U.S. Open Cup qualifier: It's Open season for RSL in rout -> Salt Lake Tribune/Martin Renzhofer
"I've been waiting for an opportunity," Cordoba said through an interpreter. "I probably didn't get a chance up to now because there were people who were doing better than I was. But I just kept working. It was a new experience for me because I had never played on an artificial field before. It's quicker."
Wednesday Night U.S. Open Cup Action -> Behind the Shield
"However, despite their best efforts the visitors couldn’t keep RSL at bay for long, as midfielder Kyle Beckerman fired home from short range off a bouncing ball in the area. Apparently Kyle wasn’t satisfied with his first effort as only 12 minutes later he blasted home a highlight-reel long range effort that squeezed into the lower left corner past a diving Burpo. Not to be outdone, striker Yura Movsisyan capped off the scoring less than a minute later, as he clinically finished a Matias Cordoba cross for the third RSL goal."
Moving On -> Behind the Shield
"The weather continued to get worse as the half went along and, as has become tradition in Salt Lake in April, the home fans saw the introduction of the famous orange ball right around the hour mark."
Match Photos -> RSL Boz
Quakes lose game, two players -> San Jose Mercury News/Andrew Aragon
"In the ninth minute of their 4-0 loss to Real Salt Lake, Quakes defenders Jay Ayres and Ryan Cochrane violently collided while battling for a high ball. Both players were taken to a hospital with facial lacerations and concussions. Coach Frank Yallop, after the game, said Ayres might have some broken cheekbones."
Major League Player Who Hasn't Forgotten His Roots -> Washington Post/Dave Yanovitz
"Kyle Beckerman has gone from Crofton to the big time. Big time as in he's the player gracing the home page on the Web site for his current Major League Soccer team, Real Salt Lake. Big time as in he is featured in more than 20 YouTube videos."
POST-GAME QUOTE SHEET
(courtesy RSL Communications)
REAL SALT LAKE HEAD COACH JASON KREIS
On what the best aspect of RSL was this evening:
“The brightest spot for me tonight was just the mentality of the group. They were very up for it, very bright in the first 20 minutes, and also were rewarded at the end of those 20 minutes by capitalizing and getting a goal. We’ve gone through a lot of times this year where we’ve had that mentality and we’ve been bright and done a lot of things in their half and walked away with no goals, so it was nice that they ended up that period with a goal.”
On RSL’s attitude:
“I think we were very pleased with the way our team’s mentality was. It would have been easy to come out a little flat and these Open Cup games can be difficult at times because of that and also because it’s so early in the tournament, but our guys’ mentality was fantastic.”
On how the RSL staff juggled personnel with two matches this week:
“We had a very set idea of how we were going to handle this game and Saturday night’s game compared to each other and, yes, it was a bit of a trial for some of the guys.”
On the play of MF Matias Cordoba:
“I thought he did pretty well. He really looked pretty gassed around minute 40; when you looked at his face it looked like he was breathing through his nose, his mouth, and his ears as well. But I thought he had a decent showing. I’m certain he [took it seriously]. One thing I know about Matias Cordoba is he’s a good guy, a competitor, and he’s been wanting for a very long time to show us what he’s about. He took advantage of the situation tonight, for sure.”
On the double-injury to San Jose defenders Ryan Cochrane and Jay Ayres in the first half:
“I think we were benefactors of that, for sure, because one of them was Ryan Cochrane and he’s really the organizer in central defense for them. So we were certainly benefactors of that injury.”
REAL SALT LAKE GK CHRIS SEITZ
On not seeing many shots on goal during the game:
“That’s the position. Any goalkeeper might not see a shot for 60 or 70 minutes, but when the ball comes in you’ve got to be ready. You’ve got to stay warm, you’ve got to stay in the game as much as possible.”
REAL SALT LAKE MF KYLE BECKERMAN
On RSL’s aggressive mindset:
“If we can get a goal and be the aggressing team in the first 20 minutes that’s what we were playing to do and it worked out for us and then set the tone from there.”
On opening a 3-0 lead:
“We had them on the ropes, we knocked them down with the goal and then got one after that and it was no turning back for us after that. They were just chasing the game.”
On the short timing between the first and second goal:
“I was like ‘Whoa, hey man, we’re about to score again.’ We were just focused and we made sure that after we scored the second one we were right on top of them again and not giving them any breath, so it was good to get a third.”
SAN JOSE HEAD COACH FRANK YALLOP
On the Cochrane & Ayres injuries in the opening minutes of the game:
“It shocked us a little; it was a pretty bad collision, to be honest. I was sitting close, it was loud and I think it disturbed a few of our players. We just have to see how they are. I think Jay Ayres is worse off than Ryan Cochrane, but they’re both pretty concussed and in the hospital at the moment, so hopefully they’ll be okay.”
On if the wintry weather played a role:
“It’s never an easy surface to play on, and I think Real Salt Lake played well on it, to be honest, and we didn’t play good at all. Late in the game [we] had a couple of chances, but I think the game was well and buried by then.”
SAN JOSE GOALKEEPER PRESTON BURPO
On what the Earthquakes can take away from the result:
“There’s not much to take out of it; it’s a knock-out game and we lost. You can talk about the weather, you can talk about the field, you can talk about a good crowd tonight. They were pretty decent and we were [expletive]. There’s nothing to take out of it quite honestly. At this point we’re out of the tournament. We had two chances at a trophy, this was one, and now we have league trophy to look at.”
