”
On rebounding from the loss:
“You feel sorry for yourself tonight, then you’ve got to get over it in the morning. We’ve got to work hard because we’ve got five games left, and three against the Western Conference. Out of those five games we’ve got to win three of them, it’s that simple.”
CHIVAS USA HEAD COACH PREKI
On Alecko Eskandarian’s second half goal:
“We got a fortunate goal. Sometimes, in this game, you have to be lucky and get one of those things. This year luck hasn’t been on our side too often, so tonight we’ll take it. It’s that time of year that we’ll take the points, it doesn’t matter how they come.”
On his team moving into second place:
“We always knew that we had a good team. It was just a matter of getting everybody healthy and getting everybody playing. I don’t think we played our best tonight. It was our first time we put this group together in a long time.”
CHIVAS USA FW ALECKO ESKANDARIAN
On the game’s physical play:
“It’s going to get ugly, and you’ve gotta fight. I’m friends with those guys on the team, but they’re hitting me and I’m hitting them when we step between those lines. It doesn’t matter – you want to win the game.”
On his game-winning goal:
“I saw Nick Rimando coming off his line and Nat [Borchers] was chasing him down. I remembered two months ago those same two had a play, I think against New England, where the ball squared out, so I figured I might as well keep going maybe something will pop out, and sure enough it did.”
CHIVAS USA DF CAREY TALLEY
On tonight’s result:
“It ended how I wanted. It was kind of like their game when they came to us. Two players collided there and the ball just rolled into the net, and we took advantage of it. So I thought we did a pretty good job.”
On his last game at Rice-Eccles Stadium:
“Every time I come to Salt Lake from now I am glad I get to play on grass; this town deserves it. The fans are great, they supported the team through thick and thin the last four years. They’re putting a better product on the field and it’ll be perfect for that stadium, so it’s good for Salt Lake.”
Boz's RSL Stadium Slideshow 9/3/08...
Boz Note...
If anyone out there fancies a specific photo that I've posted in the past, or perhaps a specific player, just drop me a line and I will email you the raw shot--for Free-Fifty-Free.
Just tryin' to spread that RSL love one photo at a time.
