Photo and video: Daniel Gajdamowicz

John Hackworth’s postgame press conference

Postgame locker room interviews with Antoine Hoppenot, Jack McInerney, Amobi Okugo, Sheanon Williams and Aaron Wheeler

Philadelphia Union postgame quotes

Team Manager John Hackworth

On the end of the game

Extremely disappointed to lose two points in that fashion. It is a hard way to feel like you lost a couple points, but I wouldn’t say that we weren’t at fault. I think the game should have been over. It was well over the allotted time that was shown on the clock, but you have to play until the final whistle in order to do that.

On whether this draw feel like a loss

Yeah you lose points along the way and certainly we lost two today, but it’s not the end of the world. FC Dallas is a really good team and they made it extremely hard on us today and I think we did on them too. You have two teams that were battling and putting everything into the game and obviously both teams played right until the final whistle. So we have to feel good about the fact that we did get a point here but we are extremely disappointed about how it ended and how we lost two points.

Thoughts on Wheeler

It was great for Aaron. Great goal obviously and fantastic service. That ball in from Sheanon was an excellent ball, but Wheeler does a great job getting up and, not only that, but he puts it down and towards the side netting. So excellent header for him.

On MacMath on the final free kick

Yeah to me he was impeded on it, but I have a bad angle so the referee has to make that judgment call and clearly he didn’t think that was the case.

On whether Sebastien Le Toux has become more of a passer than a scorer

Sometimes. I think he had a couple chances, but he has been so good in providing the assists that I can’t really fault him. He is leading the league and you could always say that should have done this or he should have done that, but players have to make the split second decision and I have to trust them to make the right one. Guys on the end of it, whether the pass wasn’t right or the guys didn’t finish it, it just didn’t come together.

On coming out of the last two games with four points

Clearly our goal was to get six points and we feel like playing at home we can get six points. We knew it going to be extremely difficult and you never know what could happen. We clearly feel like we should got six points out of this though.

Aaron Wheeler

On if he kept the ball from his first MLS goal

No, no idea where it is (laughs).

On if his goal felt what he imagined his first MLS goal would feel like

I guess it’s what you would expect. I’m a prototypical big forward, center forward. The ball comes in, you just tuck it away with your head. It felt good.

On if his goal will halt recent experiments of him at center back

(laughs) I don’t care what position I play, I’m a soccer player. Just let me play. Whatever it takes to get on the field, I don’t care.

On if Dallas tying the game deflates his achievement

Of course, it would be an ideal situation to come in and score your first goal and have it be a game-winner. Things happen. Yeah, it’s tough, but at the end of the day, that’s soccer. That’s why you play; that’s why you have the five extra minutes. It always seems like an eternity. No one is ever happy when you look over and see five minutes. Anything can happen.

On his goal

For me and Sheanon (Williams), that’s pretty much—whenever we do crossing and finishing, that probably happens five times in a training sessions whenever we do that kind of drill. It felt really familiar. Sheanon always says, ‘when are you going to get in so I can just put some balls in the box for you?’ Fortunately, I was able to get in.

Jack McInerney

On his emotions on leaving the team following a dramatic game such as this one

It’s kind of bittersweet. I didn’t really want to end it on a game like this, obviously, but the team has plenty of capability to go and get results while I’m gone.

On how he feels following this match

It’s not a good feeling. We deserved to win. It’s just one of those situations where someone makes a call and it doesn’t go our way. It’s not a good feeling.

On the U.S. call-up and if he has talked to any coaches

I haven’t really talked to anyone about anything. I just got the call from Jürgen, and he said ‘congratulations.’ It was kind of a quick phone call.

On if he is expecting to play or if he expects it to be more of a learning opportunity

A little bit of both. Obviously I’ve been called in, so I want to go and make a statement for myself and get on the field. I’ll go there and try to do my best, and whether I play or not, it’ll be a good experience for me.

On the Golden Boot race and what missing time for the Gold Cup means

Things like call-ups don’t come along all the time. I’ll just miss a couple games, and hopefully when I come back, I’m still in the running. I’ll make the most of that chance when it comes.

On the 3-on-1 missed chance by the Union early in the match

We had a good build-up, and Conor (Casey) played a good ball across. It was just a little bit too much in front of me. It would have been an easy tap-in if I had gotten to it, but it just wasn’t there.

On his three-match goal scoring drought and how it affects him going into Gold Cup camp

Going into camp, it’s not really anything I’ve thought about. Obviously I would have liked to score, but the team got two wins and a draw, and it’s what’s best for the team.

Amobi Okugo

On how he got open for his goal

Just a lot of movement with myself, Jack (McInerney), Conor (Casey), and Jeff (Parke). Just try to mix it up, try to run off picks. I was able to get myself free, and Sheanon (Williams) put a great ball in.

On if the result feels like a loss

Yeah, it feels like we dropped points, especially at home. Going on the road with two tough games going up, and with missing Jack (McInerney) and Keon (Daniel), people are going to have to step up, and we’re going to have to learn from this.

On the game-tying goal

They were trying to do it the whole game—trying to make it a rushing match, and get bodies forward. You see that they didn’t score from the run of play, they scored from two set pieces. We kind of fell asleep; we should have protected the back line, protected the goal better. We tied, so we just have to pick it up for the next two road games.

Sheanon Williams

On if he thought this was his best match for the Union

My best Union game? I guess so, from a stats perspective. It would have been better if we won, so it wasn’t enough, obviously. We have a short week; game on Wednesday away—tough game. Move forward.

On the ball that he cleared off the line

It was kind of a, weird broken play, but that’s what they’re good at. They don’t give up on plays like that, and they have some big bodies that flick balls on. We knew that going in, and I just didn’t give up on the play. Just was there at the right time.

On if he thought the ball was across the line

I was just worried about clearing it off the line. That’s the ref’s job (to decide). He said it wasn’t across the line, so it wasn’t across the line.

On if the result feels like a loss

No. It’s a tie, it’s a point. We’re moving forward. It’s not a loss. Obviously it stinks, because it’s a game that we should have won, especially being at home, being a man up, being a goal up with so little time left. No, it’s not a loss. It’s a tie, and we’ll take the point.

On the reason for his success with the long throw

I’m not sure, but good luck trying to stop it. Right now, it’s something that we’re going to use. Get ready for it, I guess.

On if he was specifically looking for Aaron Wheeler on his goal

It’s funny, because I came in today and asked him if he was on the roster. He said, ‘yeah,’ so I said that when he gets in, I’m looking for him. He’s a big boy. A lot of our guys know that. Even in practice. Anytime that he’s on my team, or I’m crossing to him, I just loft it up. I hate to make a comparison, but just lob it up and he’s going to go get it.”

Zac MacMath

On the game-tying goal

Obviously, there’s no excuse. I should either punch the ball or hold onto it. It’s an error that I shouldn’t make, and we should have won the game.

On if he thought he was fouled on the game-tying goal

Absolutely. I thought it was a foul being hit, and also afterwards I was dragged down by someone, and I wasn’t able to get to the second ball on the ground.

On his disappointment

Very disappointing, for the whole team. This team has been playing very well. I think we outplayed FC Dallas today, and we should have had three points going into our road trip.

On playing against a team like FC Dallas

I thought we did really well with it. We knew that they were going to come in and be pretty direct with the ball, and they were, but we outplayed them and kept the ball on the ground for the most part. We played to our strengths. That’s what we’ve been doing recently, is outplaying teams, and we should have come away with three points.

FC Dallas postgame quotes

Head Coach Schellas Hyndman

On the disallowed goal

I think that the replay showed that the ball was over the line on that goal, what I said to the players was that they had great focus and determination and other teams would have argued but we were determined and got it done.

About coming into the game with injuries and getting the work done

This is not an easy place to come and play. Every coach in the league will tell you that, and to take a point at that. We thought we played good enough to score but we just didn’t connect. We knew it was going to be a quick breakout from one of their guys and coming from a heartbreaker with Portland to playing this game with injured guys and heavy legs it shows that we have character and we got to keep building on that. June wasn’t a great month for us but June has probably shown us our best character

On the yellow card that led to the sending off

The ref had two choices. To call a penalty or a dive. It was pretty clear that he got hit but that’s the way it goes. It changes everything when you’re playing a man down. You have to hold for free kicks and dead balls.

On last goal

The strategy was to put numbers up. Even our goalie went up. We knew it was going to be the last play so we had to give it our all. Blas has an eye for the goal and he handles pressure extremely well. He is a good player for us and it shows what he can do.

Blas Perez

On scoring the last goal

I’m just glad we could get the result and I like that the team showed spirit and fight to be able to do good even though we were a man down.

On the strategy for the last goal

With a player down and few seconds left on the game we just tried to get numbers up in the box. Even our goalie was in there and we are just lucky that it worked out.

On the disallowed goal

It was a goal. Legitimate. I don’t like to talk about referees because everyone is human and can make mistakes but it was in.

On how the sending off changed the game

It changed it a lot but that was better for the Union. Playing with a man down is extremely tough but we had to sacrifice ourselves to get the result and it worked out in the end.

On form of the team coming into the game (injuries, etc)

The month of June has been really tough for us with injuries, sending offs and now the Gold Cup coming up but we are just going to work hard to have a better July and we are aiming to keep our form and even improve.

Walker Zimmerman

On the red card

I think the red card was a turning point for us because until then I thought we were putting pressure on them and that we had control of the game. It was really just an unfortunate call but we got to learn from that.

On the first Philadelphia goal and equalizer

It’s always frustrating to give up goals on set pieces but it felt great to get a goal right back. There was definitely a little emotion on that equalizer but it’s good to get that frustration behind you.