Crew head coach Robert Warzycha
On the game:
“I’m happy about the three points. I’m happy about a few things, obviously Higuain is playing well, he had an assist and a goal tonight. I think we struggled a bit with the offensive game, passing was not accurate and we gave the ball away too many times. I think we defended well Chad [Marshall] was very good and [Carlos] Mendes [did well], and Andy [Gruenebaum] was in the right place at the right time. But overall, sometimes this game is funny, you don’t play your best game and win and sometimes you play very well and lose.”
On why the pace was not always the best:
“Sometimes when you’re winning you have a tendency to drop and we probably dropped too much and they were putting the ball in the box. Fortunately for us Chad [Marshall] was always in the right place and Andy [Gruenebaum] was in the right place.”
Impressions on Higuaín after only having him for a week:
“Obviously he’s a good player. You can see his quality on the field and I’m sure he’s going to help his team. I think that his passes are right and I think he is picking out the right guys as they make their runs. I think the guys around him are going to play better because he’s a smart player.”
Crew forward Eddie Gaven
On if the team could have performed better:
“I think so. I think there are some things we did well, for sure. Being able to get two goals, obviously is nice. I think we all feel we could’ve been a little bit sharper, a little bit cleaner with the ball, myself included. But at the end of the day, this was a game the team had to win. We were able to find a way to do that even though we didn’t play our best. That’s definitely a good sign and something we can build off of.”
On his early goal and the pace of the game that followed:
“It was nice being able to come out early with a goal. It was huge. It kind of put them a little bit on the back foot so to speak. That was nice, but I think we kind of took our foot off the pedal a little bit after that. We started to lose too many balls. They kind of got back into the game. It’s something we can definitely work on and try to make better next game.”
On his goal:
“I think it hit off somebody’s back, actually. I just found myself with the ball, with a little bit of space, so I just figured I’d hit it. Sometimes when you shoot, good things happen. Even though it might not have been the prettiest goal, they all count. It was nice to be able to get a goal early.”
Crew midfielder Milovan Mirosevic
On the three points:
“We are close to the end [of the season], the final part, so it’s important to win three points here and Saturday has to be the same. Of course, we’d like to play better, but if you ask me, I want to play like this and win and not play like [against] LA and tie.”
On Federico Higuaín’s impact:
“Of course, it’s very important. We needed a forward like him and also like Jairo [Arrieta]. I think Jairo has been very, very good. He’s been holding the balls that we surely didn’t in the first games of the season. With those two guys in front, they have provided a lot of quality.”
Toronto head coach Paul Mariner
On the team’s start:
“It was the exact opposite I asked for in the dressing room. If you don’t close people down, you’re going to get punished. It’s not just the fact that we didn’t close Eddie [Gaven] down. It’s what happened further up the field. It’s the knock-on effect. It’s just whatever you call it. It’s not being ready to play and we’ve done everything to get the lads ready to play.”
On TFC’s response when being down 2-0:
“I think we changed [the game] immediately. We just brought some life into the team. We got the fullbacks bumping on, just basically two central defenders remained and we just got them to bump. I thought we were lucky enough to get a point, to be fair.”
On Freddy Hall starting in place of Milos Kocic:
“Milos has been absolutely fantastic for us this season. He was thrown into the fire in line with losing Stefan Frei, our number one. He’s come in, he’s done everything we wanted him to do, but for various reasons, professional reasons, and other reasons, he just needed to rest mentally for maybe a game or so. He’s been spectacular for us and Freddy is a guy I’ve known for a long, long time and I knew he’d do fine.”
