Selected Quotes: Denis Hamlett

Matt Bernhardt
April 25, 2009

Following are some selected quotes from Chicago head coach Denis Hamlett.

(opening statement)

That's what makes soccer so great, you know? I always say a 2-0 lead is the worst lead. Obviously tonight with the red card, I think that changed the game.

Our guys, there are two plays we didn't do well in the first half, and give credit to them because they are dangerous on set pieces. Chad gets his head on it and scores that goal, and you know, on a play normally our goalkeeper makes that play and they're up 2-0 and we actually played pretty well the first half. So there was no screaming, nothing going crazy at half time, it was just about us getting back to playing our game.

Like I said I think the red card changed the game, and we really started to go on the attack. Our subs, Rolfie and Mike Banner came in and really helped us getting the ball wide. Patrick does really well on the first goal, good turn, good clip back, and you know anything inside the six on Brian's head and its a pretty good chance of going in. It was a good goal by Brian. And it was an unbelievable play by Rolfie that leads to the second goal, a good layoff to Timmy who keeps his balance and lays it off to Gonzalo, who smacks it in the corner.

Our guys dug deep today. Its a group of guys who don't like losing, and we wanted to go out and show what we're about, and I think in the second half we did.

(are you happy with the way you were playing before you got the man advantage?)

We kept doing the things we wanted to do. I think we conceded a few fouls, and a few corner kicks that, really, that was their main threat and that's something that we addressed at halftime.

As far as us moving the ball, and the ideas that we created were pretty good. I thought in the final third we kept clipping a few balls instead of really hitting them across the goal box, they've got two guys who are about six-four, that are pretty good in the air, so I think we needed to change that up a little bit.

I keep going back to the fact that this is a group of guys that are committeed and don't like to lose. They just kept pushing and pushing, and we got the equalizer today.

(should the Crew have been more conservative?)

You need to ask their coach that question. I think the red card changed the game. Once that took place we went really on the offensive. Today it paid out for us, and our guys had the discipline to keep going wide because that's where the space was. And we pulled them out, and when we did that it created some gaps and that's how we scored the first goal.