Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match…
I think, for other than the last two minutes of the first half and the last three minutes of the second half, we were very good in the game. But our smelling of the situation to close out the game was not good enough and we gave away two points. We were in a fantastic position, both leading 1-0 and then being up 2-1 and there's no way that the last ball should drop on the ground, no matter what. For us to concede a ball dropping on the ground 25 yards away from goal when we have five in the back shouldn't happen. Unfortunately, we gave the points away tonight.
On the combination between Gadi Kinda and Alan Pulido…
They’re finally playing together and they're on the field and they're not injured. I mean, it's as simple as that. They had the same connection when we started in 2020 in the first two games of the season in Vancouver and in Houston. It was the same exact thing. Now they're just getting getting fitter and fitter, and they're starting to connect again. That part of it is very good, but we can't give up the two goals that we gave up tonight. It's incredibly disappointing to me.
On the yellow card to Sebastian Ferreira…
I was told that the two things that you look for is brutality and force, and there wasn't enough of either. It's our kickoff. The guy comes from 10 yards away and shoves our guy to the ground. And I don't know how that's not enough force. Where do you want me to go? Where do you want me to go? How many times does this stuff have to happen? For the most part, I think that the referee did a good job in the game. I just think that those things are unacceptable. That's not a soccer play. I don't care about force. I don't care about anything. That is a non-soccer pla. It has nothing to do with anything. Their guys are over the line. Our guy holds the ball and doesn't play it. Why would he play and let the other team get five yards jump into our half of the field? Why would he do that? He didn't do anything wrong. Players do that stuff all the time. And for him to come from there and do that and not get a red card, it's unfortunate because this has happened to us a few times now. And what happens is that player now plays in the next game and that's not the way it should be.
On if the draw is a good road result…
No. I'm very disappointed. I'm very disappointed. Like I said, in the last minute of the first half, we even told the guys and we were yelling to them. And then the second half, we went to put ourselves in a position to deal with those kind of balls coming into the box and for us not to be able to get on the end of that ball and be as timid as we were, it disappoints me. It disappoints me.
On Tim Leibold’s yellow card…
When the guy pushed Gadi down, a few of our guys got up off the bench and I think he encroached on the field.
Sporting Kansas City forward Alan Pulido
On the team’s performance…
We are frustrated because we feel like the team will win tonight. We can win it. But this happens in soccer. We need to get the mentality. We are not happy. This is true because in the last minutes we tied. It's okay. We need to keep it forward. We don't need to lose our mind.
On his connection with Gadi Kinda…
He's a very good player. He had the injury last year like me, but now he plays more minutes and now he has more confidence. He helps the team a lot. So I am very happy for him because he has come back to play better. And, for me, it's very important because I need these players in the team.
