Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
RE: Saturday's match vs. LAFC
“This league is really tough and at the end of the day you just want to get your points wherever you can get them. We knew this was going to be a tough match, they’ve performed very well here at home. It’s a great environment, beautiful stadium and it was a pleasure for us to be able to come in here and play. They’re a very good team and I think the organization has done a great job, but at the end of the day, we’re neck and neck right now and it was important for us to get some points here. The fact that we got three points, those are big points for us.”
RE: Defensive performance
“I think we were really good [defensively]. Sometimes when you think about defense, you think about the guys in front of the goal, but I really think our front five or six guys really pressed the game when they needed to, and that’s where I think we were really, really good. I think it was one of our best performances of the year.”
Sporting Kansas City defender Ike Opara
RE: Strong defensive night
“We set an attitude out over the last couple of weeks to be better defensively, to win our duels. We put ourselves in really good positions, we just haven’t made any plays in the month of July. We focused on, the last couple of weeks, being really concentrated and winning our duels and when it came down to it, we were really able to put ourselves in good positions to make plays. To stifle this attack for 90 minutes is not easy, especially in here. I think we can pat ourselves on the back for a job well done but we need to move forward and continue this streak going into Portland next week.”
RE: Being the first team to defeat LAFC at home
“Before the game we talked about it, ‘let’s be the first [to win in Banc of California Stadium],’ but when the whistle blows it’s really just about trying to get a win. You don’t really think about being the first team to break their unbeaten record here. I think looking back it will be one of those things where we can say we did. We’ve done it quite a bit with some stadiums on the road actually, when teams open up stadiums. We can add that one to the books but I just think we’re really delighted we got three points tonight.”
LAFC head coach Bob Bradley
RE: Game recap
“Obviously, tough week. We had a lot to play for and at the end, we don’t come out with anything, so that part, we’ve got to deal with and move on from. I felt, overall, that the first half tonight, they stepped up on Benny [Feilhaber] and Lee [Nguyen] and we couldn’t find any real way to get any control in the midfield. When they play from the back, we didn’t have any way to step up and put on any real pressure, so the first half we just didn’t manage enough. You could see, we’re not dangerous at all. I thought in the second half we played better, and I thought the response to the things we talked about at halftime was good. We changed the shape of the midfield, we weren’t doing a good enough job in the first half of rotating and making sure that we could find passes and get something going through the midfield, that part got better. I think we were a little bit unlucky on this penalty, obviously it’s a hard shot. Most of all, it’s been a difficult stretch, now we just half to take it and work to get better with important games coming up.”
RE: Luis López performance
“First of all, it was really good to get [Luis López] on the field. He had the games in Orange County, but it’s the same as getting him his first game here. Overall, okay. For me, the play that leads to the penalty, the ball’s moving and maybe he can get it further away, so there’s a little part to that, but overall not bad.”
RE: Performances from new players
“I thought Danilo had strong defending and simple passing from the back, so for a debut there, I was pleased in those ways. I thought tonight overall with [Andre Horta], there were signs of things getting better. First half, as I said, he was not involved enough, but with the way we changed in the second half, that got a little bit better, just more work to be done. Christian [Ramirez] is unlucky not to score. On the diving header, the ball misses by probably inches, and that’s a situation where if you look at what he’s done in his career, that’s a goal that he normally scores, so that’s a bit unlucky, but it’s good to get everybody moving forward a little bit.”
LAFC goalkeeper Luis Lopez
RE: First LAFC Match
“Yes, absolutely nervous, but I’d like to thank all of the coaches, and teammates for giving me the confidence to be here. It’s almost been a year since I’ve played, so I’m just happy to be out there with the team.”
RE: Game atmosphere
“I felt very emotional, I felt very happy to be able to get out there finally. The last game that I played came to my mind right away, so it was a long time coming, but with that said, I’ve still got to practice and work hard so that my career in the MLS is a long and good one.”
RE: Game recap
“It was a complicated match, and we knew what K.C brought to the table, and obviously, we had a short week with the travel, so It was a tough game. Once the first goal came in, we fell apart a little bit, but in the second half we tried to take it to them, play the way we played, but at the end it was just not our night.”
LAFC midfielder Andre Horta
RE: First half
“In the beginning, I started as a number ten with the two midfielders in the back, but I didn’t touch the ball to many times, but at halftime we spoke with the coach, the coach spoke with the team, and we make an adjustment to get myself, Benny and Lee more involved in the game. I think it was good for us and we had a good second half, but unfortunately, we suffered from the penalty. It was a good second half, a bad first half, but we’ll keep working and Wednesday we have another game.”
RE: Improving play
“I think this is a process and I think I can improve more. It’s good, of course, to play, because it’s more helpful for me to improve my play. I think if I play more and more minutes, it’s better for me.”
RE: Goal scoring opportunity
“It was a pass, but the ball did a strange movement and the ball didn’t make contact with Ramirez’s head and unfortunately we didn’t make the goal. Now we’re focused on the Wednesday game, it’s not good to think about the games that you lose.”
LAFC forward Christian Ramirez
RE: Almost scoring in debut and overall feeling playing in LA
“It felt good. I probably should have scored but I’m new to the team and jumping into it quickly. I’ve only been here for two days but still should have scored. The atmosphere was incredible. It was rocking the entire time. It made me feel really welcomed.”
RE: Thoughts on playing style with team
“I was just trying to see what spaces were available. Luckily, I had played Sporting numerous times being so close to them in Minnesota so I sort of new what their strengths and weaknesses were. It was good. I was just trying to figure out what spaces Lee [Nguyen], Benny [Feilhaber], and [Andre] Horta occupy so I’m not in their space.”
RE: Playing at home in LA
“I’ve watched this play all the time. Once you’re on the field with these players you’re able to see spaces there is. You have to learn the spaces and where to move with the form. I am now seeing it a lot better and I have liked it. In the next couples days I will see more.”
LAFC midfielder Benny Feilhaber
RE: Overall thoughts on tonight’s game
“They were trying to get up on me and Lee [Nguyen] to try and make it difficult for us to play out of the back in terms of playing on goal kicks and when the goalie had the ball. They did a good job in that and we had a tough time in really breaking out of the back with some decent possessions. They did a good job in that and we weren’t able to figure out a way to break that press. In the second half, we tried to get Lee a little higher up and me sitting a little bit deeper, but I think the game changes as well. We did a better job in terms of moving around more in the midfield and maybe if it wasn’t me, maybe [Andre] Horta’s coming one time, Lee’s coming the other time. We made it a little bit more difficult for them to really take care of two players and just isolate those two guys but at the same time I think the game changed a little bit and obviously once they scored the second one, they dropped a little bit deeper and they gave us a little bit more space. Yeah, we didn’t do a good job of figuring it out in the first half.”
RE: Lineup changes
“It’s never easy [adjusting to new players]. We’re a team that definitely has an identity and know how we want to play, but having said that, it’s always a little bit tougher when we have guys that haven’t played with one another. Obviously, a few guys that have just come in recently with Christian [Ramirez], Danilo [Silva], even [Andre] Horta who’s been here for a while but hasn’t played as many games yet, so there’s definitely a little bit of a getting to know each other period on the field. As much as you train with each other, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have that chemistry already. That’s definitely something that we only improve, but at the same time when you have that many changes, obviously because of the two tough games we played last week, it makes it a little bit tougher.”
RE: Andre Horta’s strong second half
“I think he’s a player that obviously has got wonderful technical ability. He comes from a program, Benfica, Braga, so he’s a guy that’s played in some big games and has that kind of talent. But having said that, it’s coming to a new team, getting used to new players, getting used to a system that we play, which is something that is very important to our team. So regardless of whether you’re Carlos Vela, Andre Horta, or whoever, you’ve got to fit into the system that we’re playing and that’s something that he’s still getting used to and I think the second half was definitely better than the first. I think he felt a little bit more free but like I said, I think it was a little bit of a different game in the second half, so as a fellow midfielder, I’m trying to help him out. I know it’s not the easiest to get used to how we want to play, how we want to receive the ball, where we want to be looking for when we do get the ball in spots. Those are all things that we’ll continue to get better and better at, we’re not where we want to be yet, but it’ll get there.”
