COLUMBUS CREW SC HEAD COACH CALEB PORTER
On the match:
“Normally I would feel good about a draw on the road against last year’s MLS Cup champion on their home pitch, but I think our standards have been raised. I think in some ways we’re grounded a little bit with the feeing of the draw because our standards have raised. There’s a lot to learn from the game. They’re a very good team, Seattle. They definitely threw the kitchen sink at us in the second half. You saw it last week when they were down so good by us to get through. We bent a lot and even broke a little some so we’ll look at the film, we’ll get better. The good news is getting better without losing is the way we want to do it this year.”
On the biggest takeaway:
“The biggest takeaway is we can play with anybody in the league. When we pass the ball, play our game and control games, press from the front and play as a team, we can play with anybody. We showed that [tonight] for periods, but when we don’t play our game we’re going to be in an uncomfortable situation defending deep like we were for far too long. In the end, I thought it was a fair result that they got a goal. We scored a great goal and there were some good moments on the day. It’s never easy against the Seattle Sounders on the road. We got four points in two games and haven’t been beaten, but we have to be a lot better.”
On the penalty kick and re-take:
“I haven’t looked at it yet.”
On if Seattle did anything that was surprising:
“No, but I think we surprised them some, too. Seattle, as a team, when they push, as they did at the end…they’re used to winning games, especially on this field. If you can leave a game and not allow them to win the game…in the end, once the dust settles, we’ll probably feel a little bit better about the result. I’m still looking for improvement out of my team.”
COLUMBUS CREW SC DEFENDER JONATHAN MENSAH
On the game:
“It is an okay result but we will take it you know. It is a long trip. We will take this one and go home and prepare for the next one.”
On his feeling leaving with one point:
“At the start of the season you have to make sure you are bagging some points because down the road you need it. Disappointed but you know we still are happy with the point. Tough place to play and get a point. We will go home and prepare for the next one.”
On defending against a strong air attack and volume of attack from Seattle:
“We watched film and we knew that was one thing they do a lot of. We managed it well [the air attacks]. Their was one incident that brought a PK. We will watch the film and correct that. I think overall we did a good job.”
On playing with Aboubacar Keita this match:
“He is ok. He is a young player. You just need to talk to him. Stay locked in throughout the game and he did well.”
On Milton Valenzuela going down:
“I think he was holding the same leg so I was not happy with that. He played the whole half and then came inside for precautionary measures. So we just put him out to raise the leg.”
COLUMBUS CREW SC GOALKEEPER ELROY ROOM
On the penalty save and retake:
“Yeah, I thought it was a good save. I saw the clip so I knew where he was shooting. I thought it was a good penalty save. I think the linesmen said I was off the line. I don’t think he can see that from that side. It was his decision and I can not do anything about it.”
On getting a point but not seeming satisfied as a team:
“Yeah, I feel the same way [that the standard has been raised]. Maybe last season we were happy with this point. Of course the point is important and it is a difficult road game. I felt we were more in the game and especially how we conceded the goal like that. We had some chances also to score and they also had some chances. I think if we would have played some situations a little bit better we could have scored more. We have to learn from this but we will take this point home.”
On Seattle’s attack from the air:
“Yeah it is really difficult you know because they play like this. Of course I played also with [Kelvin] Leerdam and of course he is crossing every ball. It is one of the qualities of this team. We have to deal with it. Yeah it is hard to do but I tired to help the defense and the team when I can. A couple balls I can help the team but sometimes it’s better to stay and react on the balls. I think today we were unlucky.”
