Cardinale Stadium; Seaside, California
Saturday, August 6, 2022
Sporting Director & Head Coach Frank Yallop
On a difficult first half:
“Our possession in the first half was probably 25 percent to 75. We couldn’t figure out their system and how they played out of the back. We weren’t on the front foot either, that’s important for us. The second half was way better. It was tough to sit there in the first half and take that, but the good news is that when we went in at half time, it was nil to nil. Second half we came out with more energy, drive, and thought. I thought we did well enough to win the game. We created some good chances, so did they obviously, with the missed penalty too, but it’s about taking your chances. We got beat five nil by them a while back, but we’re a different team since that game.”
On the moment that changed momentum:
“I think the missed penalty was massive, right before half time. If they score there, it’s tough to come back from. Antony [Siaha] in goal is a big presence in there and I think that maybe it put him off, I don’t know, but it wasn’t a well taken penalty kick, obviously. We managed to get into half time at nil nil and that was huge for us.”
On preparing for two games next week:
“We’ll rest tomorrow, and then get at it on Monday. We’ll get prepared, then we’ll travel to San Diego on Tuesday afternoon. We’ll just rest up, kind of lick our wounds a little bit, and then get ready for San Diego which will be a huge game. Then we’ve got another game here at home against Sacramento. We’re playing two very good sides in our conference, so hopefully we can keep the momentum going and get a couple of good results.”
Goalkeeper Antony Siaha
On his save in the 55th minute of the match:
“It was a shot that came at me, and I was ready for it, that’s about it.”
On his fifth clean sheet in a row:
“I’m not really focused on the clean sheet, just the overall performance throughout the game. If I get a clean sheet, I get a clean sheet, but I just want to play well enough for the whole game.”
On the MBFC’s defense:
“The defense is always great, they saved me from a lot of shots. There’s really so much I can say about the defense. They are solid.”
On the momentum shift following the missed penalty kick:
“That was just God’s work, telling us to wake up and giving us another chance by saying we can’t be playing like this. And then we took advantage of it in the final minute.”
On what he thinks about before a penalty kick:
“We analyzed the players before the game, so I already knew where he was going to go. I just stood on that side and he hit it in the middle. Like I said, God’s work.”
Midfielder Adrian Rebollar
On how he felt after scoring:
“I felt like I had to make up for the earlier shot that I had, the one that was close to the box. I had one like that versus Orange County and kind of whiffed it the same way, so it was a relief to make up for that missed shot.”
On the satisfaction of scoring in the final minute:
“It always makes everything worth it because we’re busting our tails the whole game. The first half didn’t go as expected, but we went to the locker room and talked to each other, and we knew we had to come out and have a better second half. That’s exactly what we did. We came out and it definitely showed that we wanted it more. It showed in the result.”
On his last-ditch tackle in the first half:
“I feel like I messed up at the beginning when the left back gave the ball to the striker, that was my man, so I had to track back. I was in the perfect spot to make the tackle and I did it, it felt great. Sometimes a tackle like that is just as important as a goal, and we saw plenty of those today from all of our defenders. All around the field everyone was giving it their all.”
On how the crowd factors into how he plays:
“It gives us that extra push, hearing the fans chant for 90 minutes. It’s like having another player on the field. We love it, we love our fans and everyone here, we always want to thank them.”
On solving El Paso’s defense in the second half:
“We spoke about coming out and working harder than we had. We struggled a bit in the first half, we knew it wasn’t how we usually play, and I think that’s what we took out of it. We knew that we could do better, and we came out and definitely showed it.”
