Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On getting a road result in Colorado despite injuries and a red card…
I thought that we were very organized in the first half. I thought we had some great chances going to their goal, which we should have taken advantage of. We stay organized throughout the game. We didn’t lose ourselves after they scored. We found a way to get back into the game. And then being able to close it out being a man down showed a lot of grit from the team, which we needed to after last game’s performance. We talked about how we were going to respond and I thought the guys responded very well.
On the substitution strategy changing with the injuries…
First of all, I think that we were actually playing really well at that point. So I wasn’t really thinking too much about what those changes might be. I thought someone on the wing, or both, might get tired just because of part of our game plan. I also thought that there was going to have to be a change in the middle of midfield, which happened. I was expecting Gadi (Kinda) to be able to play most of the game because I’ve given him rest the last couple of games. So I did that as well. Everything else comes off of where guys are physically. It did change the point of view that I wasn’t going to sub two guys on the first sub and then two guys on the second sub when they both happened in the first half. Where it hurt was it didn’t really give us a chance to use the other guys that we could have used just because we weren’t in a position to do it.
On the play of Gianluca Busio…
He had a good performance. Each game, I think he gets better and better. The goal was a great strike and he has that quality in him so it was good to see it. All the guys on our team are growing and they’re starting to get a little bit of a routine in the position in which they’re playing and that’s a good thing. Again, this was a good result. If you look at the guys on the field, again, a lot of young players. We keep going that direction because of the complexity of the schedule. Those guys are holding their own. It’s good to see. He had a good performance again. Each time he’s getting to be smarter and smarter in some of the decisions he’s making both with the ball and without it. It’s good.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Gianluca Busio
On his recent position change…
I'm liking it a lot. Obviously, it's a good thing to be on the field and help the team win and get points. If I can do that from any position, I enjoy it and I've enjoyed this position a lot. The game’s in front of you and I feel like I can pick out passes a lot and hit more shots like the one I scored so I'm liking it a lot and hopefully I can keep on improving in that position if need be.
On playing in altitude and the team’s conditioning…
Your legs are tired. I think everybody feels it after playing so many games in such a short period of time. I think we do well with recovery and being professional, so I think we handled it well and everybody gives 100% in every game, so I don't think it’s a problem if you're tired and you push through it. It takes a toll on you with the travel and everything but if you want to be a good team you have to push through and get points for these games.
On his goal scored…
When I'm out there anything that comes out has to either go out of bounds or in the goal. I thought I'd have a good shot shooting from outside the box and as soon as I took my touch it was a good touch for me as it got out of my feet. As soon as I took that touch I knew I was shooting and I knew if I got it on target, it had a chance of going in because of how many people were in the box. It went in so I'm happy I could get a goal.
On his Wakanda celebration…
I was paying my tribute to Chadwick Boseman who passed away unfortunately yesterday. I love superhero movies and I love Black Panther and the Avengers movies. My mom and I always used to watch them together so (his death) hurt a little bit. I told myself if I scored, I was going to pay tribute to him some kind of way and obviously the Wakanda Forever sign is pretty big and inspirational to me. It's just a sad time and I want to pay my respect in some kind of way.
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia
On getting a draw in Colorado…
I thought the whole group did a really good job responding to the last game. I thought tonight we did a good job maintaining our low block defensively, not really giving away a lot of opportunities. And then to go down a goal and kind of show the resilience to get back into the game -- add a red card to that -- and then just come together as a group and lock it down defensively is something we should be proud of.
On quick turnarounds between matches…
It's just something we have to get acclimated to. Traveling the day of is not something we're used to but that's not to say that we can't do it. It's just something we need to get used to. We left Kansas City around 11:00 and we ended up landing here and getting to the hotel around 12:30. You have a pregame meal at 2:30, we leave the hotel around 5:30 so you have a little bit of time to decompress in the hotel, relax and get your head right into the game.
Right now, this year in its entirety is going to breed inconsistencies and we’ve got to make sure that we're mentally focused and rolling with the punches this year because traveling day of, getting out the night after, games coming fast and hot, it's just something we all need to get used to. It’s something we're capable of doing. We have a deep squad and we have enough players that are more than capable of sliding into spots but there's definitely going to be an adjustment period.
Colorado Rapids Head Coach Robin Fraser
On his message to the team at halftime...
They’re a good team. They’re a well organized team and they came in with a game plan to make it difficult to be penetrated, and so at halftime, we talked about things we needed to do, places we needed to look to break lines and if you look at the ball that Andre [Shinyashiki] placed to set the whole thing in motion, it’s a really great ball that built speed for us and gets us going into this really attacking mode. Against a team that’s a really well organized team like that, it was really important that we were able to find ways to break lines and obviously take on the next line. So I thought, when you look at the goal it was a good example of that. They’re a really good team and in spite of that, we’ll certainly feel like we left something on the table being up a man for the time that we did. We’d like to have been able to take advantage of that and perhaps score another goal or two.
On Younes Namli’s qualities as a player...
Obviously, the team had been watching Younes for a long time. It’s someone that we had identified as a player who can eliminate players. When you have players that can eliminate players, it becomes a really good attacking proposition if that player can then find other options once he’s done that. You see with Younes he does a really good job of being very difficult for one person to deal with,and if he beats that first person, then he’s able to find passes that allows the team to really find some speed into the attack. With regard to what he’s been able to give us, it’s certainly been something for us that we find has made us quite dangerous.
Colorado Rapids midfielder Younes Namli
On what the team can take away from tonight’s performance...
I think until we scored a goal, we did a really good job by finding good spots and we were in good shape. We were aggressive, which was the most important [thing], I think, after the last couple of games we’ve had where we weren’t aggressive enough. Today we were aggressive. It’s unfortunate that after we scored the one goal, we kind of fell back a little bit, but like I said, compared to the last couple of games it was better today so that's positive.
On his chemistry with the team since arriving to Colorado this season...
Yeah, I feel comfortable. Like I said, we didn’t start well and the last couple of games haven’t been that good, but I think we’re getting better. It’s a young group too, you know. So like you see today, Cole [Bassett] makes a good run, Diego [Rubio] had good vision—he lets the ball pass through to Cole. I always try to look for my teammates running and it will only get better from now on.
