FC Dallas head coach Oscar Pareja
On the atmosphere…
I want to thank all the fans that came out to the stadium tonight and made it enjoyable for the whole community. Thank you for coming back to support these players, who have done an amazing job representing MLS in CONCACAF Champions’ League. We proved that we have enough soccer in North America to advance and compete against the best. Now we need to keep going and advance to the final and win the competition. We will do it.
General thoughts on the match...
I saw a team today that had the character we always talk about. They bounced back. They got a great result. There were some great performances today. I saw a team with a lot of ideas of what they needed to do to beat Minnesota, who is a strong team that surprised us in the second half. They did a lot of good things. Adrain Heath is a great coach and I saw his team creating a lot of chances in the second half. They created some trouble for us. Fortunately, we had the presence of Jesse [Gonzalez] there in the back, making a lot of saves. Great performance. We got the points and we were able to advance up the standings.
On being shut out by Minnesota in the first half…
You saw it in Pachuca. We had four chances to score, right in front of the goal. That is the reason we did not advance. We keep talking about it but yes, in the first half it was hard for us open the scoring. It could be a consequence or what happened during the week. The great thing for a coach is knowing that we are creating those chances… Knowing that we are putting ourselves in good spots in front of goal... We have to be patient and wait for the time when we can punish them and put the ball in the back of the net. Fortunately in the second half that happened. We still could have scored two or three more but Minnesota had chances as well so tonight is a fair result.
On the play of Javier Morales…
It is great to see. He is showing us glimpses of the great player he has been for the past 10 years. He has a lot of talent. He made plays that helped us to get the three points. He put himself in good spots in front of goal several times. He scored. I cannot ask for more. We’ll keep working with him and I think he’ll be a big part of this team this year. He fits well with this team. The normal structure of this team is a 4-2-3-1 with a play maker sitting underneath the forward. That has been our structure but we also have been adapting since Mauro [Diaz] has not been on the field. But with Javi, we have a player who can do that job.
On the play of Jesse Gonzalez…
I was talking with the coaches after the game. That amazed me. To have a player who has not played too many games recently have that good of a game. I liked to see players that prove to me that they deserve to play. It happened with Jesse today. It has happened with Chris Seitz at another time. I like to see that. The game talks and we need to listen.
On Michael Barrios…
Mikey is a very collected player, a team player who is always thinking about serving the group. He knows how to use his speed. He knows how put himself in good spots. I always demand him to be better when he’s making decisions or the final decision. Because, if he is polished in that final decision, Mikey would score many goals or make us score many goals. He knows that I’m very demanding with him. I’m happy to see a performance like a tonight for him but he needs to be conscious about what he could do if he polishes that last third, that last pass.
FC Dallas midfielder Michael Barrios
On rebounding against Minnesota tonight…
A loss only serves to raise the spirit of the team. We know that we are all still hurt from the match against Pachuca, but we know that we have to leave that behind. Losses and wins are things that happen in soccer. The loss will help us for what we will face in future games and the rest of the reason. We will continue to work in the best way possible to keep getting points.
On his goal…
Coach always talks to me personally and tells me to be calm and that goals will come with time, work and dedication that I put in every game. Then in each training, he tells me to be patient and to keep working on improving passes. And tonight, I managed to score, both personally and for the team.
FC Dallas midfielder Kellyn Acosta
On getting a win shortly after a tough loss to Pachuca in CONCACAF Champions’ League…
It was important for us to bounce back from a tough result against Pachuca during the week. The guys battled for the entire 90 minutes and we were rewarded with a good result. Shout out to Javi [Morales] for coming in and scoring in his first start this season. He did a tremendous job bagging a goal… Mikey [Barrios] as well. It was a great result and we’re moving on from CONCACAF Champions’ League. We can’t really dwell too much on the game against Pachuca. It showed that we really wanted to bounce back.
On his assist…
It was a throw in and I recognized they were going to play a square ball to [Sam] Cronin so I stepped up and pressured. I won the ball and initially I was going to take it myself to goal but I took a bad touch and saw Mikey was wide open. I slid it over to him and he did a great job capitalizing on the chance.
On Minnesota getting more chances in the second half…
I think it was because the game was more open. Their forwards were pinching in and they found themselves in good spots. I think we could have been a little cleaner, a little more organized to kind of limit their space but our back line was tremendous as usual. Walker [Zimmerman] and Matt [Hedges] were solid. Atiba [Harris] jumping in at left back did a tremendous job. It was a great adjustment by him. [Hernan] Grana was soild as well. Those guys always do the dirty work.
Minnesota United FC head coach Adrian Heath
On tonight's game...
I thought we created some of our own problems again. The second goal should be avoided, but on the whole I thought it was a little bit of a missed opportunity. It's not very often you come here and have a lot of the play, a lot of the ball, and the fact the keeper got Man of the Match gives you an idea that we had a lot of opportunities tonight. It was a missed opportunity for us.
On his team's improved offensive performance in the second half...
We spoke at halftime about getting a little more belief in the group, and believing that you can actually get something from the game, and have some confidence on the ball. We did that a little but in the second half. We started to move the ball quickly, started to get people in the right holes, started to get some good combination play, and we had a lot of opportunities. We needed on of them to go in when we were having our best spell, but the keeper's come up for 3 or 4 unbelievable saves. Obviously, then you leave yourself vulnerable to the counterattack, and that's what happened, but some of our approach play in the second half wasn't bad.
On the speed FC Dallas possesses...
They're a good team. They won nearly everything last year. That's why, because they've got good players, they're well coached, well organized, but I'm relatively pleased with some of the stuff we've done. We can't keep giving goals away like we did.
On the debuts of Sam Cronin and Marc Burch...
They're both experienced players that can play at this level and have played over 400 games between them so it's not a problem for them. They can play at this level and will be two good additions for us going forward.
Minnesota United FC midfielder Collen Warner
On tonight's game...
Overall, it comes down to us keeping faith in our game plan. In the first half we were doing well. We controlled the game in the opening stages. A few mistakes led to us losing a step, our way, and what we wanted to accomplish today.
Minnesota United FC defender Sam Cronin
On tonight's game...
Obviously, disappointed with the loss and my responsibility for the second goal. I let the team down in the start of the second half and put us in a big hole to climb out of so I've got to do much better. Hopefully, over time, I'll improve. Both goals were definitely avoidable. The first one was just a bit of miscommunication. The second ball, we didn't track our guys well enough, and right before half is a terrible time to give up a goal. To start the second half, poor awareness on my part, and the timing of that goal, right out of half, is a killer. We just have to continue to sharpen up. If we concede a world class goal, that's one thing, but we can't give soft goals like that away.
Minnesota United FC midfielder Kevin Molino
On tonight's game...
Credit to their goalkeeper, he was fantastic tonight. Everything was on point for him, but no excuses. We, as attackers, should take our chances and bury it, but all credit the their keeper.
Minnesota United FC forward Christian Ramirez
On tonight's game...
Those are the worst games to be a part of, when the goalie is standing on his head. It just feels like nothing can go past him. Credit to (Gonzalez), he played out of his mind. We just have to continue to believe in what we're doing. That we were on the front foot for a lot of a majority of the game. We have to believe fro the beginning. Too many times we're starting, and getting a feel for it instead of understanding that we can impose ourselves on these teams.
On his team's improved offensive performance in the second half...
Kevin (Molino) and Johan (Venegas), Abu (Danladi) when he came in, they were in really good areas. I think the system fits us and our strengths and abilities really well. Molino put me in some good situations that normally go in. Johan had some shots that normally go in. We just have to keep believing in the system that Adrian (Heath) is providing.
POSTGAME QUOTES | #FCDvMIN
