Postgame Quotes at Charlotte FC 2-25-23
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 25, 2023
POSTGAME QUOTES: New England Revolution 1 at Charlotte FC 0
MEDIA ASSETS: Postgame Interviews and Matchday Photos
Revolution Sporting Director & Head Coach Bruce Arena
On his impression of Charlotte FC as it begins its second season:
Arena: “I think Charlotte is a great city, as you know. I’ve come here for many years. I was actually at the ACC basketball tournament maybe three or four years ago. It’s a great city. The stadium is great, obviously 69,000 fans, that’s terrific. So, it’s been a great city for MLS.”
On Charlotte FC in their second season continuing to grow as a club:
Arena: “Well, they [Charlotte FC] have done well. This is the first game of the season, none of us know where we’re going to be down the road yet. It’s still obviously early in the season. They have a talented team. I was very impressed with their young French center back today, number 29 [Adilson Malanda], I thought he was very good. The crowd was great and I thought our team had great composure for an opening game in a venue that was challenging. And also, obviously, I’m sure a difficult day as well for the Charlotte team with the remembrance of their player [Anton Walkes] that passed. I think it was a challenging day for everyone.”
On a “hectic” second half:
Arena: “I don’t know if hectic is the word, but it was a fast game from start to finish. The field was wet from the rain today and it was a fast surface. The home team had a huge advantage with a fanbase of 69,000 people, so they came after us real hard for 90-plus minutes. So, it was challenging. I think our guys kept their composure, created some good chances, and were solid throughout the game. I think our backline played very well. The pairing of [Henry] Kessler and [Dave] Romney was very good. [Djordje] Petrović, as usual, was good in goal. And I thought our entire team played well, but I think the contributions Bobby Wood and Justin Rennicks gave us were very impressive. They gave us some energy coming in for the last 30 minutes of the game, so that was a real positive as well. So overall, for an opening game, it was pretty good performance.”
On Dave Romney:
Arena: “Very good. [Dave Romney] played a real solid game. He made a couple plays in the second half with [Henry] Kessler that were really good and broke up a bunch of plays. As I said, our center back pairing was very good today.”
On the team’s composure and embracing the atmosphere:
Arena: “Well, I don’t know if we took the crowd out of it, but we dealt with it pretty well. The crowd was really into the game. They had a lot of energy from the start. They really got behind their team. So, our guys did a real good job. I think the first half, given the circumstances, was really good. And the second half was pretty even. Obviously, we scored the deciding goal, but overall, it was a really challenging game. Give
Charlotte credit with the support they have for their team, and it made for a really, as I said, challenging game for us. I’m very pleased that we were able to find a way to get three points.”
On Dylan Borrero:
Arena: “It was good. [Dylan Borrero] can get a little cleaner in the final third of the field, but he was threatening right from the start of the game and had a bunch of good attacking plays. He was certainly a player that they had to focus on at times, and he did a good job. We’ve really worked hard with him to play on both sides of the ball, and I thought defensively he did a very good job for us as well today. So, Dylan is coming along. I don’t even know if he’s ever played 90 minutes for us. We took him out probably in the 91st minute, but I don’t even know last year if he actually played a full game. So, that’s a good start for him. He’s still a young player in the league, so a real positive day for him.”
Revolution Defender Henry Kessler
On scoring after hitting the post and the early yellow card:
Kessler: “Yeah, I wish I scored the header. I wanted that one too, because I don’t get too many chances, so I wanted that one, but I was glad that I got another one later and took advantage of that chance. And then the early yellow card, I felt like it was kind of a play that I’m glad I broke up. Obviously, don’t want to get a card in the 25th minute, but I felt like I was still able to play like myself after that while obviously not getting a second card, so yeah. Ideally, I don’t want to get a card that early or at all, but I felt like I was able to still be myself.”
On his postgame tweet about “feeling dangerous” and the feelings in the locker room heading into the match:
Kessler: “Yeah, I woke up feeling dangerous today, so I just kind of had a feeling that I was going to be in the thick of it, and so that’s the best feeling I had and I think it was accurate. And in terms of the team’s performance, yeah, we had a game plan to try to deflate the building, put some balls behind them early. We knew there was going to be a lot of energy, and so we had to match that and I think that’s what you saw.”
On his partnership with Dave Romney and how the team performed defensively:
Kessler: “Yeah, I thought they played really well. I thought the partnership was pretty good. The times that [Dave Romney] released, I’m covering and vice versa, so I thought it was pretty solid. I think we limited their chances for the most part, so I think it was pretty good.”
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