Atlanta 4, Toronto FC 2
Q. Quentin, you came in, had not started a match since July, stopped the penalty kick right off the top, made some saves but ultimately Atlanta was too much for you guys and now you're on the outside looking in in terms of a playoff spot. Can you just give us your emotions right now?
QUENTIN WESTBERG: I think you summed it up. Some frustration. Some gratefulness to be back on the field. There's a little bit of everything. You know, I think we can't hope for too much tonight, although I would have loved to come back within a point or some sort of miraculous outcome but it didn't happen. Frustrating in many accounts, and just, you know, soccer wasn't good enough. Atlanta brought it to us.
Yeah, they wanted it more than we did tonight, there was no question about it. I'm not going to lie to say to you and say, oh, we gave them a fight. It wasn't enough tonight for sure.
Q. Three goals by Purata from headers off of corner kicks. What went wrong defending off your set pieces tonight?
QUENTIN WESTBERG: I think throughout the evening, we were late on many occasions. But we weren't punished for it all that much, and that's the odd thing tonight is when you're not doing too well in a game, set pieces offensively and defensively are the moments where you reset and you actually have more control. You know where it's going and it's more set, right.
That's the part that is hard to understand, but also if you're trying to -- trying to assess, we were just not ready to give a good enough fight tonight, and we got punished in the mentality part of the game. They did better with the ball but we survive. But when it came down to mentality and small details, they scored three goals on us.
Q. You seem to have a knack for saving penalties down there in Atlanta. Can you walk us through that play a little bit, and did your familiarity with Araujo play into it at all?
QUENTIN WESTBERG: I wish I could tell you yes but no, not really. It was all instinctive tonight. It was all instincts, and as you said, let's focus more on the nice part. I love playing in Atlanta. There's no place I feel -- Atlanta is more special for me and quite a few of us because it brings back great, great memory and setting a PK in Atlanta brings all the best memories and reasons why till the last second I will always fight for this jersey, for this club.
Yeah, it's a little emotional the result tonight, and there's a very bittersweet taste in my mouth. But you know, I'm really -- even with everything that's gone through in playing, not playing, playing well, not playing well, team performing, team not performing, so many good memory, especially here, we shared a special, special moment in 2019 here in Atlanta, and this I will never forget. Obviously it's not a great evening for us, but it's still, you know, brings back these great feelings and how well we were able to play and how good of a club we can be and how -- how things go quickly in soccer.
So yeah, definitely a bittersweet feeling, but saving a PK in Atlanta brings back also the best memories and ones that I will never forget.
Q. Obviously you guys are going to fight until the end and you have no intention of giving up, but with a seven-point gap with only three games remaining, is there a sense that this is -- that this was really sort of the end of line here; that there's really no way back or is this still somewhat salvageable somehow?
QUENTIN WESTBERG: As long as the points are manageable, then there's hope, right. But then it's in the content, and what really brings us on the field and how we want to get into games and our introduction and everything, I believe soccer gives you what you give it, you know. And a night like tonight, I can tell you, we hope, of course, because it's still manageable but we need to do a lot better and we need to take ownership of, yes, the level of play and what we do and how much we want it. On the one side there's mentality, and on the other side, there's skills and abilities everything that should do with the ball, how much you want it, just how much you want it. It's not being a magician, it's not hiding from certain plays. It's always being open. It's really wanting the ball even when, yes, it's a difficult yes.
Yes, right now we are not want to be and the standards of this club are way higher. So there's a lot of things that go into consideration but as long as there's hope -- it's a French saying, as long as there's hope, there's life.
Q. Curious was to what was said in the dressing room following the final result.
QUENTIN WESTBERG: Quiet. Quiet. Cemetery. Nothing else to say. It was super quiet, super down. There wasn't a lot -- as I said, apart from the miracle tonight, we couldn't expect more. So I think we are not going to fool ourselves that tonight -- tonight, it's disappointment, and some shame, I guess. You know, just, yeah, not a good feeling. Not a good feeling. Everyone is -- and that's how I feel, in any case.
Q. One gets the feeling that you guys didn't lose this game for lack of effort. Do you feel that with some of your guys missing and that sort of thing, you were just beaten by a better team tonight?
QUENTIN WESTBERG: Now that the outcome is negative and we played the way we played, yeah, we could send a lot of ifs and speculate. Of course, when Lorenzo is on the field, there's a big difference even just before kickoff. I mean, the other team, whether it's him or Fede, it's really obvious that their presence gives us an edge.
So there's many factors, many factors but I think we need to reduce it with what happened tonight and take ownership and take responsibility and do better, as we said, it's city still manageable and at some point it's the club respecting our game, respecting soccer, respecting soccer and giving better -- showing and proving that we are better soccer players and do something more special than what we did tonight, or just being happy to be out there and be grateful and wanting -- sorry, it all comes down to really wanting the ball and not hiding from it; and trying, trying, trying, being creative. You know, in a good way with a sense, collective sense of bringing something extra.
Q. Hardly the most important element tonight but I'm a sucker for these little moments. It looked like Fede's penalty kick, the Atlanta goalkeeper was almost daring him to go to the right side. Is that a risky tactic for a keeper to take?
QUENTIN WESTBERG: Everyone has his ways. Some like to trash talk. Some like to be quiet. Some are in the mental game. I think that if you had been able to stop that PK, he would have maybe gotten some good press. Everyone has his style, and you have to respect it. Maybe one day I will be doing the same thing.
Really happy it didn't work because I'm not a huge -- huge fan. But when it does work I think Australia qualified for the World Cup when a goalkeeper, doing a little bit of fantasies like that, a little bit of extra acting. I don't necessarily relate, but who knows, who knows. If you want to kick it one way, he hits it that way, I kind of like from afar how Fede reacted because that's exactly what I think I would have done also.
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