TORONTO FC HEAD COACH PREKI
Thoughts on game…
“I don’t think we started particularly well, the first five, six minutes we were kind of lethargic. We could have easily been down in that first five or six minutes. But then we found the life and we had quite a few opportunities. You can tell what that happens (hit the post on LaBrocca’s shot) – when the ball doesn’t bounce your way it’s going to be a hard day. And I thought we gave up a goal against the run of play and the second one was, well an own goal. I thought we had plenty of chances, but we let New York off the hook today – they made their plans we didn’t make our plays. That’s how the game goes sometimes. It’s cruel sometimes.”
[inlinenode:3889]On what was said after the game…
“We win together, we lose together, and today we lost together. We have to pick ourselves up we don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves. We have to re-group we travel tomorrow to Panama and we have another game on Tuesday. So we have to really get up for the next two games.”
TORONTO FC DEFENDER NANA ATTAKORA
On the penalty…
“I couldn’t argue with the call, I don’t think I should have been sent off…it was just the way my body was, it was a penalty for sure – it hit my hand I can’t say it didn’t but the way my body was…and everything just happened so quickly my. I didn’t hear a call (from the goalkeeper) and everything happened too quickly.”
On the team’s poor start…
“Yeah, you saw against Cruz Azul we had everyone pressing from the back all the way to the front and today we just didn’t have that – although I do think we had a lot more chances then they did in the first half. But again, if we don’t take our chances it just comes back and bites us.”
TORONTO FC MIDFIELDER DWAYNE DE ROSARIO
“We don’t have too much time to dwell on this and maybe that’s a good thing because we have a very important Cup game in Panama against a team that has two players out due to red cards and hopefully we can capitalize on that. We all know that we have a very important game coming home next weekend in a very tough opponent in Salt Lake – they are a very confident side and hopefully we can learn from this weekend and match Salt Lake.”
On 3rd in the east might not be good enough for playoffs…
“Yeah definitely, we all know that. We are 8 points away from New York so we’ve created a gap. We know that in the west teams have 26 plus points so we’re sitting in a difficult position. But like I said it’s not time to panic or just be a little concerned about where we are right now. It’s very important that we win the rest of our home games for the rest of the season and if we could the same desire on the road with us that we do at home I think we’ll be fine.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS COACH HANS BACKE
[inlinenode:4638]Comments on big 3 points against Eastern rival…
“Yeah definitely, unbeaten at home a key game for both teams, but mostly for Toronto to close the gap and now it’s 8 points but they have a game in hand. I think we started very well the first 10 minutes and then after that it was an even game they were had some good chances too. It was an intense game, one of the best we’ve played so far. 2 up – they get up the red card, but then score into 2-1 and it’s once again an open game – but overall a solid away performance from the whole team.”
Comments on Marquez play…
“They will improve all the time…I think time speaks for us, if we can reach the playoffs both players Theirry and Rafa – you have to go back probably to February for Theirry – and of course Rafa played four games at the World Cup but they still haven’t played that many games this season so they still need games, games, games, all the time so I think in a month or something like that they will be in normal shape again.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER CARL ROBINSON
On his entrance in the game…and the goal…
“First of all it was a fantastic reaction, the guys were joking on the bench asking if I’d get a good reception and I was hoping I would but as it is in football there’s always a few…but they were fantastic and I’ve got to say thank you very much to them because it was a great ovation and I appreciate it very much. In regards to the goal, it was a great ball from Dane and I think Stef just misjudged the goal, and I managed to react and head it into the net. Someone asked me the other day what I would do if I scored and I said I wouldn’t celebrate. They said I’m stupid…and I said, the only reason was out of respect for the time I had here, it was 3 great years and I enjoyed every minute of it.”
TORONTO RED BULLS JUAN PABLO ANGEL
On importance of game today…
“We talked about it, we knew that if we got a result in a very difficult place we would separate the gap between them and us, overall it was a great result, a great performance and I will say probably one of the best performances of the season so far. I think this is the first time they got beat at home, so delight by the result and the performance.”
On how the team is progressing this year…
“There’s still a lot of work to be done, and we can see as the season goes on we get stronger and stronger and I’m sure we’ll be in good shape if we get to make the playoffs. New players Rafa and Henry they are getting better every game, you can see that they are getting sharper and Rafa today was outstanding the goal was one of his trademarks, in general I’ve very happy with what happened today.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS FORWARD THIERRY HENRY
Thoughts on game…
“We knew it would be a tough game, it’s a very good team I think we took advantage - as Toronto played in midweek, it’s hard to play two games in one week – they had a great game against Cruz Azul and we knew somehow along the line that they might get tired by the end of the game and I think we took advantage of that and we played a great game.”
