What was said following Atlanta United's 2-1 loss to Columbus on Saturday in the Carolina Challenge Cup:
"You could tell that they are in a different stage in the preseason. They've played more games. We've only played two games so we are in a different place." -- Atlanta United manager Gerardo Martino
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“The main thing we are learning is the quality of the opponent that we will play. We will take that into account when we do our formations.” — Martino.
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“I can’t say that we didn’t travel five hours, but I have to evaluate them regardless of that fact.” — Martino.
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“Just an unfortunate play, no lesson to give.” — Martino on Columbus’ first goal.
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“They pressed really high. They are a really dynamic team. We will see if Seattle plays a similar system.” — Martino.
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“The first 15 minutes we pressed well. We had good pressure on the ball. We had chances to score in the first 15 minutes and then the game changed.” — Martino.
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“When we couldn’t press as much and win the ball. We had to fall back because of how they were playing.” — Martino.
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“They made us fall back because they were playing well and we couldn’t pressure them.” — Martino.
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“I saw Ethan Finlay cutting in. When a player does that he will try to go to the back post so thankfully my timing was good, I got a good push and was able to get it around the post.” — Alec Kann on his first save.
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“Things like that happen. Thankfully, it was a preseason game. It was a bonehead move on my part.” — Kann on Columbus’ first goal.
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“Ty (Mears) was open on the side. (Gonzalo) Higuain was on my blind side. I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I tried to rush it. Usually thatt ball hits him and goes out of bounds for a goal kick.” — Kann.
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“I thought I played well. I kept us in the game when we were ahead 1-0. Other than the mistake, I thought I did fine.” — Kann.
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“We have to learn from this and move on to Wednesday. Thankfully we have a quick turnaround and play another good MLS team. Just get it together for the first game of the season.” — Kann.
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“Everyone was super supportive. We are a team so we pump up each other up when we make mistakes and keep each other grounded when everyone is doing really great.” — Kann.
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“There are things we need to work on, for sure. There were times in the first half where Higuain and (Justin) Meram were giving us problems in the pockets. We adjusted that at halftime. We started the second half and did a much better job of condensing the space.
That’s what these games are for. We need to took at the tape and realize what we did well and what we didn’t.” — Michael Parkhurst.
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“I thought we did create a couple of turnovers in their half of the field and we got to goal quickly. In the second half Kenwyne (Jones) was put in a couple of times and was unlucky. In the first half, we had a couple of very good breaks. We turned them over in their third and went straight to goal and scored. I thought that was very good.
“Defensively we made some play where they had numbers up or was breaking on us and we made some plays.” — Parkhurst.
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“No, I don’t think so. It was our first 90-minute game. It didn’t matter if we traveled 10 minutes or five hours today, we were going to feel it.” — Parkhurst.
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“Honored and humbled. It’s a very special thing to know that I’m the first in club history. Hopefully, it will be a long, rich history. Hopefully, I can set a good precedent for future captains.” — Parkhurst on being named captain.
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“Provide leadership on and off the field. Be somebody that can be accountable be responsible, somebody guys can look up to through good times and bad. You want to represent the club in the best way possible.” — Parkhurst.
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“Only thing I said was I should have told him to just clear it. I was telling him that Ty was open. When he put the ball down that’s who he was trying to find.” — Parkhurst on what he said to Kann.
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“It was awesome to look over there and see the red and hear them throughout the game. We are really looking forward to that first game. We know it’s going to be a huge crowd.” — Parkhurst on the support.
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“No different formation. He wants guys to be moving around, wants guy to interchange positions and create chaos a little bit in the attacking third. I think that’s maybe what he was trying to get across.
“We definitely want to have those options to be able to have that fluidity and move guys around, create different matchups.” — Parkhurst.
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