Ivan Gazidis’ Opening Comments “I’ve seen the ESPN spots, they are really terrific. The Soccer Saturday development (as parodied in the ESPN commercials) has happened, after a long period of time during which the “suits” here couldn’t get it done. So we had to send in the troops to get Soccer Saturdays and Cobi Jones and the boys got it done for us. Only mild psychological torture was involved with ESPN staffers, so we now have Soccer Saturdays. I congratulate the U.S. for their win over my homeland South Africa. It was a terrific performance by the U.S. It’s great to see us getting off on a good foot in this tournament. Tonight, the U.S. will take on Ireland at Foxboro and I hope it will come away with a similar result. As I understand it, the U.S. will have a very different team out there and I’m looking forward to watching that. On June 14, all 12 MLS will be opening up in the U.S. Open Cup, trying to ultimately return that title to MLS. The title is currently held by Rochester. We’ll be trying to get that back.” David Dir’s Opening Comments “I think that mainly our concentration is on our own team, the losing streak and trying to correct those issues. Clearly our defense has been struggling, we’ve let in a number of goals in the last three games. That’s been our main point of concentration. Although, a good offense leads to a good defense sometimes so we don’t want to eliminate that part. Clearly, Columbus brings some great obstacles, with the three forwards. Dante Washington is having a great year. He’s a very good player that we know quite well. We expect a great challenge from Columbus.” Marcelo Carrera’s Opening Comments “We know its going to be a tough few games. We are in the same division and it means a lot for both teams. Right now the team is playing with a little bit more confidence, after winning a few games and tying the last game with D.C. We could have done better last week and the boys know that. They were really down after the game because we didn’t play they way we were supposed to play. In that game, we missed John Wilmar Perez. He’s a guy that can hold the ball in the middle for us. The guys are really stepping it up. We have good forwards and I think our defense is playing well. We know this is going to be tough. Dallas is a good team, especially in Dallas. Having Ariel Graziani back is going to help them a lot.” Dir on Dallas’ young players “I think that the young guys have performed quite well for us. Our concerns have been the coordination defensively, the transition going from offense to defense. They are making mistakes, that kind that young players make. We have patience with them, it’s not a big concern. We are creating a lot of chances offensively, it’s the transition defense that is our main problem.” Dir on Dallas’ struggles “I think the team is still making every effort to do the things needed to break the losing streak. When you go through a losing streak, it’s a setback. In two years, I don’t think we have lost two games in a row, over a span of 16 months or so. It probably affects us a little bit harder when we hit a four-game losing streak. That’s part of the game, they must respond to the adversity.” Dir on potential trades “I think it could be in any direction. We would prefer to improve defensively for obvious reasons. Sometimes you have to look at possible changes that will bring a spark. I’m not ruling anything out. Dir on how MLS has evolved over five years “I think every year presents new challenges. One thing I’ve really enjoyed about this league is that they have recognized some of the obstacles and have adjusted to them. They’ve really made an effort at making things better each year. The league has had a lot more vision and have improved the type of acquisitions we’ve brought in and the way that they’ve approached what the fans need. They’ve done a good job to correcting certain mistakes. Getting around the media to the fan base might be the next biggest obstacle. I think the fan base is there, and its been proven game in and game out. Personally, there’s been hundreds of challenges in Dallas. There’s a different approach that you have to take when trying to make the league run. We do things for the well being of the game. As a coach, you always have to keep that in mind. That’s probably the biggest obstacle for coaches in this league. You have to think for the good of the league. It’s all about learning the rules, trying to find a way to make the rules work for you.” Gazidis on U.S. Nike Cup “I think the quality of teams that the Cup can attract shows how the rest of the world views this Cup. Once again, you have four teams that bring something to the table. From our perspective, we give up a large number of important U.S. National Team players. In addition, we are giving up Luis Hernandez for tomorrow night’s game, to play for Mexico in Dallas. However, we reap the awards of that. The crowd in Chicago was a boost for us. I think the crowd in Dallas tomorrow night is going to be good for us as well. Next weekend at Giants Stadium, there will be a tremendous doubleheader as well. It’s a way that we work with U.S. Soccer that benefits both of us and ultimately soccer in this country. Certainly, this year’s Cup is of tremendous importance to U. S. players with respect to winning places on the World Cup team. I think the players understand the importance of it.” Dir on changes to the Burn lineup “We obviously have to concentrate on our improvement defensively. You’ll see some wrinkles in the lineup.” Dir on Dante Washington’s performance in Columbus “He is burning it up. We had Dante here for three years. He is a quality player. We liked him here. When he came to us wanting a trade, it was a situation that he had been here for a couple of years. It was clear he needed a fresh start. When you look at our team, the forwards are not the problem. We don’t consider that to be the issue. I wish Dante all the luck. We have bigger concerns defensively. We’ve given up twice as many goals as we did at this point last year.” Gazidis on another Mexican player joining MLS “There is nothing to report at the moment on those fronts. There is no update to give on that.” Dir on Matt Jordan’s performance “We look at it as a team defense. One of the reasons that we moved Dante was an attempt to bring in a defender. We’ve added Ricardo Iribarren. Clearly, as a whole, our team has not defended well. It’s been a team defensive issue, although we’ve had some one v. one individual breakdowns. Jordan has had some very solid games where we still give up goals. I look to myself first, and the players secondary. I really don’t feel like Matt is the issue. Dir on Mark Dodd’s injury “Mark has gone to the doctor, and they are trying to find why he still has pain. Medically, the injury issue is over and yet he still has pain. I don’t anticipate him playing again this year, given all the information and how long this has been going on. It’s pretty much a sure thing that he’s not going to play again.” Dir on being the elder statesman among MLS coaches “I think the best thing I can say is that its been one of the most exciting years in MLS. Not my team personally, we’ve had a lot more obstacles that when deserve. In our situation, looking at the league, it’s the first year that you look at the acquisitions and say they have made a difference. Everyone exciting about having a new acquisition. The players being added are difference makers. The game is getting closer to the International level. It’s made the game more exciting. No one’s talking about all the ties we’ve had, they are talking about all the tight, exciting games we’ve had.” Gazidis on playoff format “We are going to have a Competition Committee conference call later this month to go through issues regarding seeding and how the brackets work. We haven’t made a decision on that yet.” Gazidis on the Hernandez situation “We’re not concerned at all with our decision. We think it’s a terrific boost for the league. It wasn’t done solely for attendance reasons. It’s an important statement that we had to make to our Mexican-American fans and to all our fans. L.A.’s situation is due to several developments, they have important players missing for national team duty and have Robin Fraser down with an injury. I have no doubt that ‘s a team that will find its rhythm again. We’re still in that phase where its too early to make any kind of definitive judgment. It’s not a short-term play, it’s a long term play. We never believed that signing Luis Hernandez would be a cure-all that would propel us by itself to a new plane. We will continue to take the right steps, understanding that we’ll take some missteps along the way. Over time, those things build and compound so that two of three years from now the league is moving in the direction we want it go in. It would be nanve and unrealistic that thinking by signing Hernandez that overnight everything is going to propel us to a higher level. It’s an important step in a series of steps.” Dir on fan pressure during the losing streak “My own pressure is my pride. I think we’ve made steps forward every year. I can give you a hundred reasons why things aren’t going as we predicted them to be this year. A lot of them are legitimate obstacles. It’s the coaches responsibility to find a way to correct. From my standpoint, I recognize what needs to be done. When I get to the point where I blame my players for a loss, then I need to move to another job.”