Real Salt Lake 2 vs.Minnesota United 3
July 3, 2022; Allianz Field, St. Paul, MN
Real Salt Lake (8-5-5, 29 points); Minnesota United (7-8-3, 24 points)
Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni
On how RSL started the game:
“It’s those little moments where we let ourselves down and didn’t do well enough in moments where we had good chances. When we went to the three, we started looking long, looking forward to things we had been talking about all week. It was a poor first half, but the mentality of the second half is who we are as a group and it’s what we need to build on next week.”
On Jasper Löffelsend:
“He’s been fantastic. It’s a tough ask to ask a player to bring such a presence [to the field]; he’s mature for his age, and more importantly, he’s a fantastic teammate. His reactions are great and he was a catalyst in the middle of the field to help turn things around.”
On the message he’s going to give the team before they play Colorado:
“We’re going up against a team we know really well, so that should be motivation enough. The most important thing is to remember that the mindset when you go down a goal is to make sure it’s not two. We’ve been through this earlier in the year and these are lessons that you unfortunately have to relearn, so when we stuck with it and we played with the right type of mentality, we got right back in the game. That third goal really ended up being the nail in the coffin for us, so it’s the mindset, it’s the preparation, and it’s the opponent–those are the three biggest motivators going into next week.”
On recent road struggles:
“We had a lot of control in Vancouver and in a lot of moments tonight. It came down to decisions we made. We didn’t play quick enough, we didn’t move the ball quick enough, we lost too many balls in the middle of the field, and it just felt like in the first half, we couldn’t get near a second ball. When you’re trying to build momentum, you need those things to go your way. You need to make better decisions with the ball and then you have to be able to gobble up second balls to keep pressure higher up the field, and in the first half, we didn’t do a good enough job of that. In the second half, we worked our way into the game and we did that. We played forward more, we played quicker, but in both games, they came down to interesting moments, right? The penalty kick, and then you have a throw-in that we conceded off of in Vancouver, so for me, the biggest takeaway from this game is that even if you’re down 2-0, you’re not going to win the game with one goal–it’s important that you don’t give up another one.”
Defender Johan Kappelhof
On what turned the game around:
“We kept pushing. We kept believing. We weren’t as sharp as normal but in the second half we just gave our fighting spirit and tried to get back. We did a good job in [getting back], but we weren’t as sharp as usual.”
On the difficulty of Emanuel Reynoso:
“He got a good feel to drop in between the lines. He’s a good player. We knew before the game. We have to do a better job in transition. We could’ve done a better job.”
On the slow start to the match:
“We just gave more energy. We put more energy in the game. More fighting spirit. We won more second balls. The first half, on the 50/50 balls, we didn’t win those. They were dangerous with that. In the second half we just gave a little more and you saw the result of that.”
Defender Marcelo Silva
On playing without Justen Glad:
“I felt comfortable, I felt good. It’s obviously tough with Justen [Glad] not being able to play with suffering an injury outside of the pitch. Overall, I felt Johan [Kappelhof] played well. I felt comfortable with him. He was good physically. Even though he hasn’t gotten a lot of minutes, he was still good. I felt good next to him and I felt that as a collective he stepped in and we played well defensively.”
On the three or four man backline:
“It is just dependent on the player we have on the field and how we feel on the pitch. We have played minutes with three or four. It’s just dependent on who we have. I feel comfortable playing with both sides and we just have to commit to something and once we do we will be okay. Obviously today we struggled with the four back, and we’ve struggled with the three back as well. But we’ve also shown success on both sides. So it’s really just dependent on the players we have on the field and how we’re feeling during the match. I feel ready to do both and both are possible.”
On difficulties on the road:
“It’s obvious. Playing away from home is always tougher. You’re not at your own place. You have to travel. You’re not in front of your own fans. So it’s always tougher to play on the road. At home, we are obviously a very strong team. We haven’t lost at home. Playing at home we’re very comfortable, we feel very good and we’ve gained a lot of points. On the road it’s tougher, but I feel that we have a team that has done fairly well on the road this year. We’ve been able to earn points on the road earlier in the season in some very tough places. We have a team that can win in all stadiums and all places. We’re stronger at home, as all teams will be. We’re about halfway through the season. We’re in a tough part of the season at the moment, but that’s not any reason to put our heads down or be down on ourselves. We still have a great team, and we are still in a great position to move forward.”
