Quote Sheet
Real Monarchs 2 vs 2 Chelsea FC U-21s
July 19, 2022; Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT
Head Coach Jamison Olave
On how the team was able to stay so defensively disciplined:
“The things that have been working well I know we have new players, look a little nervous, but we can grow during the time that the game goes on. We got better with the ball, we got better defensively, we created some chances, and we had the personality to come from behind.”
On Real Salt Lake’s development and matching up with a Premier League squad:
“It says a lot. Real Salt Lake is a team that always wants to bring players from the Academy to the first team. That’s what we’re trying to do; the personality, the courage that the guys had today, that came from RSL working with the young guys. Not just on the field, but their personalities. To come here, come from behind, Chelsea didn’t matter.”
Goalkeeper Gavin Beavers
On how his goalkeeper coaching has raised his confidence coming into this game:
“We train every day for this, this is exactly what we train for, and Mirza [Harambasic]’s the best out there. Especially Blake Kelly, Christian Olivares, and David Ochoa who come in, they help us out, we all train super hard so everything really gels together. We all want to get better, so it’s been great.”
On what made the game a successful one:
“In the beginning, we started out slow and that first goal [let in] wasn’t my best, but I feel like as the game went on, we were able to get the ball moving forward and really played our game. We weren’t worried, we weren’t, like, ‘Oh, this is Chelsea, and we’re the Monarchs,’ we just went out there and played with them. We had a great time, we all had a ton of fun. It was a good game.”
Defender Jaziel Orozco
On going toe-to-toe with a premier league team:
“First of all, I would just like to say I’m so proud of this team. With respect to Chelsea, we didn’t care who it was we were playing. We just knew we had to compete and perform. We fought for every single ball and were so locked in. I just couldn’t be more proud of all our guys.”
On what this year has been like for him:
“It’s been great. I’ve had so many learning experiences on all levels in this organization, I’ve been doing my best to take it all in and hopefully I can earn more minutes with the first team. But right now, I’m just trying to be a leader for the team and keep things going.”
Midfielder Pedro Fonseca
On earning his fourth penalty kick of the season:
“It all starts during training. I try to practice during the week with different goalkeepers to feel the different styles of each keeper. Some of them like to guess separate ways, and I saw that the keeper jumped a little bit early when Diego [Luna] took his PK before me, so I waited on him to move and tried to put the ball on the other side. It sounds simple, but it’s something that you have to do over and over again.”
On the confidence that comes from this result:
“It’s very good for us. We have an established team now that there are 18 to 20 players on our roster that we’ve been training with. Whenever you have time to train and build confidence in each other the results start to show and that has helped us so much. We are playing well and scoring goals and it’s just a great moment to be in.
