NOTES
- Whitecaps FC and New York Red Bulls have drawn all three of their matches over two seasons
- Whitecaps FC remain in third place in the MLS Western Conference standings
- Whitecaps FC extend their unbeaten streak to five matches
- Whitecaps FC are unbeaten in their last six MLS matches at BC Place, and their last eight matches at BC Place overall
- The goal for Martin Bonjour was his first in MLS
- The assist for Alain Rochat was his second in MLS this season, and third overall (one in Amway Canadian Championship)
- The assist for Davide Chiumiento was his fifth in MLS this season, and eighth overall (three in Amway Canadian Championship)
- New York Red Bulls remain in third place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings
- The goal for Heath Pearce was his first in MLS
- The assist for Joel Lindpere was his second in MLS play this season
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC
HEAD COACH MARTIN RENNIE
Thoughts on the match:
“It was one of those games where when you lose a late goal it feels like a defeat. That’s one of the first times a team has come and sat quite deep against us; they played 4-5-1. When that happens you have to take your chances. We didn’t take some chances but then we managed to get ourselves a good goal. Martin scored a good goal and had an excellent night tonight. But the disappointing thing would be that we didn’t see the game out. First ball the linesman gave a corner, or a goal kick, which turned into a corner so that was a bit frustrating, but then we didn’t defend it right so that’s very avoidable on our part. It’s something that we have to learn from.”
Lessons from the match:
“There’s two big things for us to make improvements on tonight. One is how we break down a team that sits a little deeper and how we make sure we’re clinical when we have chances. The second thing would be when we’re ahead in a game with a short time to go making sure that we see the game out. We need to manage that just a little bit better. But overall I think tonight was a strong performance from us. There were those couple little let downs and disappointments. This has been a very strong three-game run at home for us, as you say seven points out of nine. It puts us and keeps us in a very strong position, but it also shows the distance that we’ve come and we’re really disappointed with ties. We need to make sure we feel that disappointment, make sure it hurts us, and make sure it gives us the inspiration to learn and get better. Because it’s an improving team, a team that’s working hard and doing a lot of things right. But we must make sure that we polish up on any things which cost us.”
On how the team closed out the match:
“I think that when we’re in that last little part of the game we need to play that ball down the sides a lot more and you have to have runs that go from the centre out to the sides because if the balls on the sides it’s maybe a throw-in, maybe a goal kick, could be a throw-in for us, could be possession for us and it’s not dangerous. The balls not going to get cut out in those areas and they’re not going to counter [on] us. The second thing would be in all situations, in all set plays, every single person knows their job, and everybody is accountable for every part of the set play. Whether it be who they’re marking or who goes short on a short corner and the minute somebody doesn’t do their job it can cost you a goal, and it did.”
On Martin Bonjour’s performance:
“I think tonight he was fantastic defensively, he won lots of headers, he kept Kenny Cooper quiet – who is a very good player. But it was a fantastic goal and it was nice to get it off in the second phase of a set play. Great finish. Martin Bonjour has been an outstanding player for us this season and it was very nice to see him getting a goal and hopefully that will just add even more to his play and to his confidence.”
On Camilo:
“He’s looking pretty fit, pretty sharp. I thought he did well tonight and created himself a lot of chances. On another night he might have scored a couple goals. Actually with Camilo, I’ve hardly seen him miss any chances, he seems to score most of the ones he gets. Tonight maybe there was a couple he could have done slightly better on, but I think coming back after a couple games out he looked very sharp and very dangerous.”
DAVIDE CHIUMIENTO
On conceding a late goal:
“Of course it’s a little bit disappointing. I think we could’ve defended better, but that’s football. Sometimes you’re unlucky, sometimes it’s our mistake, but we have a really important game on Saturday. Tomorrow we have to speak about what we did well and what we did badly tonight, and then we have to look forward [to the next match].”
On personal confidence level:
“I feel really good. Maybe it’s my best moment in my time as a Whitecap. I enjoy every game and I try and play with a smile, play my game and give to the team what I can. I’m really positive and I think with my experience and a couple of other guys with a lot of experience we have to help the younger players and get good results.”
On setting up Martin Bonjour’s goal:
“I am really happy for Martin, he deserved this goal. It really shows that he’s from Argentina. It was a great touch, not just luck. I just put the ball in, and he did everything. It shows that sometimes that if offensive players can’t score in a game that we have defenders that can as well.”
SEBASTIEN LE TOUX
On New York’s mentality playing on the road:
“They were really sitting back and just waiting for us. We don’t really play like that, but now I think more teams are afraid to come here [BC Place], and with the help of the crowd it’s a big place to play and a lot of teams just hope to get one point.”
MARTIN BONJOUR
On his goal:
“Davide gave me a beautiful ball. I knew when it was coming that I could just stop the ball and put it on net because I knew it was the right moment to do it.”
On conceding a late equalizer:
“It was a big blow to us. From the beginning we thought about taking our team to the top spot in MLS, so giving up that tying goal was a very low moment for us. Now we are just concentrating on our next match on Saturday.”
NEW YORK RED BULLS
ASSISTANT COACH JAN HALVOR HALVORSEN
Thoughts on the match:
“We knew that it would be a hard game up here. Vancouver has been very good so far this season. For us today it was mostly about having a working attitude on the team, because against Chicago it was a little bit flat giving up easy goals. I’m happy with the team today, with the hard work, and we also scored a goal. So I’m quite happy with this result against Vancouver.”
On three straight draws against Vancouver over two seasons:
“I think when you play a good team, and you play them away and they have not let in many goals this year and we score against them, and we take one point. I am very happy with that.”
HEATH PEARCE
On coming back from a hard loss against Chicago:
“There was a chip on our shoulder, but it wasn't so much saying we need to make up for Sunday but we needed to go back to what we know makes us successful.”
On his first MLS goal:
“It was a great cross and there wasn't much really for me to do in the position I was in. But I was able to finish it and we're able to leave here with a point. They gave us the space. They were kind of caught off guard for a second there. I saw motioning over to Dane to come out for a short corner and they were caught a little bit flat-footed and we drew a couple of guys out of the box to shut them down and it opened up some space for us on the back post.”
On coming back from being a goal down:
“It's a resilient group of guys. The biggest factor was that nobody panicked. Everybody knew the objectives and that we were going to maybe get one or two more chances and luckily we were able to do that. That just shows the character of the group. You go through the ebbs and flows of the season and sometimes you're going to have off games. That's just part of the game and it's not so much about those bad days but how you respond to those as the cliché goes. I thought we were resilient with the way we kept pressing on them.”
On giving up a goal:
“I thought we were decently organized on that play but it popped out to their one free man who struck it in the one spot of the goal that wasn't covered. It was a decent finish.”
On missing key players:
“I think it speaks to the character of the team both home and away that we're getting points and we're doing it in different ways. We're not always playing the most attractive soccer, and sometimes we’re getting points in an attractive way and sometimes we're grinding it out. That's the stuff that pays off later in the season. It's good to continue to pick up points.”
On the intensity of the match:
“We're an aggressive team and we're not afraid to back down from anybody. I thought that we weren't afraid to get dirty today and that's what we've got to do. We tried to set the tone early but they matched the intensity and we're able to break through late on. Luckily we were able to come back with one. I thought we were a little bit passive on Sunday against Chicago in terms of our defensive mindset, in terms of being aggressive, in terms of closing down spaces quickly, in terms of making it hard for them to break us down. Those were some of the things touched on today before the game, was that we need to go back to that. Making it hard for teams to break us down and making it hard for teams to play good soccer or even get chances. Part of that is being aggressive and fouling at the right time and never allowing them to build a rhythm. Throughout different spurts of the game we were pretty successful with that.”
DANE RICHARDS
Thoughts on the match:
“It's a very imporant point because we had a bad game in Chicago and didn't show up for that game. Then we came here and tried to get a victory but managed to get a tie, so a point is still good.”
On missing key players:
“We have great players that are missing so we had to step up and get a point in a tough environment. So that showed depth and the coaches have done a great job.”
On being the first game after hard loss last week:
“We definitely had a chip on our shoulder after Chicago. We were really disappointed when nobody showed up and we lost three to one. We wanted to come here and put in a good effort and that's what we did tonight. It's unfortunate we didn't get the victory.”
Thoughts on Whitecaps FC:
“They created a lot of chances and should've scored a lot of times but we managed to defend well and keep ourselves in the game. Unfortunately we gave up that goal and that guy (Bonjour) took his chance really well. It was a great goal. But we managed to get back one.”
Being stopped 1-v-1 with Cannon:
“The old guy came out fast. There's some fight in Joe Cannon. He come out real fast so I tried to toe it and he blocked it real well.”
On the set piece that led to Pearce's goal:
“We didn't work on that but we realized that every ball we crossed in they had some big guys in the box. We just tried to pull them out so we went for the short one and it worked, so I guess we're going to keep working on that.”
RYAN MEARA
Thoughts on the match:
“I think we did alright. We knew it was going to be a tough place to come play. They've been on a bit of streak, especially at home and us coming off a tough loss Sunday. We knew we had to be at our best to win tonight and I think we had our moments. We're not happy to concede. It was a good finish (by Bonjour) but we never like to concede. However, I think it showed a lot of our character the way we came back to get a result at the end. Every time we step on the field the expectation is three points, but tonight I think we'll settle for the one point.”
On the Whitecaps goal:
“It was just one of those scrambles in the box and it just fell to him (Bonjour). I have to give him credit, he took the finish and tucked it in the top corner.”
On missing key players
“We have a deep squad so whoever is on the field for us at any given moment we expect to get points. Coming off the loss on Sunday in Chicago we were disappointed with our effort and came out a bit flat. That was one of the things we really talked about coming into tonight, more than anything just fighting and working hard for 90 minutes. I think we did that tonight.”
Thoughts on Whitecaps FC:
“They're a good team. They moved the ball really well and they've got dangerous guys up top between Le Toux and Hassli coming off the bench. We knew we were going to have to be sharp, and I think we were for the most part. The main thing for us was our fight and our overall work ethic tonight. It's a long season and you need everyone at some point in the season to step up.”
