Peter Nowak Quotations

We struggled in the middle of the park; this was our main problem. This is why we needed to adjust the situation at halftime, to make sure that they're not going to have an advantage in the middle. I think Ben Olsen and Brian Carroll did a pretty good job. In the second half Clyde Simms came on and I think that was pretty significant and we got better and moved better going forward. We came a very long way to get these three points and we're happy with the win.

We still need to find a rhythm. Hopefully in the game on Saturday we can find a good rhythm that we can take into the season.

We're getting smarter, that's for sure, ... It's still not perfect, we still have to work on a couple of things. We were winning 3-0 and we have to keep the lead and make sure nothing like that happens in the future. We put ourselves in a difficult spot and, for our confidence, it's not good to have a lead and then get shaky at the end.

We know when we signed Facundo here he was going to be a great defender. We had to play him in the first couple of weeks at a different position, as a sweeper. We had to insist on him communicating. That's why he played a couple of games as a marker. Right now, he goes back to his natural position. I think he did very well today in communicating with the guys in the front and the back.

The refereeing, right now, is getting out of hand. We have five games or four games and we have three red cards, it is unacceptable, ... The handball in the 89th minute was pretty obvious, everyone is fighting for their lives, fighting for the playoffs and we cannot lose games because someone had a different view of the game

On the international level, you have to play faster, ... Catolica did a pretty good job going forward with 1-2 touches. It was pretty dangerous stuff, but we pushed the game until the end. . . . It's still open, it's two games, and we'll see what happens over there.

Freddy is back in the group, preparing for this game, and we believe that with the right mind-set he can be helpful for us, ... We all know he's a great player, a great team player.

If we think it's going to be easy, we're making a big mistake, ... The body language, the reactions, it was not the D.C. United I know. I'm going to blame myself because it's my job to prepare this team and tonight I think I did a bad job.

He looks pretty good to me, so we will see. We have some options, and we'll find a way for Santino to contribute to the team.

His mentality has been good. I think the national team camp helped him a lot, to see where those guys are, what they're doing and how they're doing things. Since then he has been different. He's impressed all of us, but we're just at the beginning. So as a coaching staff we're going to do anything we can to make sure that he is consistent the whole year.

L.A. didn't win the game tonight -- we lost this game because we didn't fight, we didn't run, we were too predictable and not creative enough, ... We weren't hungry for those three points.

Overall, we played our best game of the season, ... For 90 minutes, we pushed forward, we created chances one after another, and it was just a matter of time before we scored a goal. . . . They played like a team for 90 minutes.

I think overall we played our best game of the season tonight. For 90 minutes, we created chances, one after another, (and) it was just a matter of time before we were going to score a goal.

We are not defending anything. We want to win another championship. This cup we already have in our trophy case is important. We want to win another trophy with new names on it.

We're not going to hand him anything; he will have to earn it, ... He will have a chance to show what he's capable of and what he can contribute.

We played well in the first half, and made all of the adjustments we had to make in the second to win the game. I am very pleased with the way we played our first game here tonight.

We play at home right now. It's a different game.

We're coming off a pretty rough game Saturday with Colorado, so I just want the guys to rest up.

We'll see how he feels, and then we'll make a decision. We have a tough stretch in the schedule coming up, so we have to be smart about it.

We weren't looking to point fingers, we just wanted to change something because, mentally, when you compare the college season to the professional season, it's a big difference, ... Sometimes you become too tired mentally when you have so many games, and Bobby played in all of them.

We will work on some things before we play New York. But overall I feel we are in a good place.

Of course, we learned our lesson from last season, when we (gave up) the third goal and the fourth goal and we lost at home 4-0. And we had a couple of games when we really had to track the deficit in the game. I don't want to have this kind of situation where we have to trail the result every game. We have to do better.

Absolutely fabulous. Dema was coming (back) slowly after the injury. He played very good against LA and then he scored against Chicago; he scored last game against New York (MetroStars) and he finished his performance over the last couple of months today with another goal. Dema can play everywhere. He can move forward from the left position, from the middle, this was his role today.

It wasn't our sharpest night. The beginning of the first half, I thought we played pretty well, but we didn't keep it up the entire game which is something we are going to need to do.

It's over and we need to think about the future,

Everyone is reading about the situation in New York right now but this stuff is not important for us. My message to the players is very simple and very strong. This is not our distraction. This situation is dangerous because people's livelihoods are at stake. So the game is important to them and they will give everything. I don't want to have a bad feeling after this game that we came in too comfortable.

Everyone is getting better, including Ben, ... We have different options. There are a lot of guys who can step up on the field and make a difference. We didn't make a decision yet. I think everyone is ready. This is the most important thing -- to keep the group ready. Whoever will play, whoever will start, they have a responsibility to do the job. Everyone understands how important this game is.

Nobody and nothing can hurt us, except ourselves. My disappointment is bigger because we're making the same mistakes.

Nobody and nothing can hurt us, except ourselves, ... My disappointment is bigger because we're making the same mistakes.

It was not easy coming from the Sudamericana Cup to play tonight ... and to actually go out and play soccer.

It was good to sit down with Freddy away from the pressure and emotion of the season. Seeing Freddy succeed as a member of our team and meet individual expectations are both priorities for me.

I'm extremely disappointed, ... The result is a translation of what's going on on the field. I cannot mention one player who had a good day. If we want to think about the playoffs coming up, right now we have to wake up and make sure this thing never happens again.

C'mon, he's a 16-year-old kid. So this kind of stuff I think he needs to re-evaluate. I think we know that is not possible.

The guys around him need to know that we need to use Christian as much as we can.

All the results we've had put us in a spot where we can fight for first place. A game like that shouldn't happen to us. It's a good cold shower for all of us. If we keep thinking it's going to be easy with cute soccer, we cannot win the games.