Q. On a night where this was a match dominated, everything on the field, but as always the scoreboard is the No. 1 stat in these types of matches. How difficult was it for to you see this type of a match come down to the scoreboard defeating you?

JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, first of all, I want to congratulate Chivas for getting the final. I think Matias Almeyda is a great coach and he's done a great job with his team and his team fought hard and for them to come here and hang on the way they did shows a lot of character about their group, so congratulations to them and we wish them good luck.



Yeah, it's almost impossible, right, the way the game plays out. It's almost impossible that you can somehow not find a way to score a goal and find a way to be so dangerous around the goal all night long but not make that final play.



Yeah, it's obviously disappointing but you know, I told the team after the game that I was very proud of them, very proud of them. I thought they established themselves in the series as the better team, a very good team. And that this group has a really bright future.



I told them I would go down swinging with them, any day, any day. It's a bitter pill to swallow right now. We had our hopes very high that we can push it over the hump and really, you know, make a run at this all the way to the end.



It hurt to fall short but we'll use it the right way.



Q. Did you feel that Chivas was just going to take that home goal and keep it in the back pocket and try to defend all night long?

JESSE MARSCH: Well, we felt strongly that we could -- we put a game plan in place that we felt like we would be in their end a lot; that we would be creating a lot of set pieces; that we would have the ball in the box a lot and that we would be able to get behind at moments and create chances, and we did everything that we tried to accomplish. And, we tried to also make sure that while we were very aggressive and attacked, that we weren't going to give much up the other way and we accomplished that, as well. Then we threw in some different set piece ideas and we accomplished almost everything we wanted to accomplish except finding a way to get the goal. It's one mistake back at Guadalajara that cost us the series, and really for it to come down to that one play, it's incredible.



Yeah, feel really good about our group, though.



Q. You just said at the start of the press conference here that it's unbelievable that the ball didn't go in, but listening to old press conferences after playoff eliminations, it's been a common theme with this team; the ball doesn't go in the net in big games, in big moments. Is this not enough composure in the final third in these games? You guys have chances, get chances --

JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, this one for me is very different, right. I mean, other games, I always felt like our team was waiting to disappoint themselves, give something away and this team didn't give anything away, and they went after it, right.



So although it winds up being a loss on the scoreboard and the result doesn't go our way, listen, I'm judged by results ultimately. But this team has something. There's something to this group.



So, yeah, we'll get -- you know, like I said, we're going to, as disappointing as it is to be right on the doorstep of a big moment for the club, I'm so optimistic with this group.



Q. You decided not to start Kaku in this game and put him in a little late. Do you feel like maybe if you had him earlier, it might have helped, more composure?

JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, I feel like the way that we started the game was really good, and the tactics and to rotate Brad underneath so that he wasn't just being marked by a center back but could find more space, and to have the guys in front of them to really be aggressive to be on the run and play behind and put them on their heels. Chivas is a very unique team tactically. I've never seen a team play like this, ever, and it's an interesting way that they do things, and it makes it a very difficult team to break down, a very difficult team to score on.



You know, in many ways, we achieved so much of what we wanted to achieve. And then we knew that if the game, you know, later on in the later stages, that the game might be a little bit more open and if can a cue could come in then and have a little bit more space -- so it winds up being a little bit short on the day.



But I think it's more to do with not getting a break or a little bounce. I mean, to have so many plays around the box and have none of them come find a way to go in, that's what I say is incredible. That's the unbelievable part, not the rest of it. Just like how does the ball not go in on the day.



Q. You said that it was disappointment of not getting the goal but how disappointing was it to play a game, almost a second game in Guadalajara?

JESSE MARSCH: What do you mean.



Q. That crowd?

JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, I mean, you knew -- listen, when you play here, I've been through this enough. I helped coach the 2011 Gold Cup in L.A., and you want to talk about a Mexican crowd. There might have been -- in a 100,000 people, there might have been 400 Americans.



The sport is big in Mexico and there's so many Mexican Americans that love their clubs here in the States. So you know, you wind up having a lot of places here in the States where you feel like our at a road match.



I thought our fans that did come, though, were really loud, and especially in the first half when they were down there, and play after play after play, you know, they were supporting the team in a big way.



So you know, I thought it was a real spirited match, two teams that went after it. The crowd was into it. I thought it was great.



Q. You mentioned the game you were referring to was a national team. This is a club game. This is your home stadium. This is where you're supposed to at least have some advantage. You're now saying it extends to clubs as well as national teams?

JESSE MARSCH: Well, I think in some ways it always has. I mean, this is what we deal with in this country, right.



I mean, I remember playing in 1996, El Firpo and Raul Diaz Arce was on D.C. United and when we played El Firpo at RFK Stadium, it was totally an away game.



But yeah, we're coming a long way in this country, man. Let's not be negative. I think our team showed that we beat a Mexican team 5-1, we went toe-to-toe tonight and were the better team by a mile, right. We just didn't wind up surviving and we didn't wind up emerging, but that happens in sports. Our league is coming a long way. Our sport is coming a long way; the support, our fans. Come on, man, let's be positive.



Q. With the timing of how this competition comes, the team is being could ha lease coalescing and you're trying to pull a new team together each year. Is some of the disappointment offset by the chance that now you get to work with this group, perhaps the deepest group you've had?

JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, we've had to compress putting a team together quickly, right. Our season is just start -- we're four games in and it feels like playoffs. So it's a very unique situation that we've been thrust into.



I think we'll learn a lot from it and I think it will make us better. Like I said, I think we've seen that this group has some really good qualities to it and has a big potential.



So the key for us is to take a day to decompress a little bit. We've got to kind of get ourselves into mode for the season and Saturday can't be a game where we feel sorry for ourselves and come out and play flat. We've got to now take this confidence and momentum and take it into the season and make sure that we really launch ourselves in a good way here for the next couple months.



Q. Can you talk about the way you used Bradley Wright-Phillips today? He seemed to be playing the forward line more than I've seen him. What were you trying to accomplish?

JESSE MARSCH: Yeah, we were playing him almost like either like an underneath striker or like a No. 10, and when they go man-to-man, you know, then when his back's to goal, it's hard for him to get away and find space.



So by putting another striker up there and having him float a little bit more underneath, he can catch balls, be facing the goal a little bit more, helping to put combinations and plays together, and then you know, the goal was also to have him joining in late for crosses, for balls in the box.



So yeah, it was overall, Brad's a much better footballer than most people will give him credit for. There will days where we can do that, where we can almost use him as a second striker or an underneath striker or a No. 10.