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A Philadelphia Union blog hosted by Christopher A. Vito and Matthew De George

Sunday, April 14, 2013

What they said: Union-Toronto FC spare quotes

Union forward Jack McInerney does battle with Toronto
defender Gale Agbossoumonde during Saturday's 1-1 draw.
(Times Staff/ERIC HARTLINE)

Union manager John Hackworth 
On the draw: 
“This is one of those games where a draw feels like a loss. I definitely feel like we struggled there. I know that what I was told on the sidelines, what I saw live and what I saw on the replay are completely different. But you can’t do anything about that now. It is what it is and at the end of the day you have to take your chances and finish them, and we didn’t do much of that.”

On possessions and change in play:
“We’re not a long ball team. At half time the stats were much more possession oriented. In the first half we had the ball 66% of the time. So I don’t know what to tell you other than I think we had it more than they did and it was just a terrible, ugly game. It was a restart game. Between some tactics by Toronto and some interesting management of someone else on the field - it was just a game that was stopping and starting the whole time and it continued to do that throughout the whole game. That’s one of the reasons why as a coach … I know some of the players feel it too, they were frustrated by the tempo of the game.”

On the starting front three of Jack McInerney, Conor Casey and Sebastien Le Toux:
“I don’t think it was as much our front three as our whole team struggled to keep our game plan. Our possession wasn’t the way we wanted to do it. Even though we had more of the ball, our rhythm and our tempo wasn’t what we had planned on and you’ve got to give a lot of credit to Toronto for that, some other mitigating factors. I think it’s a struggle any time you have to play under those kinds of conditions."

On frequent game stoppages:
“It just kills it. And it’s a tactic, to be very blunt, it’s a tactic and it was used very effectively today. Again, I’m not attacking that tactic at all. I understand it. It’s just that you’re trying to get a game done and you’re trying to establish things when it’s starting and stopping. All of these little things just stop, start, stop, start and it’s really disruptive. I personally don’t like that; I’m not a fan of it.”

Union goalkeeper Zac MacMath
On how quickly Robert Earnshaw’s goal developed:
“Very fast. Obviously, for the whole team, it happened very quickly. [Ashtone Morgan] just played it over the top and you know, those guys just seemed like they were walking back and maybe in an offside position. When something happens like that, you just try to react as well as possible and make the save.”

Union forward Jack McInerney
On equalizing in stoppage time:
“Yeah, I mean, it’s a good feeling, the crowd’s going crazy, I’m sure they all loved it. But, like I said, that has to be a game that we win, and looking back on it later in the season it’s going to be disappointing. It might feel good now, but it’s going to be disappointing later.”

On the Union’s creation of scoring chances:
“I didn’t think we created too many good chances. We created a lot of half-chances, and some of them should have been put away easily. It was just one of those days where a goalie is having a good day, and we’re having a hard time finding the back of the net. That’s one of those things that we have to battle through, because it’s going to happen often.”

On starting alongside Casey and Le Toux:
“I don’t think we played our best today. I think we definitely could have played better, and that’s something we need to work on if all three of us are going to be on the field at the same time. It’s a really attacking lineup, and we did a good job of keeping our shape in the back and holding them to zero until that one mishap, but it’s going to take time, and we’re going to keep switching it up every week.”

Toronto manager Ryan Nelsen
On Earnshaw’s goal:
“There were two or three situations like that; we knew they were going to come. We knew how Philadelphia was going to play and those opportunities were going to arise and it worked in the first half. I think that was a close one in the first half. He put his flag up right away in the first half but not in the second half, which is really interesting. But we knew what was going to happen in those situations and we took the chance.”

On Morgan being sent off and philosophy of the team being tough to beat:

“Exactly. That’s what we have to build our foundation on. We are not going to come out and be the greatest team ever in the MLS overnight. It’s going to take time and we need to build a foundation. The guys made it really difficult for a really good Philadelphia team. They are well coached and play good football.”

On Califf not playing:
“We have some good centerbacks at the moment, as you saw today, so it’s hard to get on the field at the moment. And Gale took his opportunity.”

On coaching against Parke, Carroll, Casey, others he played with: “Brian was a very good friend of mine while I was playing. Was a fantastic player, still is a fantastic player. The way he controls the midfield he has been doing that a number of years. Jeff and Conor are good, hardened MLS players. So yes, they would be valuable for any team.”

Toronto defender Darren O’Dea
On the battle today:
“I liked it, it was a fantastic game it was a tough game. At times we play against a lot of odds and we weren’t lucky enough to come away with three points but I enjoyed it.”

Toronto goalkeeper Joe Bendik
On this game and rating his performance:
“It’s solid. It speaks for itself. But the team just put so much grit in. It’s hard to watch a 1-1 result. But at the end of the day it’s quite good when you are disappointed with getting a point away.”

On what he saw on the disallowed goal:
“I am going up for the ball and, obviously, I am the only one on the pitch allowed to use my hands. It looked like he went up with his elbows and he maybe caught a piece of my hand, but I don’t know. It is up to the referee. It looked like he had been calling a very tight game the entire way so he stayed consistent with that, fortunately.”

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