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MLS CUPNovember 23, 2008Guillermo Barros SchelottoAlejandro MorenoSigi SchmidTHE MODERATOR: Okay. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to introduce the head coach of the 2008 MLS Cup champion Columbus Crew, Sigi Schmid, and mid-fielder Guillermo Barros Schelotto, the MLS Cup 2008 MVP. We'll start with an opening comment from Coach Schmid. COACH SCHMID: I'm still probably a little bit numb. You go through a number of emotions when you win a game like this and so forth. I'm just very proud of what our team did all season. We found different ways to win at various times throughout the season, individual play through this guy next to me. Guillermo Barros Schelotto was tremendous. And other individuals stepping up at times was excellent as well. It's a very emotional moment for me winning the game here in LA in front of family and friends. And, to be quite honest, in a town I was fired in. So it meant an awful lot. But I'm just very happy for our team, for our city, and for the individual players on the team, because they stuck together all year. We were a team all year. The group was tremendous. Everybody came to work with a smile on their face. And we worked hard every day. And it's a tribute to what they did. GUILLERMO BARROS SCHELOTTO: I think we played a very good second half. The first half was a bit more difficult. We were lucky to get that second goal off a corner kick. After the second goal, I think after that we were much better than the other team. After that second goal we knew we were going to hold on tight and we were going to win. THE MODERATOR: Questions. Q. Sigi, your team was underestimated in the start of the season and throughout the season. At what point did you start to believe that this team would win a championship? And being that the final was going to be in LA, was that extra motivation for you? COACH SCHMID: Our goal going into the season was that we were going to make the playoffs. And once we got into the playoffs we'll make some noise. As the season progressed and we did better and better, we said we might as well try and win the Eastern Conference now. Let's try to get home field advantage. And we talked about, okay, let's go ahead and get the Supporter Shield. But we believed early on in the season, about after six or seven games, we were a team that had a chance to win the MLS championship. As you saw with New York getting to the final, once you're in the playoffs anything can happen. So the motivation, because the game was in LA, that's not something that we brought up or served as extra motivation. It could have been the game could have been in DC or New England. It didn't matter. We wanted to get to the finals. And personally for me it was sweet to come back to LA and win it. My wife said all along you're going to win it this year because it's in LA. It's 13 years of the league. 13 was my mom's lucky number. Those were all things that were important. Today was an eventful day, because I got a call at like 4:30 from my wife because she wasn't feeling well. She was sick. And my son-in-law is a doctor. So he hooked her up to an IV. So they unhooked the IV in the parking lot here so she could come into the stadium to watch the game. So it's pretty emotional. Q. Could you just talk about your experiences in the league this year? Has it been easy for you? Has it been tough? How has your experience been this year? GUILLERMO BARROS SCHELOTTO: I think it's a competitive league that's growing. It's as easy or as hard as any other league. You have to understand the style of play of every league. And after that do it as a team as best as possible. I can't define whether it's an easier or difficult league. You just have to know how to understand it. You play every minute and give your best. This year we won, so you can say it was easy, but last year we didn't even make the playoffs. Q. Guillermo, you've won many championships in your career. In what ways does this championship feel similar or in what ways does it feel different to you? GUILLERMO BARROS SCHELOTTO: The same as any other title. Every title is very important. That's the objective that you put to yourself at the start of the season. And it's just as important as the first. Q. Guillermo, I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about the first goal a little bit. Seemed like it was a little bit of a lost cause with the ball rolling out of bounds like it was. GUILLERMO BARROS SCHELOTTO: It was a ball that van den Bergh had. He thought the ball was going out. So I brought it out over the line. And immediately I saw Alejandro who I saw moving toward the area. And he did the rest. Q. Sigi, were you a little surprised? We all know about Guillermo's offensive capabilities. But were you a little surprised to see him actually initiate it with his defense? COACH SCHMID: Certainly he's always helping the team and so forth. So I never have an issue with that. Although I thought it was a bit much when Rogers was telling him to mark Wolyniec in the box. I thought that was a little bit over the top. But he does what he needs to do. And he has great instincts. He stole a ball that was going out of bounds there. He's got the presence and the vision to know where Alejandro was and to react and play quickly. And it's those decisive moments that turn games and decide games. Q. What does it mean to win a title in front of a country that means so much to you? GUILLERMO BARROS SCHELOTTO: It's great that Carlos would have been here at the stadium. I had learned Thursday or Friday that he was coming. I'm very happy that he's here today. Together, again, and somehow I felt like we weren't going to lose. Q. Sigi, Frankie didn't get forward as much as he had in previous games today. But it seemed like he made it count when he did. COACH SCHMID: Obviously he got a goal. So that was very impressive when he got forward. But one of the goals we had going into the game was to really shut down the service of van den Bergh a little bit. So Frankie was going to have to be more defensively inclined for us that way. And I think van den Bergh got open in the first half and provided some service. Overall, I didn't think the first half was the best for us anyway. And we gave them a little bit too much time and space. But that was okay because it forced them out of the back and gave us chances to counter. But Frankie, then, in the second half, I think he got forward a lot more in the second half than he did the first. He got two or three crosses in that were very dangerous and obviously that culminated with the goal. I thought his timing coming forward today was very good. It showed his experience and it showed he was able to do what was needed for us to win the game at the time. Q. Can you talk about the play of Gino Padula a little bit today? He seemed to maybe struggle a little bit with Dane Richards, but I think in the end he handled him very well. COACH SCHMID: Obviously we wanted to get Gino some help with Dane and we wanted to force Dane inside a little bit. And actually one time we defended him fairly well, he slipped the ball into Wolyniec for the goal. But I thought Gino did a good job with him. He kept him in front of him most of the time. He hurt himself early in the game, but there was no way he wanted to come out of this game. And so he basically soldiered through. In fact, when there was a little break in the first half, he came running over saying don't take me out. So he wanted to make sure he stayed in the game. I thought he did a good job with Dane Richards for the most part. He's a dangerous player who has good speed. But Gino is an experienced fullback. Plays against guys who have more pace than him and he knows how to get into the right position. Sometimes people think speed has to match speed, and sometimes the fast guys aren't necessarily the best defenders, because tactically they're not as aware or disciplined. And Gino is tactically very disciplined. His positional play is very good and that helped him defend Dane. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Alejandro Moreno. Q. What do you credit your team's victory to today? ALEJANDRO MORENO: Well, I think we did the things we've been doing all year. Certainly New York came out and pressed us in the beginning of the game. I think we were taken back by that a little bit. The first game obviously allowed us to find more spaces and get more passes together in the final third of the field and we were able to create more opportunities. When they tied the game up, it was very important for us to get a quick goal. And Chad did that for us. And we would respond all year. And that's what we did again today. And so very proud of what this organization has done. Q. Can you just talk about the influence Schelotto has on a game and particularly his performance today? ALEJANDRO MORENO: I think Guillermo is a very special player. And he's one of those players that can find passes that not many players in this league can find. And it allows for Robbie to become a better player. It allows for Eddie Gaven to become a better player. And it certainly allows me more opportunity to score goals. His relationship with all three of us has been very good and certainly with me in particular, we seem to complement each other quite well. And we play off of each other very well and we understand what each other brings to the team. And I hold the ball up for him and I let him find the passes. That's why he's on the field. That's what he did today and that's what he's done all year. Q. You're one of the players on this team who has experience in this sort of environment. You've been in a Cup before. Were people asking you for your impressions going into this game? And do you think that experience helped you with the goal you scored? ALEJANDRO MORENO: Well, I think in terms of the experience, this is a team that has a good balance and a good mix of young and veteran players or older players, if you count Ezra. (Chuckling) In any case, I think it was important for us to get our message across. But it was also important for us to let the young players do what they do. And they've been very successful this year. And so you don't want them to start thinking too much. You let Robbie Rogers running behind defenders because he's a special player doing that. You let Eddie Gavin do the things he does defensively and offensively because he's a special player for us. Brad Evans covers a lot of spaces. Even though he's not an experienced player, he's done a very good job for us all year. Q. Sigi called you the best back to go forward in the league earlier this week. Today you were pretty good with your front to the goal. Do you ever tire of that workhorse label that maybe that gets put on you? ALEJANDRO MORENO: I've done the same thing for seven years now in this league. I think earlier this year, it has been brought to my attention I was called an oversized Kremlin by somebody. I don't know what that means. And I do what I do, and I've said it all year long: It's not the prettiest thing sometimes but it's effective. My game is pretty efficient in what I do. I'm very aggressive in front of goal and today I was able to go at a defender and take a shot for post and fortunately went in for us. But my job for this team is most of the time to play with my back to goal. And I take a lot of pride in that, and I think Sigi feels pretty comfortable with me doing that. Q. Can you talk a little bit about that goal and what you're seeing as you're going into the box, and especially in regards to how Cepero is playing it? ALEJANDRO MORENO: When Guillermo played the ball and I was able to turn, and I think it was Jimenez that came and marked me, I figured I could beat him for speed and get in behind him. Once I got in behind him, I looked up to see if I was going to cross the ball. When I looked up, I saw Cepero, not only was he very much shaded to the near post, he was almost off his line on the near post. So I figure if I was accurate with my shot I was going to have a pretty good chance putting it in. And so I was pretty happy when I saw the ball bounce off the post and in. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. End of FastScripts |
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