Interim Head Coach Cameron Knowles and midfielder Hassani Dotson address the media following the Loons’ season-opening win in Austi
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All right Cameron thank you for joining us uh we will have Andy greeter go first followed by Jerry zagota and then Alejandra rero go forward Andy uh cam congrats on the on the win in your first game thank you what uh what was your impression uh of the start
I mean it was cracking from the start with the the pressing and the desire to Win Second balls what did you feel like was was working so well for you guys at the start I thought it was fantastic I mean I thought that first half was was
Outstanding you know and and right from the start the guys showed uh trust in each other and a lot of belief um you know they were able to to put Austin under a lot of pressure create some really good chances and um you know and just kept building on it I
Mean I really thought the number of chances that were created in that first off outstanding we can hear Jerry okay uh Robin got the one big goal early um just and then he probably could have had another one or two what what do you think of his uh performance here um a
Year after he last played his game played a game yeah I thought he was outstanding you know and I think you see the relationship with with him and and Pooky both on you know the defending side of the game and the way they work together to put pressure on and also you
Know in possession um but yeah he was he was very very good um on both sides of the ball tonight hey camera this is Alejandra Romero from huras nice to meet you and good to talk to you you known for a while you’ve known for a while that your
Responsibility here in the team was to get the team running for a colleague of yours that would come in sooner or later what do you make out of this win specifically when it comes to that responsibility but it also granted you your first win as a MLS head coach yeah
I mean listen we were charged with a tremendous responsibility of getting the the players ready and it’s not just me there’s an entire staff behind that you know and there’s a number of uh number of Staff members that are that are in this role as well for the first time um
Working with MLS players and working at this level and you know from day one everyone just sort of cracked on with it and the players that we had they did the same thing um they trusted us uh and and they did the work and so I’m just really
Happy that the players get the reward for that um in the format three points we’ll go Andy and then Alejandro again cam you’ve deflected a lot of credit in your role uh for this what did the players do in locker room to to celebrate your achievement here did you
Get a game ball anything like that in the locker room from the guys yeah we go three points just like them uh and we start to focus on the next one no nothing nothing as of yet listen it was it was a you know it’s a tremendous privilege to to have that
Responsibility um and and I don’t take it for granted for a moment you know and I’m just I’m just really pleased that we were able to come out here and perform and we get the season off on on the right foot and we get to now you know
Build into into next week and and what will be an incredible homeon many surprises in the starting 11 very post a very well known players for the team the substitutions so you brought in four players are still pretty new to the fans and the second goal was
A very nice and clean play that involved three of them what things did you see in the offseason of them that were evident in the pitch tonight and that also probably helped them get that gamewinner for you guys yeah I mean we talked about it with the guys uh a little bit last
Night you know how important the substitutions coming into the game were going to be it’s still early season you know no one is you know very few people are going to be you know really 90 minutes match fit um and the substitutions are going to be really
Important and so you know we started to be stuck a little bit deeper and we weren’t getting uh to the ball as much and the guys that were on the field put in you know a lot of work and so to bring some fresh energy into the game I
Thought all the guys that came into the game were were outstanding um you know we started to get that pressure going again we had some opportunities on the Counterattack we had the threat you know of pace through the front three um and it it really changed the game for us you
Know and obviously we get we get the second goal and you know shame we can’t hold on for the clean sheet um but it that shouldn’t tonish what what those guys did next up we’ll have John and then Andy feel free to go after him uh there have been a lot of voices
That have been pretty down on Minnesota United this preseason do you feel like this team is being underestimated uh listen I think that’s when we started uh you know 40 days ago that first day of first meeting we had with the players it was about let’s let’s focus on what we
Can control you know we know there’s going to be a lot of noise there was a lot of noise then about you know a new interim coming in then then we have noise surrounding what’s going to happen and and um you know what’s the appointment going to be and we just have
To get on with it and we said from day one the rest of the league won’t wait for us um and and we have to just continue one day at a time one week at a time putting that together and so yeah this this B noise but I think within the
Confines of the training group we have um and the broader staff have done an outstanding job of just keeping the guys on task and the guys have done an outstanding job of just cing to work and every day cam four of the five Subs are 23 years older younger uh obviously to be
On the road and try to see how a game from a winning position what can you say just about the confidence to have those youngsters in such key spot yeah I we’ve got to trust them you know and I think they earned a lot of trust tonight with
The way they came into the game we you know it’s like we add L to the roster um you know and he comes into the game and obviously there’s nerves and you know you’ve got Alejandra Brown who’s you know first first time playing with us in
The league game and you know these guys to come into a game that are that are young but you know Fearless in the way that they played it’s really exciting and sort of both as well for the future right go forward Alejandro and then we’ve got time for one or two more
Questions here I after this few weeks I’m guessing that you already have a few insights about the roster that you’re G to like kind of pass down to the new head coach but after seeing the guys tonight in action on a regular season game what do you think are some key
Points that he’ll need to have in mind when it comes to the strengths of this group yeah I mean there’s going to have to be a lot of discussions about you you know the group and we still have players to add you know and that’s that’s probably the most exciting thing as well
You know still bong still needs to come back into the team Roso still needs to come into the team kin araga needs to still come back into the team and so you know there’s a number of pieces um that we still we still need to add so it
We’ve got to figure out um when to integrate those players how how fit we get them uh in a short period of time and and what the squad looks like for next we can just take it one game at a time Andy we’ll have your closes out
Here cam obviously Austin kind of found their footing in the second half what do you feel like was was key for them what did they have see and kind of grow into the game yeah I mean they had a little bit more joy especially the way that
Opened up you know the central Midfield was pulling a little bit wider and gave us a little bit of problems uh when we weren’t all coordinated on that on that press you know they’re able to find a couple times where they linked it up into zes a little bit more directly but
You know fair play to our guys they they dug deep weathered the storm needed you know to have some moments uh the crowd got into it you know and they brought their the atmosphere back to the stadium um but you know the guys the guys held
On at points in the game and then we were able to sort of claw our way back into it through as the second half went on right that’ll be it for inim head coach Cameron NS thank you so much Cameron save travels back to Minnesota thank you cheers guys thank
You and then we will uh have midfielder hasani doson here shortly we do ask that that is a bit of a brief quick session with him um the team has to be on the bus in the next 10 15 minutes or so right we’ve got midfielder Hanan
Doson hanani quickly I’m gon to ask for you to unmute if you could do that for us please thank you all right H congrats on that two win or two to one win tonight um and you could you start us off what did you feel like was was
Working so well uh with your guys’s pressing and and winning second balls in that first half to create so many scoring chances before Robin broke through yeah I think a big point of emphasis for us to start the game was to really just take it to them don’t let
Them get too comfortable and don’t let them get the let them get the crowd involved and um that they could be prone to mistakes so we kind of try to play you know a bit more aggressive than we used to do away from home and we want to
Play a little bit more direct and um you could tell that they couldn’t get into the game as they would like to Alejandra go for it heyen good to talk to you uh for second year in a row you guys opened the season with a victory on the road uh this year though
I can imagine feels kind of different after all the circumstances you guys were went through as a team on the offseason how was the victory just like soaked in by you guys in the pitch once the game ended or in the locker room even I mean it feels great we got a lot
Of new pieces and like you said there’s some uh big changes from before um but it’s I think it’s really made the locker room uh closer that we have to you know we’re all figuring out a way how to you know go through this together and we know what our responsibility is
Regardless of what’s going on we know that we need to perform and and get as many points as we can possible and we’re just thrilled uh that we got the win today and a lot of people made their MLS debut so couldn’t be happier for them as
Well right we’re g to go Andy and then Jerry and then questions son we saw four substitutes that are 23 or younger uh it’s kind of a departure from what we’ve seen in the past where mostly veterans come in to see a game out what can you say to us
About what those guys showed to be in a spot to contribute in a high lever situation like that um I think you know when you’re when you’re young you get subbed in and and try to close out a game um it’s a it’s a big opportunity it shows that the
Coach tress you and your job is just to you know follow instructions and do do the best you can and hold on the result and I thought um we have a pretty young team this year and they they all had a a good preseason and I’m couldn’t be
Happier especially um having had that type of opportunity of my first year myself all right go for it Jerry and then we got time for one more question after Jerry he son there were a lot of leads lost late in games last year what did you do right
Tonight um I mean I think I think we continue to try to bring the intensity and and uh not let off the throttle um and I think if you if you look at the the game like um like Andy said that we had a lot of
Chances in the first half so we we knew um that we couldn’t let this one slip away and we knew that we had where we wanted to and it does help that we have a lot of um people that were here last year and we we didn’t want to experience that
Again go forward Andy Sonny what stood out about how cam prepared you guys for this spot and what does it mean to kind of have his his first MLS win yeah I mean we did we did a lot of video throughout the week and I think he
Really um try to instill confidence in the group believe in yourself and he was very open to any any changes or any questions that we had for us to feel like we are a part of it we have a voice and that we’re all going through through
This together and I think um you know he had a good game plan and and once you see the game plan start to work everyone gets a little bit more encouraged there’s a little bit more energy A little bit more bite and and it came out
We came out with the win today so could more all right and this will be the very last one Alejandra go for it as a player I can imagine there are certain thoughts that pop in your head and you know you’re getting a new head coach in coming soon following tonight’s win and
Everything you may have read or heard of who may be coming in how are those thoughts for you any different from what they were maybe even a couple weeks or months ago no I mean that has honestly nothing you know I have no control over that I have my responsibility is to work
Hard and and you know be a good teammate and give you know give the fans some inspiration and most importantly get three points that’s my job is and whoever comes in or whoever stays um I’m ready to work with whoever comes I’m just focus on what I can control and and my next
Obstacle all right thank you so much Assan that’ll be it for tonight’s postgame press conference have a safe trip back home son thank you guys have a good one thank you thanks s
