Head Coach Adrian Heath
On the momentum growing after two straight wins…
“Well we knew it was a big week for us, playing against the Galaxy and Houston; two teams in our conference. We knew how important the game was with the way the league is – everyone jumping together around that playoff line. So we knew it was a big week for us. Now we have to continue it. Everyone is playing this week, it’s a short turnaround for everybody. And we know it’s going to be a difficult game in D.C.
On the performances from Franco Fragapane and Ethan Finlay…
“Someone the other day mentioned that Franco has either scored a goal or made a goal in every game – apart from two – since he has been here, so we missed him when he had that 5-6 weeks spell when he was out. And Ethan is what he is; he’s one of the best pros I’ve ever been around. Every single day he brings his best, every game he plays he tries his hardest and we are blessed to have him at the moment.”
On D.C. United’s form and Ola Kamara’s form…
“Well Ola [Kamara] has had sort of a renaissance hasn’t he. Nobody knew what was going happen and now here he is top of the goal-scoring charts. Hernan Losada has done a great job in a short period of time. Full of energy they get after the opposition, they don’t give you a minute to play. They take a few chances and press, man-for-man, we know its going to be difficult and we have to be prepared for sure.”
On Tyler Miller’s form…
“Well I’m glad he’s not in ‘Team of the Week’ because that would mean he’s too busy. But, certainly this weekend, the moments he needed to come up big he did. He’s been exceptional and long may it continue.”
Midfielder Robin Lod
On getting the win against Houston at home…
“It’s always good. It was really good. It’s a good feeling as always winning in front of our fans. The atmosphere is always great there.”
On reestablishing your form with the front four…
“Of course, it helps when you get to play some more minutes together. I feel like we have a really good chemistry together and it’s in a good place to build up even better. I really enjoy playing with those guys.”
On the importance of Wednesday’s game…
“As the regular season is closing down all the points are really important. D.C. is a team we don’t play that often. It’s a hard place to play so we need to give our full effort to get the win there.”
On the final stretch…
“All the points are important, all the games are worth three points. If we get the home playoff game it would be really nice to play in front of our fans. But if you want to win something this year you have to win games on the road.”
On how well the defense has been playing…
“The defenders and Tyler [Miller] have been incredible. It’s a good team effort and as long as we keep our opponents from scoring it will be good.”
On being the lucky charm for the Vikings win on Sunday…
“Of course. Every time I have been to a game they have won, so I might have to go there more often.”
Goalkeeper Tyler Miller
On momentum gained after two wins…
“We know that every game now is the most important game of the season. It’s a tight table and the Galaxy result was a great result for us, but we knew it would’ve meant nothing if we didn’t get a result against Houston. Houston was actually a harder game in terms of it being a trap game. But everybody responded well, you saw again a quick start offensively and we were able to lock it down again defensively, which we know that’s the key to success for our team.”
On D.C. United…
“They are a dangerous club. They have been able to string a lot of good results together and they have made Audi Field a very difficult place to play. We know probably going into those games that they are going to be one of the hardest teams, setpiece-wise, to go against this season. It’s always difficult when you cross conferences and you don’t play against these teams that often and you don’t have a feel for how exactly they are going to play. Nonetheless it’s a important game for us, for both teams and we know its going to be a battle going in there.”
On defending set pieces…
“It all comes to organization. We have a very good record defending setpieces. We know that these are going to be critical in determining the outcome of the game. Its all about focus, concentration and organization in those moments. I need to make sure I am organizing the guys and getting the right players in position and recognizing what play is going to be happening. It comes down to having a strong mentality in the box and making sure we are not going to give up any easy setpiece goals.”
On focusing on the next game…
“It’s only the next game. It’s all about recovering and getting guys fit. We can’t look ahead at this point. We are too tight in the table. We have too much to lose so everyone needs to be focused on this D.C. United game.”