Fernando Clavijo
Fernando Clavijo
Fernando Caetano Clavijo Cedrésis a retired American soccer defender and former head coach of the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. He played three seasons in the American Soccer League, two in the North American Soccer League and ten in the Major Indoor Soccer League. He earned 61 caps with the United States men's national soccer team and 8 with the U.S. National Futsal Team. He later coached both indoor and outdoor teams as well as at the national team...
highlight life rewarded soccer worked
I'm overwhelmed. I always worked because it was in my body. To be rewarded like this is the highlight of my life. Soccer has been my life as long as I can remember.
believe high knows room
I still think he has a lot more that he can give the team. There's still room for improvement. He knows we believe in him, and he knows we have high expectations for him.
beat free good hard kick knew open played took
I think we played hard. We didn't come out with the points. When you play D.C. you know it is going to be hard. It was hard when we played them at home. We beat them. We knew it was going to be hard and took a really good free kick to open up the goals.
field good inside mind outside players regular soccer sure together
I think this year, the players have interacted not only outside the field, but inside the field. We have good soccer players who have a good mind for the game. They executed together and we have to make sure they put it out during the regular season.
adjust ball best game guys kept needed players time tonight
I think tonight was probably our best game of the year. We kept the ball very well and we were solid. We have 22 new players and the guys needed time to adjust to each other.
ahead goal jump
Our first goal was to make the playoffs. Now, realistically, we can jump L.A. Our goal right now is just to get ahead of them.
beginning goal great kept playing satisfying turn
Overall, I thought it was a great performance. The most satisfying thing for me was the attitude. They scored a goal and we kept playing hard. I don't know if, at the beginning of the year, we would have been able to turn around those things.
decided
Out of the blue, he decided he wanted to be waived.
colorado players turned
I think he could be one of the biggest-profile players the Colorado Rapids have ever had. He's not 37 or 38. He just turned 32, so it's outstanding for us.
ahead expect four games loss physical points pressure resources sunday tough
I think L.A. is under a lot of pressure right now. They have a lot of resources on that team, but they're only four points ahead of us, with (the Rapids having) two games in hand. They had a tough loss on Sunday and I expect it to be a very emotional, very physical game.
expect keel keeps
Keel is one of those kids, we didn't expect much, and every day he keeps improving.
afraid became clear closer good half instead needed pressure second step sure
We were very tentative in the first half, instead of being aggressive. We made it clear in the second half it was not good enough. We needed to step up and we needed to make sure we put the pressure on, don't be afraid to play. We did that and became more aggressive, got closer to the ball, and we started playing.
bit early easy effort fought gave incredible last lucky results satisfied seems team three tie together win won year
We fought back. What I told the team was that these results last year were better. If we were a little bit lucky we would have won the game. This seems like a loss. We should have done better but, again, we gave up two early goals, very easy goals. Then we put together an incredible effort to come back. At the end we wanted to win the game. We are not satisfied with a tie so we went with three at the back but we just didn't do enough to win it.
best control games national player prepared pressure seen
We didn't put enough pressure on the crosses. We could never control it. We let them have it too easy. Ching had one of the best games I've ever seen him play. He is an outstanding young player who has been in and out of the national team. We weren't prepared for that kind of speed.