Salt Lake Coach Jason Kreis was a mixture of frustration and stoicism after his team's 1-0 weekend defeat to New York in the Western Conference Final. On the one hand he's been in the game long enough to know "that's just how the game goes." Referring to his team's failure to convert pressure and chances into goals, he said, "I've been involved in so many of those [kinds of game] in my career."

On the other hand, having got so close to the MLS Cup final, Kreis said, "I wasn't ready to be done yet. I hope we go into the offseason feeling very good about a lot things, but I hope we go into the offseason a little bit angry about the fact we probably could've and should've gotten a little further."

His praise for New York was more than qualified. Kreis said that this year he had seen his opponent play as they did on Saturday "on plenty of occasions, so I think they probably feel pretty comfortable doing that, dropping off and playing a negative match as they did in the second half." It was "too bad we couldn't punish them for it," he added.

Defender Nat Borchers also talked about New York's lack of style. "That's the kind of soccer they play," he said. "They're not going to play attractive soccer. We knew that coming into this game. We knew it wasn't going to be a game where they came out and attacked us it was going to be a game where they pumped balls forward. They were trying to get a cheap goal and that's what they got."

Read the original story...