NEW YORK RED BULLS HEAD COACH HANS BACKE
On the match:
It’s definitely one of the better games so far we have played. Over 90 minutes, very intense, a lot of energy, many, many chances to score and of course we should have won the game, 3-0, 4-0. That should have been the normal result. We closed them down until the 85th minute when they had their first chance. One of the few games you can say that you can be pleased with when it ends 0-0. But, I must say I’m very pleased with our performance tonight.
On the difference between tonight and the last Sporting KC game one month ago:
I think it’s quite basic. I think the last game they outworked us and it was really frustrating to see them win all the bits and pieces. We had done some small adjustments in our attacking game and our defending game but overall it was I would say our pressing game. That kind of higher energy in the pressing game that we gave them absolutely no time on the ball. We forced them to more or less just kick it long.
On the playoff chase:
It’s been so tight and of course it has been nice to have 58, 59 points. But I think if you look I think 2010, we won the Eastern Conference on 50, 51 points or something like that. There’s two more teams now but we can also look at the Western Conference, you can probably get the fifth spot around 43, 44 points. Here you probably need 53, 54 points. We’ve had our ups and downs but we know what we have to do. We probably need to win away in Philly too. But I’m pleased with this performance. I’m not disappointed that we are in this position.
On quieting the Sporting KC full backs:
We have you can say four non-stop runners on our midfield. I think that is perhaps the key to close down Kansas’ fullbacks because normally they are so aggressively attacking. I think also that our staring point to defend was much higher than before. We had dropped sometimes and let them have some possession and that hasn’t worked at all. Now, we just said we needed to go and start pressing them almost all over the pitch.
On the back four:
I would guess so because Brandon [Barklage] is out definitely for the Philly game, perhaps the rest of the season. Wilman [Conde] will be out at least one week more. The way they played today it looks like this is the back four we have to use.
On showing frustration late in the game:
You can say it like this: it’s football. Typically, you create chances, you don’t take your chances and normally a good team like Kansas gets one or two chances and they get the first one, the header from Kamara after 85 minutes and quite typically maybe they score and you lose 1-0 if you don’t take your chances. But if you create that number of chances I’m pleased with that. Another day you score three, four goals but that’s the way this game is.
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER TIM CAHILL
On tying against Sporting Kansas City:
No, the thing is now we just have to get in the playoffs; we are becoming good at the right time. I’m really happy because like I said last week, defensively was something we needed to fix and we are playing harder in the midfield, the back line is working hard they regroup well with Heath (Pearce) at left back. The main thing is to defend first; I’ve said it time and time again, we will score goals, we’ve got some good individuals, some good quality players that will score some goals. We can’t keep conceding, 15 goals in the first five minutes in games, is not acceptable and that’s not what we should be all about.
NEW YORK RED BULLS MIDFIELDER THIERRY HENRY
On tonight’s match:
I thought we did better. I’m never happy if we don’t win, but sometimes you have some draws – especially the way we have played against top teams since the beginning of the season, if you remember when we played against Seattle here, when we played against San Jose, we scored but we never controlled the game. The way we played against them the other day and at their place, we were never in control of the game. I thought tonight we were in control of the game; we were creating a lot of chances, although (Kei) Kamara had one at the end of the game to win it, I thought for once we showed a good attitude. After you win or you lose, you never know but we had some clear chances in the first half, when I already had my hands up about to celebrate and they never hit the back of the net. I thought it was right from the start until the end, I believe everybody played well. Their goalkeeper had a good game and that’s why they are at the top - like I said to you, you have to take a lot of positives out of this game.
On the difference between this game and previous ones against Sporting KC:
I don’t know, they have a lot of players and you would have to ask them. I don’t know, but I was right; you could see at the start of the game that we were not going to be in trouble. Sometimes you can point at what it is, I’m sure you could see when the game starts and you say ‘Oh wow, it’s going to be a long day today,’ and I didn’t think we were going to be in trouble tonight – although Kei Kamara had one and (Luis Robles) made an amazing save. But you could feel that we were not going to suffer a lot tonight.
On if this game meant more to New York than it did to Kansas City:
I don’t think so, they wanted to win. I think they wanted to clinch the (first seed). I’m not sure what Chicago did, I think they were losing at one point or whatever, but they didn’t know that at the time. I thought they were going to come out here and try to win, that’s their mentality, any team that’s at the top wants to win. I don’t know, I keep on saying to you guys that all our games, all season are must win games. It didn’t change a lot today, or the other day against Toronto, or at the beginning of the season when we went (0-2) after we lost in Dallas and we last at Salt Lake. You know this has been the story since the beginning of the season.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY HEAD COACH PETER VERMES
On tonight’s 0-0 tie:
I thought they (New York) were good. They had a lot more energy than they had in prior games. They had to secure their spot for the MLS playoffs, and I think they played with a lot more energy tonight. I said to the team it was going to be a playoff atmosphere tonight. It was a good match. It was a great battle for us for sure.
On tonight’s gameplan:
We were going to play very similar to the way we normally play but they (New York) had a different energy tonight so it changed the game a little bit. I don’t think we played very well in the first half. I thought the second half was very organized; it was very different in the second half than the first half. I was glad with the adjustments we made and the way that we performed in the second half. In the first half, they were better than us.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY DEFENDER MATT BESLE
On tonight’s 0-0 tie:
I think it’s a great result for us. We came in here with the mindset that we wanted a result. Whether it was a point or three points, we knew it was going to be a battle and that showed out on the field today
On the defense’s effort in the shutout tie:
We kept the shutout but it was a total team effort. New York threw in a lot of numbers forward, they came out with a lot of energy tonight, but we did well to manage. It was a collective team effort.
On the potential of being the top seed in the Eastern Conference:
We’ll be watching these rounds. We know we have a chance, but either way, we feel that we’re in a good spot right now.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY GOALKEEPER JIMMY NIELSEN
On tonight’s result:
We knew it wouldn’t be easy today and I think the Red Bulls did an incredible job to make it very tough for us today. But you have to give us a lot of credit for the way we battled in there today. We can be very proud of the way we were battling today. We didn’t play our best game, but we fought as a team for 90 plus minutes.
On potentially facing the Red Bulls in the playoffs:
It would be a tough challenge. I think they showed who they are today. They played very well. Each game has their own life and the playoffs are something special, so that would be very, very intense.
