SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On Matias Perez Garcia contributing to the offense:
“I didn’t really know him before he came here. I knew he was, from watching him train, technically very, very gifted, probably the most technical player we have on our team. I think the attitude has grown throughout the team that we have to work hard on both sides of the ball and I think he’s showing that. I think he does see that there’s competition around him and it was good for him to make a good impact for us tonight.”
On how he felt about Tommy Thompson’s performance:
“I thought Tommy had a good game. He’s growing. He’s getting better and obviously with playing and the team performing pretty well and him performing well, he’s getting more confident.”
On if Chris Wondolowski is heating up:
“Yes. We talked about it yesterday. It was kind of funny about how he didn’t score a goal in preseason and everybody said, ‘Are you worried about him?’ And I just said no because I think he has such a short memory and he just wants to score all the time and he wants to do well. He makes good runs and the main thing is he doesn’t stop believing he’s going to get a chance. Great play by Shea [Salinas], good early ball, good movement by the two forwards. You see it going through his head. You feel confident he’s going to get it on target.”
On Andres Imperiale’s performance in Clarence Goodson’s absence:
“He’s played really well. When we spoke to him in preseason we said, ‘Look, we have two good center backs. You can be the third here. You’re definitely going to get your chances.’ And it’s his fourth start already in six and he’s making the most out of it. He’s calm under pressure. He’s a smart defender. He rarely puts a foot wrong on both sides of the ball. I think he’s been a good pickup for us. Definitely say that.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES FORWARD CHRIS WONDOLOWSKI
On tying Ante Razov for fourth on the league’s all-time scoring list:
“It’s pretty cool. Just to be mentioned with some of those names. I remember watching Ante Razov. He was one of the best, a deadly finisher. It’s pretty amazing and a bit surreal. It’s one of those things that’s going to sink in later. I’m very proud of it.”
On the opponent:
“New York does a great job of pressing and I think they made it very difficult for us. I think we started to make better decisions and it was a gritty game. You look at the DC game, I thought we played prettier and got a tie, but I’ll take these games and three points all day.”
On Matias Perez Garcia’s performance:
“I thought he did a great job. He won the ball back and gave it to Shea for the second goal. We scored that goal because of his work ethic. It’s something he has worked on and takes pride in. Its nice to see and I’m proud of him.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFIELDER FATAI ALASHE
On Tommy Thompson’s performance:
“He’s done very well. He’s worked his butt off defensively. Still gets forward very well. He’s obviously bringing a lot of creativity to the team. I think that’s something as a young player that’s really important and he’s played with confidence thus far. It’s good to know that we always extra options. Obviously some guys are going to be gone for a lot of time over the summer for Copa America so it’s important that he’s done well and shown that he can handle the job. I think our coaching staff will probably have tons of confidence in him.”
On his goal being off a deflection:
“In the back of the net is all that matters. You can’t always score the pretty goals. I don’t tend to score the pretty goals, so I’ll take the one that I can get for sure.”
On if it’s a case of resting up with the quick turnaround with Portland on Saturday:
“Yeah. We’re going to try to do what we can to get our bodies feeling right for that game. We’ll be doing all the recovery stuff that we can just to feel ready. Obviously it’s tough, but again, they played on Sunday at LA so they’re going through the exact same thing that we are and we can’t really use that as an excuse. We’ve got to just go train.”
