Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match…
I thought in the first half we were actually pretty good. A little lack of organization on the first goal that they scored to end the half when they had a little momentum. I thought we were very organized, and I thought we were good in the first half. I don’t think they created all that much. In the second half, we just couldn’t keep up the work that we needed to do, and tactically we got tired in our heads a little bit. We missed some very easy situations where they capitalized on those because they were moving very well off the ball.
On the difference between the two halves…
They [Columbus] were good and they were themselves in the first half. I don’t think that they were rusty at all. I thought we did a good job tactically and work ethic wise. We didn’t provide them with a lot of options to play with. A lot of balls went wide, we forced them backward and I thought we did a great job of that. We were disorganized on the first goal, which we overcommitted to one side, especially in the midfield. We didn’t have any pressure on the ball, and it was an easy run behind us, which happened on their third or fourth goal. It was the same exact thing, and we were very slow to react. We got tired in the second half and we had very poor decision making.
On the second goal disrupting the substitution plans…
You can always say that it disrupted things, but I wouldn’t say it that way. I’d say that we gave up a very easy goal on the second one which changed the game even more. Those were the changes that we had to make and all of the guys that we put in, from a pure fatigue and freshness point, were the right guys to get in the game. It was just unfortunate that we were already in the hole at that point.
On the quality of Columbus Crew…
There’s been a lot of teams over the years that have been very dominant. They’re a team, right now, that’s very dominant. You can put the effort in, and you can tactically make the decisions for 90 minutes, and we did. There are other teams that have and there’s other ways you can capitalize on teams like that. Unfortunately, we didn’t do any of those things. They’re a good team. Don’t make any mistake about it. I have a lot of respect for them, they play well and they’re at a good moment. They’re at a good time in their club and that’s the way it goes sometimes. Sometimes they play with a lot of confidence and that’s what happens. They were good tonight. I thought we did a good job in the first half and it’s not just the ball possession. You have to be on, on the other side. You don’t have to do a ton of work your decision making just has to be good, and in the second half, ours was poor.
Sporting Kansas City Forward Johnny Russell
Thoughts on the match…
We spoke about how to take away their threats. We had a gameplan in place which we stuck to for 44 minutes and then we gave them one opportunity which they scored. A team of that quality is going to hurt you when you give them chances. That’s the only time we had a lapse in our discipline and concentration in the first half and they punished us. In the second half we didn’t stick to the gameplan at all. It ends up the same as the last time. We get dragged out of position, were out-disciplined in our shape and credit to them. That’s the second time, I’ve seen them live. For me, they’re the best team that I’ve played here. It sucks when you play in games like that, and it just shows you how far you are as a team from that level of quality. That’s disappointing as a player and as a competitor to know that you’re so far off a team like that.
