On Houston's home field:
"It's 115 by 70 [yards] so it doesn't seems like a lot but when you add it all up and multiply 5 yards times 110 all of a sudden it's like 550 square yards less of space. When you look at it that way it is like a whole room is taken away. We've played there before. It makes it easier to close things down and put pressure on the ball. It makes the game a little more of a bang-bang game. But we had good success there last time and we had success on the small field in Kansas City as well. We are OK because we have a grass training field. Over the past two months of the season we have trained more on grass than we have on turf."

On condition of pitch at Robertson Stadium:
"I coached in Columbus and at this time of the year there were probably a couple of high school football games on there [Crew Stadium] a couple times a week. I guess that's sort of sharing too. I have even coached there on a Saturday night and they had two football games on the Friday before. But the field crew was good and the field was in good shape... We will see what the condition of the field is once we are down there. Obviously nothing we are going to do now is going to change it."

On previous matches against Houston:
"Each game is a mutually exclusive event. It's like the odds of probability. The chance of winning in the next one is just as high as the last one. Once the game gets going, sometimes that enters your mind...But I think for the majority of the game people view it as an independent event."

On feelings on second leg, get a good vibe like Ezra Hendrickson?
"I definitely get feelings as well. I think everybody who has been in the game has feelings inside themselves... A lot of that is you're just trying to think through the game. You're thinking through the situations that are going to occur, what matchups are good for you, what matchups are you worried about, what you need your team to do, what you want to make sure you shut them down."

On Freddie Ljungberg:
"Obviously Freddie [Ljungberg] is an experienced player so the expectations are that he is going to be somebody who is going to come onto this team and with his experience make this a better team. And his experience is not always what he's able to do on the training field or off the field. It's that 'I want the ball in the game' attitude. Go ahead and give the ball to me and I'll take care of it. I'll make some plays for us. I'll help us create some things that we need to be created. That's certainly something that Freddie helps us do...That was our expectation of him coming in and he has certainly fulfilled that. I think he has enjoyed himself here and when you enjoy yourself it makes you play a little better, more relaxed."