Quote Sheet
Real Salt Lake 2-1 Austin FC
Rio Tinto Stadium, Sandy, UT
May 14, 2022
Midfielder Scott Caldwell
On how they broke Austin down offensively:
“You just have to move the ball quickly because they were solid defensively when they got into their own block. As long as we moved the ball out wide and whipped in some crosses to create some dangerous balls we knew we could be dangerous. We just have to make sure we move with a sense of urgency and quickness to be able to break them down.”
On the backline:
“Defensively our team knew we had to be together like we always have been. Tonight we didn’t want to drop back into our block as much. I think we did a great job at stepping up together to put them under pressure. We created longer passes from this and got out of our own block easier and performed collectively as a unit.”
On his chemistry with Jasper Loffelsend:
“Jasper [Loffelsend] is an excellent player and he proves it every single time he steps on the field. We’ve trained together a lot in that position and he’s been outstanding. His athleticism and work ethic will be excellent for us moving forward. He’s been very good in the defensive shape in our team and I thought we worked well together tonight.”
Defender Andrew Brody
On scoring the goal after signing an extension:
“It’s a special, special moment, a special, special week for myself and my family. It’s a moment that we’ve all dreamed of since I joined the RSL Academy when I was 16. It’s a moment I didn’t think was always coming, but I give a lot of credit to my parents for giving me the resilience to keep going and never give up. And to top it off, the three points, that makes it feel even better tonight honestly.”
On being involved in the attack:
“It was a bit of both [the confidence and the intensity of the match]. The confidence is there right now but it’s what the game called for as well. The fans were really pushing us on and we knew we were up a man, so we could really get after them a bit and try to keep that intensity high, never letting them catch their breath. The big part was just us playing on the front foot, playing fast, trying to get balls in the box and make it difficult on them.”
On his game-winning goal:
“I saw Ando [Anderson Julio] get the ball, I was facing down on the line, and I saw a lot of their team just dropping off. Nobody really was watching out for the top of the box, I just followed the play. Ando [Anderson Julio] cut a perfect ball back for me on my right foot. The big thing was just get it on target, put it on frame, hit it hard and hit it with confidence. The next thing I know, it just went in the top bin. It was crazy, honestly, I’m at a loss for words. It was super special.”
Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni
On the message he gave to the team at halftime:
“For large portions of the first half, I thought we controlled the game on both sides of the ball. Our pressing in the front was good and it allowed us to launch some balls higher up the field and create some good opportunities. One of things we’ve been talking about for the last couple of weeks was being ingrained in the possession, and the guys in back did a really good job at that tonight. Scott [Caldwell] and Jasper [Loffelsend] did a good job of hitting the ball left to right. Aaron \[Herrera\] and Andrew [Brody] did a good job of finding pockets and creating opportunities at the end of the first half in particular. My message at halftime was ‘We are tired, but they are twice as tired. They are going to feel it in the 60th minute and nothing changes for us.’ I told them we had to be brave and we were going to find our way in this game. The guys played with some fantastic stuff and responded well in the second half. When our defending in the front is good, it engages everyone else on the field. It allows us to win balls and breeds confidence for our guys. We held the tempo of the game and overall it was a fantastic performance.”
On the emotions of watching what happened on the field today:
“Coaching, in a lot of ways, is suffering. There’s a lot of things that are out of your control and you want certain things to happen, when you want them to, and there’s 11 players out on the field that are having an emotional response to certain situations that you can’t affect. So for me, it’s really about trying to spark a positive emotion to the players when they’re tired, when they don’t think they can go anymore, when we want to slow games down but I think we should speed it up to really press the game, but again, this is a players’ game, and tonight, the players did absolutely fantastic. The way they approached it, the way they got ahead, and resolved to see it through.”
On Marcelo Silva’s leadership qualities:
“Marcelo \[Silva\] is a warrior. When warriors are challenged, they step up to the plate. He is an emotional leader on this team and I think his presence with the armband is contagious. You see it every day in training—he’s never not giving 100% in training. For a player that has such a big frame, at times, I’m like, ‘You want to take a day to recover?’ And he won’t do it. He won’t do it. I think performances like tonight validate why he wears the armband when Damir \[Kreilach\] doesn’t. He’s the same type of emotional leader as Damir [Kreilach], but in the back line. He’s really led this team when Damir [Kreilach] hasn’t been here.”
