Quote Sheet: MB 1 – 2 SA
Cardinale Stadium; Seaside, California
Saturday, April 1, 2023
Sporting Director & Head Coach Frank Yallop
On the new formation:
“We went three at the back, three centerbacks. I felt in this game especially, that Morey [Doner] and Sam [Gleadle] would get a bit of joy and it kind of worked out that way. I thought Morey was excellent tonight, Sam getting his goal. It was really tough because I felt that it was the best we played in a 90 minute game. Possession was good, we created some good chances. And on the first goal, someone has to realize that Hugh [Roberts] gets tripped. They didn’t, and then they are one nil up and it’s always tough chasing the game. We got back into the game which was great, but then you have to hand it to the kid who scored the goal. It was a hell of a finish. Maybe we could have done a little bit better, but it’s just frustrating and I am upset for the guys. I think they put everything into the game and played very well. To get nothing out of it is tough.”
On the message at halftime:
“I just said that it’s the best half we played all season. You are outplaying a team that won the championship last year, handily. I thought we moved the ball well, we created chances. They had the one moment and scored. They had a couple of things obviously, it wasn’t all one-way traffic. But for us to play that well against a team of that caliber, was great for us. I said right now I am proud of you guys, let’s keep going, let’s get back into the game. I felt we were going to win the game 2-1. I said it at halftime, I felt we were going to. We got to the 1-1 and I was waiting for the next goal. We did really well tonight and if we play like that all the time I think we have a good chance of doing well. I just really feel for the guys tonight though, it was a tough one to take.”
Defender Hugh Roberts II
On San Antonio’s style of play:
“They had two chances, two opportunities to finish so credit to them for finishing them. We felt like it was a chaotic game, but on our side we normally feed off that. We are a good counter team, a good pressing team and this is our home. We felt confident from the beginning, but it was definitely chaotic. We tried to settle the game down a little bit and we did enough to come back, but it was unfortunate that they hit a little bit of a worldy goal to win it.”
On the message to the backline at halftime:
“We’ve been here before. Last year we were in plenty of situations down 1-0. This is our home and we were up for this game, so even when they scored early we really felt that we could win 2-1. Coach came in and gave us a good speech to pump the boys up as well, but our mentality as soon as they scored one goal was no more goals the rest of the half and we did that, that speaks to our mentality. It speaks to us getting back into the game. The second goal was unfortunate but that is our mentality to push ourselves for that second goal.”
