Sacrebleu! The Red Bulls got hammered 3-1 at lowly expansion Montreal, blowing a chance to pad their cushion in the Eastern Conference to four points. Coach Hans Backe admits his team “didn’t show up in the first five minutes of the second half,” while captain Thierry Henry said they got “a litte slap” – and sometimes that’s a good thing.
Here is postgame reaction from both sides, with the Red Bulls’ quotes in bold:
Montreal Impact 3, New York Red Bulls 1
Stade Saputo (Montreal, Quebec)
HEAD COACH HANS BACKE
About the game…
We didn’t show up the first five minutes of the second half. You concede two goals on the road and you lose the game. Overall, it’s three terrible mistakes. You can’t concede goals like this. You lose games and it’s very disappointing.
About the Montreal Impact…
They are a strong home team. With some guys coming back from injuries, their defence is very strong. They will pick up more points at home. They are difficult to break down.
About their next games…
We are playing Tottenham in a friendly on Wednesday. We just need, in an exhibition game like that, to rotate every player who is fresh and can play 45 minutes. And of course, two big games against Houston back to back. They are one point behind us now.
FORWARD THIERRY HENRY
About the game…
We are still eleven points ahead. But I think at the end of the day it’s good for us sometimes to get a little slap. They played way better than us.
About the Montreal Impact…
I think Montreal’s new acquisitions are good for the league and especially for the team. The fans want to see players like Nesta, Di Vaio, Rivas and Ferrari. But, according to me, the key of this team is Patrice Bernier, by far. You should give more credit to Bernier; he is the key on this team.
FORWARD SEBASTIEN LE TOUX
About the game…
Montreal played well tonight. We got surprised at the beginning of the second half. I think the quick goals against us never really helped.
About the season…
Every game is important. But the fact that we now play a lot of eastern teams, in our conference, and playing Houston, who are close to us, is really important. We have two games back to back against them, one away and one at home. We’re looking to get fresh and work hard to get the wins.
IMPACT HEAD COACH JESSE MARSCH
On the team’s performance…
We were organized, we were hard on them and we didn’t give them much. A bunch of guys had good nights and collectively, we kept things tight. New York’s a good team. We made it hard on Henry and their key guys, and overall that was a good performance.
On the momentum from a good win versus OL
Despite some of the results recently on the road, there has been positive momentum in the team. If the Philly or Houston games go a bit differently, we may have different results. We are getting some guys healthy and that helps with confidence as we have everyone ready for us.
On Marco Di Vaio’s first goal
I’m happy for him. He’s been here for all the right reasons and has committed himself in all the right ways. In training he’s been getting sharper and better, and we are happy for him. Now that he’s got his first, we as a team have that confidence that he’s going to bag a whole bunch of them.
On Alessandro Nesta’s debut
Everything that you see in him is that he is real. The way he sees plays to the way he talks to his teammates. His leadership and the knowledge of what it takes to win will help this team. He showed as the game went on that he was getting stronger.
IMPACT DP MARCO DI VAIO
On the game…
We played a great game tonight. It was extremely important for us to win this game and we stepped up. It wasn’t an easy game against a good team and we delivered.
On scoring his first goal…
I finally scored my first goal and it felt great to get that monkey off my back but it felt even better because it came in an important win for the team.
IMPACT DEFENDER ALESSANDRO NESTA
On his debut…
I’m very happy the way this new chapter in my life started. We won an important game in my debut and Marco scored his first goal. I’m very happy.
On the team’s performance…
I’m pleased with the way we played tonight. We defended well against a team with very strong strikers. Now we have to keep playing we like this as we need to win as many games as possible if we want to push for a playoff spot.