SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES HEAD COACH DOMINIC KINNEAR
On the game:
“It was a good exercise and a great comeback at the end. I think at 4-1 it was the score. We could’ve put our heads down and walked away but great spirit by the guys to get two goals there at the end and push hard. It was a good team we played against tonight. For us to get through it without any injuries and to get guys 90 minutes was important as we head to the last eight games.”
On the offensive output in the second half:
“We had a couple of looks in the first half. You’re just wanting to guys to get that goal and get the greatest enjoyment out of the game as possible. We created some good chances. It came down to our pressure, and being able to pressure them higher up the field was creating turnovers and making us a little bit closer to the goal when we had the ball. Good goal by Tommy (Thompson) and two other goals by Shea (Salinas).”
On what to take away from the friendly:
“Guys getting confidence and playing 90 minutes in a good competitive environment against a good opponent. To finish off the game scoring the last two goals I think keeps the guys hungry and wanting more.”
SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES MIDFEILDER SHEA SALINAS
Overall thoughts on the game:
“I felt like we held them to not many chances. To be down 2-0 in the first half, I don’t think was very fair, but we were down 2-0. They scored another one right at the beginning of the half, so that was tough, but I think we played well. We fought defensively, we stayed organized and scored some goals, which was nice.”
On his goals:
“I think the first goal, Tommy [Thompson] slid Chad [Barrett] in with a nice ball through. Chad is just great and back-heels it to me and just lays it off perfectly in my path. We work on that shot a lot in practice so I was able to slide it far post. And then the second goal, I was frustrated that I hadn’t taken this guy on inside much, so as soon as I got it he was backing off me and I just thought, you know, ‘this is the perfect chance, I’m going to take it inside and shoot it’ and fortunately it went side-netting, which is nice.”
On takeaways from game looking ahead toward the upcoming Seattle Sounders matchup:
“I think we take a lot of positives away. We were organized defensively. I thought certain guys played really well tonight and that will bode well for going into next weekend. It’s a big game, I think the results went our way tonight, so Seattle, that game, becomes really big.”
On Tommy Thompson’s goal:
“Tommy played well tonight, really well. I thought Chad [Barrett] played really well, our guys in the back played great and it’s good to score goals. That’s something we want to do. We wanted to come out and score goals tonight.”
On the team’s reaction to the result:
“You always play to win. It’s frustrating when that doesn’t go your way, but I think the way we played and the way we fought being down three goals and we fought back and we played well.
