COLUMBUS CREW SPORTING DIRECTOR AND HEAD COACH GREGG BERHALTER
On the overall performance:
First, I want to give a lot of credit to New England. They had a really good game. They stayed very compact defensively, they were able to counter, they were able to pressure us — they had a really good game. For us, I think as we were chasing the game, we opened up a lot of space. As we opened up a lot of space, you put defenders in uncomfortable positions, and it’s how you handle those situations. Today, more often than not, we made the wrong decision in how we are going to deal with that situation, and it puts you in a hole.
On his reaction to tonight:
We talked a good game this week and we didn’t play a good game this weekend. That’s an issue to me. We were talking about who we are and to me, it’s about executing. That’s what’s most important. The last thing I saw, especially in the first half, was execution. It was the reverse of that, and that’s disappointing to me because if you talk, then you need to back it up. If you say you want to make a run at the championship, then you have to back it up.
On doing the little things in the MLS Cup Playoffs:
The little things weren’t there. The execution, that’s what I’m talking about, wasn’t there. Again, I don’t want to take anything away from New England because they did play a good game and you look at the hunger and desire in which they played the game, and you wonder why it wasn’t on our side. Why our 11 guys didn’t have that same desire and hunger. It’s disappointing.
On Higuain’s goal in second-half stoppage time:
It certainly puts us in a much better position. We have to win by three goals next week, so it will be interesting.
On keeping Eric Gehrig out when Justin Meram scored the first goal:
I felt at that time we were getting momentum. I was looking more for the 2-2 [score] than 2-1 or 3-1. That’s what we were looking to go for. That probably was our strong stretch of the match when we really started taking momentum in the game, and I felt like give this group another time period to keep that momentum going.
On away goals tiebreaker strategy:
The away goals tiebreaker is something to think about, but not when you’re conceding four goals. The strategy behind it goes out the window when you’ve given up four goals. You’re on the other end of it and they’re the one accumulating those away goals. You’re watching it happen.
COLUMBUS CREW MIDFIELDER ETHAN FINLAY
On the loss:
I’m extremely disappointed in our performance as a team tonight. That’s not the type of soccer we want to play. I don’t think the [weather] conditions had anything to do with it – we just came out flat and we paid for it.
On mindset heading into the contest:
We were confident. We felt good coming into this game. We had a lot of guys who had really poor performances, myself included, today and when we are not clicking that is the type of poor performance you put out. It was extremely disappointing.
On moving forward to the next game:
You just have to. Three goals. Three-to-nothing. That’s the goal. Nothing else is acceptable. We won’t be thinking about anything else. We know the task at hand and they do to. You will probably see them come out a bit more defensive and that’s understandable. They came in here and they did their job.
COLUMBUS CREW GOALKEEPER STEVE CLARK
On the team’s execution:
I think it is always important to start with yourself. I made two bad passes off the start which was disappointing. The conditions were tough and we weren’t able to play through that and that is really disappointing. We have a better level than what we showed in that first half.
On pre-game nerves:
Like I have always said before, there are nerves before any game. There was nothing special from my end.
On Federico Higuain’s late tally:
We have a shot going back there. They certainly have the upper hand obviously, but it’s not over.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION HEAD COACH JAY HEAPS
On his team’s performance:
It is always difficult to play on the road, and I thought we did a nice job tonight. It was a battle all the way through, a lot of goals and a lot of chances. I thought we probably could have had more. In the end, you want to get goals and get points on the road so that was good for us.
On the open style of play:
Yeah, we push it. I think that is kind of our motto, to go after teams. If we have chances we want to put them away. I think we were a little bit disappointed we didn’t put them all away. We had enough. But in the end, we know we have a quick turnaround in a week’s time to play the same team and that’s very difficult. The MLS [Cup] Playoffs are difficult because we have a physical game out here and now we have to ramp it back up and have another physical match on Sunday night.
On the importance of set pieces:
We needed to finish those. I thought we worked on them all week, well I should say all season at different times. This week we knew we had a focus and they are really good defensively, so you have to take your chances and if you get free kicks, when you have opportunities, you have got to take them.
On the performance of Charlie Davies:
Charlie was excellent. I thought he worked hard, I think he could have had more. He was close to putting away a couple of other chances. I kind of was on Charlie this week, it wasn’t his best week of training. I thought it was kind of interesting because he said that to me, sometimes when he doesn’t train his best he usually performs on the weekend and that is what he did.
On how Federico Higuain’s goal affects the series:
We’ll see. You got to play out the series and hopefully we take care of business of home.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION MIDFIELDER JERMAINE JONES
On his first MLS Cup Playoff experience:
I think there is not a big difference between Playoffs and a normal season game. It is always the same, you try to get the points and you try to win the game. I think today was a good performance from the whole team. We scored a lot of goals; I thought we played a good game.
On what was done to neutralize the Crew:
When we lost a League game here, we were not sharp and we were not 100 percent concentrated, so we lost it. I think today you could see that everybody was focused on that game. Since we scored here, we know it will now be difficult for them to come out and win that game in New England.
On Charlie Davies:
During last week, he worked a lot. He works hard for the team and today he scored. I am happy for him and I am happy for the whole team.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION FORWARD CHARLIE DAVIES
On today’s game:
Yeah, it is definitely something to be very happy about, with my performance today. But again, there is another leg to this series so we have to be focused for the home game. Obviously, we didn’t do any talking this week with all the media trying to build up a story, trying to get us to react to what Columbus were saying, but we stayed focused. We came out and we were hungry, we showed what we are capable of when we are playing at our best.
On the importance of recording the first goal:
We gave up that chance to Meram and that was a big relief that he wasn’t able to finish that and that it did not go in the back of the net. Once I was able to get a great ball and was able to put it into the back of the net, we were able to calm it down and keep the ball and play our game. It was a bit of a relief, because I think we all felt that we settled in to the game and we were able to keep the ball and play our game and it made it much easier for us.
On his second goal:
I’m not going to lie I never forgot the shot that [Clark] saved the last time that we played here. I got the space and knew that I could have taken a couple more steps, but I felt that the timing was right and if you give me two chances, I’m going to put one away. I was happy with how I was able to strike the ball. I got a great ball, I turned and saw that he was a little bit off his line and just tried to make a good connection and see where the keeper was and put it into the corner
