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MLS PLAYOFFS MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 16, 2016

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon everyone, and welcome back to those that were on the first conference call for the Eastern Conference Championship. We are kicking off the Western Conference Championship call today with the Colorado Rapids. We have with us head coach Pablo Mastroeni and goalkeeper Zac MacMath. We'll begin with opening remarks from each of our participants from the Colorado Rapids.

Q. Pablo, your initial thoughts on the game headed into the match against the Seattle Sounders? What are you looking forward to in this game?
PABLO MASTROENI: Good afternoon, everyone. Just for me, it's been a fantastic run, and playing against a team like Seattle with the history they have and opening up in Seattle, I think, is a fantastic opportunity for the group.

Again, we want to continue to try to play the same brand that we've played all year. We've used these first 34 regular season games as a dress rehearsal for moments like this that are big, that are at times daunting for other people. But for us, I think we have a great group, unified group, that is ready to go to Seattle and put our best foot forward against a very, very good team.

Q. Zac, you are going to be stepping into goal likely, and this is a big competition to step into. Can I get your initial thoughts about facing the Sounders?
ZAC MacMATH: Yeah, obviously, it's been a long time since I've gotten the chance to play. I'm very excited. Obviously it's an unfortunate injury that happened with Tim, but I'm ready to step up and help the team move towards our main goal of getting to the MLS Cup Finals and raising the trophy at the end of the year.

Q. Pablo, first off, I'm wondering if you could give us your sense as to Gashi's and Jones' availability, and on Gashi, he became much more productive later in the season. Can you talk a little bit about his acclamation and fitting him into the way that you guys attack?
PABLO MASTROENI: Yes, we'll start with Jermaine. Jermaine obviously played last night and didn't report any injuries, so he should be full go for the game against Seattle. Gashi is making steady improvements every day with his ankle. Having said that, we're going to continue to wait before making a decision as to whether or not we want him to go into that game, whether he's capable of going in that game, and/or do we wait to have him at the home leg here.

As far as his acclamation to the United States, to Colorado, to the team, to the style of play, I think it's taken a little bit of time. But the one thing with a guy like Gashi is he's played at the highest level. He's played Champions League games. He knows the little moments and what to looks for as far as imposing himself on the game from an attacking perspective. Defensively he's been really good pressing the game and understanding those things as well. And I think in the big moments, in the difficult moments of the season you're relying on a lot of guys with experience to step up and make a difference, and I think Gashi's done that.

Q. Zac, it feels in a lot of ways like you've been in this situation before, throughout your career, ups and downs and now after being on the bench for a while, getting a chance to step in in a big moment like this. How does it compare sort of where you've been in the past, being on this biggest stage and being on a new team?
ZAC MacMATH: Yeah, I think obviously there's been a few ups and downs in my career, but it goes to show if you continue to work hard and do your best day-in and day-out and wait for your opportunities, they'll come for you. This is as big of an opportunity as I'll get, helping the team in the Western Conference finals. Hoping to get to the MLS Final.

Q. When and where were you when you first found out about the news that Tim was going to miss the entire playoffs and what was your initial reaction?
ZAC MacMATH: I was definitely watching the game last Tuesday against Mexico. I saw him go down and then continue playing and obviously had to come off midway through the first half. I then texted Tim that night after the game, and he told me it didn't look good and we were waiting for the MRI the next day. Obviously when I came to practice the next day, pretty much knew then that he was going to be out for quite a long time.

Q. What are some of the difficulties that you think you might face leading up to the game, making that transition back to just being the starter again?
ZAC MacMATH: Well, I think with practice leading up to this game on Tuesday, I'll get plenty of live reps to the first team, which is always nice. I think getting myself settled in that first 20 minutes of the game will be very helpful, just kind of getting used to the pace of the game again. Obviously, it's hard to replicate game speed in practice, but it's something that I've been used to this year, and I'm excited to get back in it.

Q. Pablo, I was wondering before Tim came along, Zac was already one of the best keepers in the league this year. What can you tell some of the fans who might be worried about that transition of the goalkeeper for the next game?
PABLO MASTROENI: Well, again, Zac started with the group in preseason. I think he's proven over the course of seven months until July that he's a first-rate goalkeeper in this league. Fantastic with his feet, great in distribution, making great saves, has a great goal-against percentage this year.

So the one thing that we set out in the beginning of the year is to be a complete team. I think throughout the course of the year there's been our big players missing. Jermaine Jones missed the first six games and then he missed four months; Tim Howard didn't come in till July. Gashi went away with Euros. Kevin Doyle was out for eight weeks with an injury to his lower leg. And the group just keeps moving forward.

I think, like I said earlier, the 34 games of the regular season were a fantastic dress rehearsal for us. And a guy like Zac coming into the goal, he's familiar to the back line, he's familiar to the group, a great teammate of Tim's. So this is not about individuals. This is about a collective effort in finding a way to beat a great Seattle team in two legs.

Q. Pablo and Zac, obviously it's been quite a few months since you've played the Sounders. They've added NicolÃ¡s Lodeiro. I was wondering how do you plan on stopping them ahead of this two-legged series?
PABLO MASTROENI: Well, without giving too much away, I think there's different ways you can do that. But I think for us, it's making sure we go to Seattle with the right mentality. And what I mean by that is full concentration for 90-plus minutes, understanding that away goals are very critical, so I think you can read between the lines as far as how important it is for us to make sure that we're going there with the intention of making this a great sporting event for the fans and making sure that we try to impose ourselves on the game in the many different ways that we're capable of doing that.

ZAC MacMATH: And I would just say that obviously we've had the best defense in the league. We've proven that this season. And those guys have played against the best forwards in the league, week-in and week-out, and we're just going to continue to defend as a team and as a group and let the guys make decisions throughout the game of what they think is best, and hopefully that will help us keep a clean sheet in Seattle.

Q. I know when you guys acquired Tim, I'm sure the plan wasn't to sit him. But when you have a guy that was playing as well as Zac was, was it a tough decision for you to make to make the change like that, or was Tim's track record just too much to ignore? Can you take me through that a little bit?
PABLO MASTROENI: Yeah, I think there's a lot more to it than just changing a player that was at the top of his game. Best goal-against average in the league, in great form for an American legend, a guy that's done it at the highest level, in World Cups. So there is a lot more that goes into it than just that.

Obviously from my standpoint there is a very difficult decision to make, and one decision as a coach that you don't like to make, right? Having said that, it's a part of professional sports that you have to make these types of decisions that aren't always the easiest and may or may not always be the best for the group, right? But I felt that the moment we knew that Tim was coming, I sat down with Zac. We had a face-to-face conversation about some of the implications and how it could effect him.

And, again, with Zac, we came up with a plan, right, as to how we can best kind of look after Zac in the meantime and put him in a position so that if Tim goes away with the National Team, if something happens to Tim, that he's ready to step in and make a difference. So it's almost ironic that we sit here today, and Tim is injured and Zac now has the opportunity to step into goal in this type of situation.

So credit to Zac for being prepared mentally and being able to be in this position and to effect the game as he will in the next couple games.

Q. I know you have full confidence in this young man, especially the way he's played and maybe the way he's handled the situation as well. Would you agree with that?
PABLO MASTROENI: I would agree with you. It takes a man, right, to be able to take that kind of information, given his performances and not sulk, and not throw his toys and not run out of the room and slam doors. But to look at someone in the face and go, okay, this is your decision. All right. I'm a teammate. I'm a team player. I've got to respect that. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I respect it. I'm going to go out every day and prove to myself that I'm worthy of being a starter on this team, and I think that's what he's done.

Again, it's about attitude. It's about mentality. It's about earning the right to be on the field. I think, you know, like I said, it's unbelievable that the situation happened. But what's more unbelievable to me is that Zac is going to step in between the pipes full of confidence, full of belief. And the last four or five months of his career had a lot of adversity, but he's found ways to contribute and now move forward to get one of the greatest opportunities that any goalkeeper would want in his career.

Q. Pablo, when you have a guy like Marco Pappa who has played so many big games hire in Seattle, knows the field, knows the crowd, knows some of these players, how important is it for you to get some of his points of views or his views on the field on that game? And the second question would be when you're so -- when the team has been so dominant at home, do you go away here in Seattle with maybe taking less chances, being more compact, and then try to finish it at home?
PABLO MASTROENI: First of all, with Marco, unfortunately Marco suffered a little bit of a setback with a hamstring that's been kind of hampering him since before the L.A. series, so we've been cautious with Marco from that perspective. We really look forward to getting him back to full health to be in Seattle. I know how much it would mean to him to be on the field and to contribute, and to have an opportunity to beat his old team.

So from that perspective, I'm really excited about the progress he's made and look forward to having him with the group in Seattle.

As far as the way we approach this game, like I said, away goals are huge. Being that we've been pretty good at home and given up very few goals at home, I feel like there's a little bit to get after in Seattle. Picking the right moments, obviously, we don't want to concede. But if it means that we concede to score a goal, then you'll take that trade off. It's definitely a balance to be had. But one that I would say we'd err on the side of being a bit more aggressive.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you to the Colorado Rapids for participating.

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