Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On if your club was tired late in the match
“After five or ten minutes being down a man you could tell we were getting big time. We’ve had five games in 15 days and this was the last one. We traveled over 16,000 miles, but we went down two men we had some pretty good fight in the end. We almost scored one which is pretty good. It was a good fight by us in the end. The game was changed by the calls.”
On goalkeeper Alec Kann’s performance tonight and what you say to keep his confidence up
“These guys, they’re pros. Obviously I have my words with them, I think at the right times he knows there’s nothing you can do. The first goal was a great goal. The second one, we’re pushing everyone forward and we’re down two men. It is what it is, I don’t think it’s going to affect his confidence, he’s done a good job.”
On how you manage the two red cards moving forward
“Well I’m going to appeal the first one. I’ll tell you right now we’ll win it. If we don’t win it then something’s wrong. Because it’s straight red, there’s no chance. No chance, the guy gets an arm to his chest. I mean you want me to show you, I don’t know what game this is, but it’s a man’s game and there’s going to be contact. That’s ridiculous. I actually think the referee had a little bit of a grudge because I don’t know how you give that call.”
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Benny Feilhaber
On the match and how the red cards affect morale
“I don’t think it was our best game. We didn’t have as much high energy as we normally have in games. I don’t know, I think we weathered the storm for considerable amount of the first half and put ourselves in a position the second half, but obviously the red card makes a big big difference. We have to basically put 10 guys behind the ball at that point. They scored quickly after that with a nice shot and it put us in a tough position with the second red even though I don’t think it makes any difference on the score. I think it’s a soft call by the referee, Roger (Espinoza) looks like he’s trying to protect the ball and put his body in the way and obviously shield him with his arm. I don’t think there’s any assort of malice or over exertion of power. I think it’s a silly card to give at that point in the game, having said that they outplayed us and probably deserved the three points.”
Sporting Kansas City defender Ike Opara
On how the red cards affect your morale on the field
“The effort was still there, the guys were giving it all they could. I can’t fault what everyone put on the field and played this game today. Obviously it wasn’t easy circumstances.”
