Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On the absences of Daniel Salloi and Khiry Shelton…
It's hard when you have all the guys out that we have out right now. All of them. I'm talking about (Alan) Pulido, Gadi Kinda, Daniel (Salloi), Khiry (Shelton), just keep going. Having all those guys out – and Felipe, that’s why I had to take him out in the first half - right now it's just too many guys out and too many changes within the group and a lot of new guys in the team that haven't been here before. So it’s just very difficult.
Thoughts on the match…
It’s hard to talk about each individual goal - just difficult to talk about the two of them. I just don't think that we were good enough to win tonight. I think they were better. We were disconnected and we just didn't have a good night. There were just too many people on the field that are just kind of getting indoctrinated to us, to the league, to everything. It's too many new guys. Normally I wouldn't do this, but I don't have any choices at the moment so it's kind of how we're dealing with it. It's okay. The guys gave a good effort. They tried. We just have to keep working. That's where we are. We have to work and that's what you have to do. You have to keep finding a way.
On the play of Tzionis and Vujnovic…
It's hard. It's not a good opportunity for them to play in the group this way. You put people into games to try to have success. To do that, they need to spend a little time with the team. They need to see the League a little bit. All those things those guys aren't getting because of the situation we're in, but we're going to have to fight through it. They're going to have to figure it out. We'll have to keep working. That's really what it comes down to.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Cam Duke
On trying to break down the Rapids…
I think in the second half, we came out a little bit slow. That second goal definitely hurt us a bit, but I think in that situation we need to respond and keep fighting because if we get a goal back, we have a chance to tie the game and even win the game.
On the introduction of newcomers to the squad…
Obviously the new guys, we need to start understanding our tendencies. We're still building chemistry, but I think we're starting to get adjusted to how they play. So I think in the next couple of games we should be sharper in that aspect.
Sporting Kansas City defender Kortne Ford
Thoughts on the match…
I think it's tough anytime you have a couple of guys out of the lineup. We got some new players in and we had a week of training to kind of get them integrated into the system. At the end of the day, it's never easy. It's early on in the season. We're trying to get everybody on the same page tactically. It's tough. It's tough to come here, play at altitude and put a performance together. I just think, at the end of the day, they came out on the top side and it's rough.
On adapting to Sporting’s system of play…
I think the coaching staff asks a lot. Peter asks a lot. They demand a lot because we want to play. We want to play good football. We want to keep the ball. So when we're playing in tough conditions where that can't happen, it makes it difficult. At the end of the day, we’ve got to be better. We’ve got to have a better mindset going into the game. It's not easy and it's our job to take in what they want to implement tactically and to get it done on the field. And that's not what happened tonight.
On making his debut for the club…
First and foremost, my job is to perform. I was focused on taking advantage of an opportunity when it came. Unfortunately, it was at a time where we were already down and trying to have to push forward. At the end of the day, I'm stoked to get that debut but we came here for three points and we didn't get that. So from that perspective, we didn't achieve our goal. It's not good enough. So it's kind of tough to kind of digest the emotions right now just because we didn't come here and achieve what we wanted to. I'm sure once I get home, once I'm on the bus, some of those emotions will sink in. But as of right now, we're not happy.
