Atlanta United 2, Toronto FC 0
Q. Maybe you can just tell me from your perspective, what happened on that first goal? Because it seemed like he hit it with his left foot and it went off his right foot or something like that. Can you clarify what you saw?
ALEX BONO: I haven't seen it yet but that's kind of the way I saw it as well. We are in stoppage time in the first half, so we had a goal kick, move everyone up, it's kind of standard operating procedure, let's get to halftime, 0-0, thought we had a really good first half as a group defensively and we had some really good chances.
Get to the half, regroup and go again in the second half. Unfortunately we kind of broke down along the right side and they got a cut-back, and yeah, I read, you know, his body position looked like he was trying to cut it across the goal with his left foot, so I started moving to my left, and I believe -- I haven't seen are a replay, I believe it hit off his playing leg and just kind of took a weird flight that went in front of me a little bit.
You guy who is know better than me. I haven't seen a replay yet. I was just there in person.
Q. The way he smiled after that goal suggested that I think he thought it was a bit fortuitous.
ALEX BONO: Yeah.
Q. At the end of the game, things got messy, did you get a view of what was going on with Auto and Barco? Looked like there was a coming together and they stood face-to-face and then started drawing and then got set off. Did we miss something?
ALEX BONO: It's a language I'm not familiar with, so in terms of what have was said, I can't tell you. But from what I saw, you know, Auto didn't -- he wasn't happy the way that Barco went down the play before, as I think a lot of us weren't and I think Auto was kind of sick of it. They had been wasting some time off the clock in a couple softer fouls that, if they are fouls or not is, whatever, but the way that they reacted to the foul was obviously to stay down and take some time off the clock. I think Auto had had enough, especially when it came to Barco, he had done it a few times and I don't think Auto believed it, that he really got much on him.
He must have said something that set Barco off and by the time I kind of gleaned what was going on, there was a lot of forehead-to-forehead. I saw a couple more aggressive foreheads from the other side.
But again, this is why we have the cameras all over the field supposedly. And why they are supposed to be able to take a look at this and why they decided to give both red, I would be interested to hear an explanation. I didn't see enough to really make a judgment either way on my end.
But I know that one was much more aggressive and if you will, Auto may be, you know, a bit of an instigator in this aspect. But in terms of throwing head butts, I didn't see Auto, you know, deliberately throw one or really aggressively head-butting in his direction. But again, I have to trust him until I see something otherwise that they looked at it and they saw, you know, the eye in the sky does not lie, that's what they say. Until I see something different, you kind of have to go off of what they are looking at.
Q. What do you think based on your perspective as a goalkeeper on the chances that Toronto made in the first half and then how they switch and show more aggressive in the second half? What do you think Toronto need to do to make a goal based on those minute choices that they created?
ALEX BONO: He think it was just kind of one of those nights that we had some really, really good chances. We had a cross bar on the first half, Brad made an incredible save on Omar's head on the second half, that's what it looked like from my angle.
We had chances, and maybe it's just kind of one of those nights where it didn't fall in our favor. We didn't quite get the bounces. At the end of the day, you know, I felt that was a group we played a pretty good game. I thought that we had the better player for the majority of the game plan. One break down at the end of the first half and they capitalize and maybe a bit lucky on the finish, and then second half, we're pushing, we're pushing, we're pushing, trying to go for a goal and you know those chances on the fast break the other way are always going to happen when guys are out of position and guys are pushing hard to try and even the game up.
So in terms of, you know, missed opportunities, I thought we had great chances and it didn't happen for us today. At the end of the day, you take the loss and you learn from it, and you say, hey, listen, we're starting to play some good football as a group and we are starting to gain confidence and a lot of bodies are coming back and it's the healthiest we've been all season really and it's the most we've been clicking all season. That's no coincidence.
We'll continue to move on. We have a lot of games packed into this last schedule, and we'll continue to keep playing good football and go for three points every time we touch the field.
Q. Does the fact that the elimination from playoff contention is official now as a mathematical change anything for this group?
ALEX BONO: No, I don't think so. I think that for a while -- we never stopped believing that there was obviously a possibility until the numbers say it's so, but we knew we were facing a steep uphill battle for a while now and we focused on one game at a time. Don't even look at the table because at the end of the day, we can't really control how the rest of our season goes. We can only control how we perform, the points we put on the board and the product we put on the field.
So it's always been a focus on the next game, and don't look beyond that, and I think that will continue. And now, we are eliminated from the playoffs now, we've got four league games left to go out there and show everyone that we are not going to accept our place in the standings. We are not going to accept the product we put out this entire season and we are going to keep trying to get better and keep showing these fans that they are hungry and this is not a place this club wants to be. Our ambition is try to finish on a high note and show people that we are hungry and come back next year with a vengeance and energized and ready to go and put this club back a where it belongs at the top.
DraftScripts by ASAP Sports
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports