FC Dallas head coach Luchi Gonzalez
On the second half perform…
That loss of momentum in the end of the first half hurt the outcome of the game. There are shifts in the game which happened. I felt like we put a lot of effort and energy and intensity into the first 30 minutes or so. Like you mention, we lose momentum in the end of the first half and we concede two goals. We have to learn even though we lose momentum, we still need to defend well. Clear balls and put ourselves out of danger. I think we are not making defensive plays at a high level. Plus on top of that the loss of lines. We put ourselves in a hole going into the second half. At the end of the game we responded, it would’ve been better to score earlier in the second half. I think that would've shifted the momentum of the second half to win the game. Credit to Vancouver, they did well. They didn't make it easy and put a lot of numbers between the midfields and the backs to condense the box. We had to do longer range crosses which I thought were dangerous. Maxime Crépeau had some good saves that kept them in the game. But credit to our boys who showed a response and got the tying goal at the end. I believed we had a few more minutes and we could’ve gotten a winner. Even after a tying goal, I was overall disappointed. It’s another draw at home which we want more for our fans. We got to pick ourselves up quickly and grab the response in the second half. We have to do something different in a way. This season our goal is if we do something different away we want to send a message away. We haven't done that yet, we’re picking up points at home but it’s not up to our standards. We have our backs against the wall and it’s now or never to do it against the LA Galaxy. In a short amount of time we have to regroup.
On the fans...
I want to give a big thank you to our fans. That was amazing, the support today. We haven't felt that in two and a half years. I heard everybody in that stadium cheering and singing those songs, staying positive, believing in the guys to tie the game and to try and win it. That really makes a big difference in our spirit and energy so I want to send a thank you to the fans. It means a lot and we want to do everything on the field for them. I'm sad we couldn’t show more today, but those are the environments that we savor and I know the players really want to perform more with those types of energies and positivities and spirits. So thank you fans, we are looking forward to the next game.
FC Dallas forward Ricardo Pepi
Thoughts on his goal…
First of all, I saw the space and I felt like Vancouver left a lot of space in behind the line and I knew Jesus was looking for me so I just made that run and he delivered that perfect ball and I just headed it in.
General thoughts after tonight and heading into three road games…
It’s a bittersweet feeling. I felt like we could have won the game. We had total control of the game except for the 15 minutes that they scored the two goals. I feel like, personally, we’re not happy with the result but we can keep working hard and keep running back and hopefully we get some points.
What needs to change when the team is on the road…
I feel like away, we always start a little timid. If we play the way we play here at home we can get some points away so I think that’s important. Just having the confidence in ourselves, the whole team working hard I think we can pull something out.
FC Dallas midfielder Paxton Pomykal
On the instructions he received from Luchi Gonzalez before entering the match…
We both came in on the wing and the instructions were to stretch the team out. When we get the ball, be vertical, be a threat and make an impact on the game, work hard and put service into the box. We felt like we needed to do that more and our second goal came from it. So those were some of the things we were talking about.
On what the team needs to do with three road games coming up…
We know that our next three games are on the road, it’s not secret that we haven't been great on the road in the past, especially recently. So, that’s something we’re really focusing on and we need to go get points since we’ve dropped some at home. Getting a point back tonight is a bittersweet feeling. Starting the second half down, we felt like if we’d had five more minutes we could’ve pushed for a third goal, the momentum was in our favor. But we need to play that same way on the road, go out there, don’t be timid and play our style. We know we haven’t played the best on the road but that’s going to turn around and I think we’re going to show in the next three games what we can do on the road.
