Swope Park Rangers Head Coach Nikola Popovic
On the game:
“It was a good win. We came in very well in the game but we missed so many chances that we almost lost control of the game. Many times in soccer when you miss so many chances, you risk not winning the game. I think we can do much better than this, it was a good win because sometimes it’s important to win when you don’t play so good, but it shows that we have a lot of work ahead of us.”
On winning the first two games of the season:
“Of course, the win is very important, but you know being the B team it’s not only the win that matters – it matters how we play, and how we want to play. Today, we were a little bit distant from what is our thoughts about the game.”
On the performances of the young players:
“I think the whole team was inconsistent, very irregular, after the first 20 minutes we never controlled the game. This is not what we want, we want to be able to control and dominate the game.”
Swope Park Rangers Midfielder Christian Duke
On winning the first two games of the season:
“(We’re) very happy, I mean the guys jelled well during the preseason and coming off of two wins, we get some time off now to regroup, fine-tune the little things. It’s a very positive start for us.”
On what needs to be fine-tuned:
“Just bits and pieces of the team defensively, we need to a better job of killing the game off a little bit more. In the first half, I think we should have put a couple more goals away than we did and make it a little bit easier for ourselves in the second half.”
On the team winning the first two games with a number of new faces:
“It’s very impressive. Everybody’s stepping up and the young guys are doing a very good job, they’re fitting in very well and they’re kind of leading this team right now which is very impressive.”
Swope Park Rangers Forward Kharlton Belmar
On his goal:
“I think it was good hustle off the counter. The ball came out, Nansel (Selbol) was able to grab it again and put a good ball across the box and I made a hard run to the near post and I was able to get a touch on it and let it go in.”
On the performance of the team after two wins to open the season:
“I think we’ve got a lot of progress to make but I think that at the same time, we’ve shown at times that we can go really far with the way we’re playing right now. Guys are working for each other and we’re really committed to everything that Nikola (Popovic) is trying to teach us and trying to get us to do.”
On if winning against his former club made it sweeter:
“Yeah it was. At the end of the day it’s always good for the team to win but it was always in the back of my mind so it feels good.”
On what goes through his mind when playing a former team:
“A lot of those guys are my friends. I spent two years with those guys so it was good to see them again, good to line up against them.”
Portland Timbers 2 Head Coach Andrew Gregor
On the game:
“I thought it was a little bit of a tale of two halves in some ways. First half I felt like although we didn’t play awfully, I thought we didn’t defend very well and Swope did a good job breaking us down. We figured that out in the second half, came out better and I felt like we dominated the second half and probably deserved a goal or two and it just wasn’t right on the night. Their goalie made a couple of nice saves and it just didn’t go our way.”
On goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh’s performance:
“Kendall had a good performance, we’re a little bit numb to it because we’re used to seeing him make those sort of saves all the time. He did well tonight and kept us in the game, especially in the first half when we didn’t manage defensively our backline that well. It’s always good to have a player of his caliber to be able to solve some problems when we get into them.”
On his side’s difficult schedule:
“I think the first game’s the first game and it is what it is, we’ve got a young group. Second game, Swope had to do it as well and you saw it with 15 minutes left, both teams were exhausted. I don’t mind it that much because whatever the results may be, we’re going to be up to speed by the game being done on Sunday, get a couple of days off and we’re ready to go again and turn it over. Other teams, it might take them three weeks to get up to speed, we get up to speed in a week so I don’t mind that but they are points lost and you don’t want to lose points but we’ll move on from it and get ready to go for Sunday.”
Portland Timbers 2 Goalkeeper Kendall McIntosh
On his six-save performance:
“I think it comes down to preparation, we knew what our plan was and what I needed to be prepared for, and I think it’s just execution on the field and that’s my job. I’m happy to have been able to do that today.”
On having two games in the space of four days:
“It’s tough, the traveling’s tough, but we’re more than up for it. I don’t think this is our best performance but I think the boys will come together for this Seattle trip and I think we’ll be looking to play a bit better and start jelling a little bit more.”
On the approach moving forward after losing their first two games:
“Just get better. I think with each game there’s been positives and there’s been negatives, but I think the more we can grow in the positive things and the more we can do them consistently, I think those will outweigh the negative things that happen every game. It happens to every team and the more we can focus on improvements, the quicker we’ll get to where we want to be.”
