Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On the team’s performance…
Right now the whole objective was to try to get some points on the road. In these last two games, it could have been one and one or it could have been stealing three points. I feel like today was a very mature performance from our team. In this game, you have to be organized, you have to be disciplined, you have to at times be able to put out fires, but you also have to have a little bit of luck. We found ways to keep trying to protect the goal. I think we made some good changes into the team that kind of gave the team a little bit of a spark and they were hungry. Roger (Espinoza) plays a really good ball to Gadi (Kinda) and Gadi does a really calm movement in the box and finishes it off well. I would say this is a mature performance by us. It's really nice to see, with all the different ups and downs that we've had over the season and at a time when we needed a mature performance, guys executed on it.
On the play of Tim Melia…
Tim was solid, but I also think the guys were defending in front of him. They were getting in front of balls. I think Jake (Davis) took that one off the face that went over the goal. The one save that he made where (Emanuel) Reynoso kind of cut inside and he played it across to (Teemu) Pukki, I'm thinking on the sideline that this is a goal and it’s fantastic on Timmy's side to get back in and make the save again. He was very good, but I think defensively we were pretty good today.
On the team’s perseverance in the playoff push...
Well, it's really the only thing we can do. As everybody knows, and it's been well documented, we didn't have a very good start to the season for so many reasons. But at the end, as I told the guys, we have just got to try to keep ourselves alive when we got to the Leagues Cup so that we can make a push at the end. We've had four games now with three wins and a loss and that loss as on the road. One of those wins is on the road. That's pretty good. But we haven't really accomplished anything yet. We have got some more to get after here. We have got some other games, some important games and some big teams we have to play and they're all going to be difficult. We have got to fight for it.
On the match-up with Adrian Heath…
I think I'm very fortunate. I have got a really good relationship with Adrian. We've known each other for a long time and in 2013 I loaned him Dom Dwyer and he was definitely up for it. He took him and he really helped build his confidence. So we just had a really good relationship ever since then. I have a ton of respect for him and what he does and how his teams play and how he assembles teams. So it's always a good match between us, but I also appreciate where we both compete but we also can talk to each other after the game as well because we understand that, at times, it's an unforgiving profession. We have a lot of respect for each other from that perspective so I can't say enough good things about him and his staff.
On Gadi Kinda scoring after returning from international duty…
We talked about it when he got back. I've always maintained that, in my profession and who I am, I have got a big heart and a short memory. So I told Gadi, ‘It's behind us, let's move on. And when you play, you need to go give it your all.’ And he did that. It's obvious. He went and did what he had to do. He knows where we stand and it's all good.
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Tim Melia
On his save on Teemu Pukki…
I have to initially step to the attacker to kind of cut down the angle because when he's at an angle extended off the six and pretty close to the goal, that's a fairly easy finish. I thought our guys did a good job covering back in because it forced him to have to pull the ball back just a little bit further because (Andreu) Fontas was dropped into my right. That allowed me the time to kind of get across goal and make myself as big as I could.
On the road win…
I think it's got to give us confidence. Overall, that was just a gritty, gritty performance. Guys were making plays all over the field. Jake Davis gets hit in the back of the head saving a goal. The amount of tackles that Fontas and Daniel (Salloi) made and the commitment from all our midfield to block shots. This is a talented team. They line up four guys in front of our back four and it's a difficult team to defend against. Then when you have someone like Reynoso who is special and can kind of create those magical moments, we just have to take a ton of confidence from this game because this is no easy place to play against a very good team. Overall, just a massively gritty performance that we should be proud of.
On the team’s effort…
Commitment, right? I think that's what we've kind of missed throughout the year is we have a good performance, we don't have a good performance, but you can see tonight everyone understands how important these games are. We need wins and it doesn't make a difference if it's home or away. We need wins to get into the playoffs and tonight we played like a team that is trying to do everything we can to get in the playoffs.
