Quotes following Atlanta United’s 3-2 win over Charleston on Wednesday in the U.S. Open Cup (quotes provided by the team):
Gerardo Martino
On difficulty of the game:
“The positive was we found a way to get through it, but we did make a lot of errors and the team didn’t really follow the game plan we had going into the game.”
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On the performance of younger players:
“I don’t want to talk about individual players because as a team we didn’t play very well, but we were able to win due to our perseverance.”
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On Charleston’s first goal:
“We knew that they take long throw-ins like that and obviously their defender jumped high and won the header, but we usually mark man-to-man, so there had to have been some mistake on our part.”
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On starting line-up’s chemistry:
“I don’t think it was a chemistry problem because all of these guys train together every day. It is true that this 11 hasn’t started am official game together, but they train everyday so we know that whoever plays they are comfortable with whatever we want to do. I don’t think chemistry was an issue. I think it was more lack of motivation and we weren’t thinking things through.”
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On Josef Martinez, Miguel Almiron, and Jeff Larentowicz:
“I would have preferred that Jeff, Josef and Miguel all didn’t have to play the whole second half, but they had to.”
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On Josef Martinez:
“He is tired, but he is happy he scored. He was able to move well, but it was tough for him to go a full 90 minutes. He had some cramps at the end of the game, but it had nothing to do with his prior injury.”
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Atlanta United defender Mark Bloom
On the back four that ended the line:
“Yeah I think everyone kind of predicted that one. No, I mean that’s just how the game went and what it called for, so you just have to deal with it. I thought we came out in the second half and we actually started playing. We possessed the ball, we didn’t have any silly giveaways. We actually created chances, and once we got that third goal it was just about maintaining it from there.”
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On Miles Robinson getting his first start:
“I thought Miles did great. Everyone did great. People don’t realize that this was a tough game for everyone really. It’s a team, we haven’t played together as a collective unit, so everybody is kind of feeling it out and nobody has really played 90 minutes so nobody is 90 minutes fit, so we’re dealing with that as well. And playing an opponent who’s really up to the game, so I thought everyone did well.”
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On how close is this to where he grew up:
“About 15 minutes. I had 12 tickets I think. Actually more, some people bought them. Some stayed.”
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On Brandon Vazquez:
“I was really happy for him. He’s a player that works really hard. He has the talent and I think he can score a lot of goals. I think you saw that in his debut, his MLS debut, he scored in the first minute or so. I think that’s what he brings to the table and I’d like to see more of that.”
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On Charleston’s energy:
“They definitely came out and high pressed. They knew how we played, that we like to build out of the back and they wanted to really jump on us early. When you play a team like that they’re going to be really up for the game, they’re going to high press, and it’s about keeping your cool and playing your game and just moving the ball and as they get tired they’ll kind of retreat as you saw in the second half.”
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Atlanta United midfielder Kevin Kratz
On oddity of match:
“It’s been a tough one yeah, but I think it doesn’t matter what country. In Germany, it’s the same. Cup games, lower league team against higher league teams. It’s always the same story. We had a bad start with the goal off the throw in. I think in the second half, we were the dominating team. Good that we scored right after half time to get back into the game. We finally went to the next round, that’s the most important thing.”
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On his first goal:
“I got my first goal, yeah. Every cup game I play for a German team too, I always score in cups so, maybe I’m a cup guy. I am happy that I scored, but I am more happy that we are going to the next round.”
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Was there a specific message that Tata gave to your team at halftime?
“He just said that we should focus on our style of playing because some time we played long balls in the first half, switched the sides so we don’t have enough players on the right or on the left side. He said just focus on our style, try to play through the lines, find these holes being their midfielders and give options to the guy who has the ball.”
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What did you think of the young guy, Vasquez, getting a goal tonight?
“It’s good for him, he’s working hard in training, I think everybody does, especially today where we had many players who are not playing regularly. it’s always good to show yourself on the field, to show what you’re capable of, I am happy for him. he did a good job when he came in in Chicago, he did a good job too, just for a few minutes, but yeah all the other players as well, I think Jeff is an experienced cup player and he knows what is happening on the field and I think we had a decent team out there. it shows that we don’t have only 11,12,13 players, there are some other players as well. So we have a lot of competition within the squad, and that’s always good to have.”
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Y’all didn’t do any short corners today. I was curious if it was a new strategy.
“It was for today. but we still try to keep as many options as possible, so the other team doesn’t know what they are expecting.”
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What did you guys do during the delay to stay ready and loose?
“I’ve never had a delay like this, only for snow in Germany, but not for thunderstorms. So it’s a challenge, because you focus on the game, you have your rhythm, your timing, when to do some things. It’s a challenge for the other team as well, so I’m happy that we are in the next round.”
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Did the substitutions go the way that Tata wanted?
“I think so, yeah that he wanted to change something at halftime, because we were 2-1 down, it worked out pretty good, we won the game finally, and we were happy.”
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How did Josef look?
“Good, he had a great header, and he is not tall, so, I think he did well. he worked hard even during his injury, you could see him every day at the training ground, he’s working hard in the gym, he needs some more time for sure with such a long injury, but I think he’s definitely a good player, and he’s already in good shape, so I hope that he’s fit enough in the next weeks too.”
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How did you feel about the experience playing here?
“The field was good. It was very nice. I thought there would be a lot of water on it after all the rain, but it was actually very good. I was happy that there were some fans that were still out there after the long break, and that’s impressive. it was the same against Houston at home, it shows that there is a lot go support by the fans, and that is amazing as a player. I thought maybe there were just 100 people left, but there were a lot and we recognize that as players as well.”
