SPORTING KC MANAGER PETER VERMES
On how he feels about Sunday night's win at Seattle Sounders FC...
Any time you're able to record a shutout and get three points on the road, it's a huge victory for sure. We've played here plenty of times, and they've always found a way to get a goal late against us and in this situation I thought we were very well organized and really well-disciplined in the game. I think that was a big help to why we got the result.
On playing a man up for much of the match...
We were kind of fortunate that it came right before halftime because we had a chance to talk to the guys a little bit. The thing we were really good with most of the time was that we were patient. We moved the ball and we waited for that one little breakdown where somebody didn't close the gap or the channel, and look: we got a goal from our central defender. It was an excellent place for him to be at the time — not because he scored but because the play called for it. So his movement in between and up the field was good and he took advantage. I mean, the opportunity was presented to him but I really think his patience was good for not having spent a lot of time with this group. We just moved the ball and we were patient with it and I thought that was very good.
On whether he considered Nuno André Coelho's ability to shoot from distance when bringing him onto the team...
During training, for sure. The other thing is Nuno has a very good quality of going forward. He just has a really good quality of how to move forward with the ball, and he sees the game and reads the game really well. And the other thing is he's a very good shot from a distance. So I'm happy for him. It's a good start for him. He's been really good in preseason and more importantly he had a very good game tonight.
On Tim Melia's performance...
I thought he had some very good reaction saves, and he was explosive like he normally is. I think as a team we can be a little bit better about how we manage the game at certain points, and that includes him and how we come out with the ball as a group. But in regards to shots stopped and things like that, I think he was very, very good.
On his goals for the team going into the game...
I told the guys before we started the game, "You know, it's not the time to talk about what the big goals are yet. The small goals are that it would be great to get a goal, it would be great to get a shutout, and it would be great to get one on a set piece, as well." So we did two or three. So that was good for us.
On the Benny Feilhaber, Brad Davis and Seth Sinovic injuries...
They're minor, but they're the ones that can become long-term if you don't give them the time that they need to get better, and the time is not four weeks. If you push them they could become four to six weeks, and that's what we don't want to do. So we want to make sure those guys are healthy, ready to go and fit. So until they're ready there's nothing else to really have a discussion about. I think the guys that played tonight all played very, very well. I thought the two best things about the team tonight were how organized we were and also discipline. We were disciplined in our game. We didn't lose ourselves in place on the field. So we were really well organized and really well disciplined and I think that's one of the reasons why we got the result.
On whether this confirmed his strategy of adding depth in the offseason...
There's no doubt that adding the players that we have has been important to our team. What I'll say — and I'm really honest about this — is that it's hard to tell what the starting team is. I'm not trying to be coy here, but there are a lot of players, and when guys are healthy, they're competing. So the nice thing is that when you like at a guy like T [Amadou Dia] and you look at a guy like [Connor] Hallisey, these guys both had time last year and obviously that's paying dividends for them at the moment, being able to start this game and play to a really good level. Both guys were very focused on the organization and discipline that we preached all week long trying to get ready for the game.
SPORTING KANSAS CITY DEFENDER NUNO ANDRE COELHO
On the goal:
“I thought I was going to score. If you don’t believe you will never take chances and if you don’t take chances you are never going to score. So I took a chance and I scored.”
On the teams play for the opening game of the season:
“I thought we played very good. The important thing is we got three points. We are going to keep working.”
On winning in Seattle and the difficulty of playing here and getting an early win on the road:
“Obviously winning games outside your home is not easy but we came here with a plan and we executed the plan. Now we get to go home and play in front of our crowd this weekend.”
SPORTING KANSAS CITY GOALKEEEPER TIM MELIA
On your thoughts on tonight’s game:
“For me I thought defensively the team did a really good job. The guys did such a good job pressing to the ball and being organized defensively. So I didn't have to do much throughout the game. Coming on the road, Seattle is a really difficult place to play and for me to not really have to do much though the game, well that speaks volume for the confidence for us as we move forward.”
Sounders FC Head Coach SIGI SCHMID
Opening statement:
“A disappointing result – it’s a tough game having to play with 10 guys. It makes the game a little bit harder. Even when we went down to 10 we bent a little bit, but we didn’t give up. We had a great chance early – Jordan Morris, if he buries that chance it changes the game for us. We had a couple others – off the post, crossbar, the goalkeeper made some great saves for them – [in addition to] Dempsey’s free kick and Andreas [Ivanschitz]’s shot. It was a tough game from the standpoint of having to play a man down for that amount of minutes.”
On Brad Evans’ shoulder:
“Popped out, popped back in – I haven’t seen the replay. It looked like he got undercut a little bit...It’s a matter of pain. You can play probably within a week.”
On Oniel Fisher’s ejection:
“I thought Fisher’s play was good up until then – I thought he was having a good game. He got forward well, he got himself into some good situations…Overall, I thought his play was good. [Tyrone] Mears has a quad strain. We wanted to give him three or four days, and we think he will be back in full training on Wednesday.”
On Jordan Morris’ shot attempt early in the match:
“Obviously he would like to have another chance at that again. I think the ball sat up on him and he ended up hitting it over the top. Again, too many expectations upon him is not fair and it’s not right. [We will] allow him to grow and play – this is his first game, his first regular season MLS game.”
On what was said at halftime in the locker room:
“The message at halftime was to stay in a 4-4-1 and look to see if there’s an opportunity to put ourselves in a situation where we can get some corners and some free kicks because we think we’re dangers on those, which we did. The group went out there for 15, 20 minutes and then we would start to get some fresh legs on, and go from there.”
On Sporting KC’s goal:
“I don’t know if Stefan [Frei] was unsighted a little bit or saw the ball late, but it seemed to skip past him on the wet turf. I am sure it’s one he would like to face again because I am sure he’ll feel he can save that, but he’s made a lot of big saves for us.”
On positive takeaways:
“The positive thing for me is that when we were even, I thought we were the better team. I thought we created the early chances, if we bury those changes – like I said – goals change games. We always talk about chance creation, and I thought we created some chances. I thought we were dangerous playing a man down.”
On moving on from this match:
“I won’t remember this one long – it’s one you’d like to forget. It’s a start for us, it’s the beginning. There are 33 games left; there are 99 points still out there. If we had 99 points at the end of the year we would all be ecstatic. It’s just a blip. Journeys aren’t always easy. This journey, for this year, has started off a little bit rocky, and we just have to get back on the road and push forward. It’s all about having to continue to work. You learn more in little setbacks and you grow more in character from things like this.”
Sounders FC Forward NELSON VALDEZ (THROUGH TRANSLATOR)
On the match:
“I think the team is not happy with our performance; the result didn’t really go the way we were hoping and expecting.”
On the game changing with the red card:
“I really believe that with the red card the morale of the team really went down and it was difficult for us to overcome that. But I think in the previous games and before that we were able to have some chances and we were just not able to complete them.”
On the red card:
“I didn’t really see; I was too far away from it so I couldn’t really tell if it was a red card or not. But a red card is a red card and what we need to do as a team is come back when we have a situation like that and fight but we were not able to do that this time.”
On playing with Jordan Morris:
“I think he’s doing well; he’s a very talented player but now he’s feeling all the pressure that a real professional league has, but he’s a player that works very hard. He works very hard during training and he’s going to continue to improve in the next game.”
Sounders FC Forward JORDAN MORRIS
On the team’s performance:
“I thought we fought well and were unlucky to give up a goal. We’re just going to come back, work hard until next week. It’s obviously tough to go down to 10 men but the guys always fight hard…Just got to build on that and look towards next week.”
On the breakaway in the first half:
“It was a great build up, great ball by Andreas and took the first touch and just got underneath the ball. I just kind of rushed it a little bit. I should have looked up and taken my time a little more; I just got underneath it, just got to keep working on that. It was frusturationg because that would’ve changed the game for sure.”
On playing with Dempsey and Valdez:
“It’s good; I think it’s really good. We’re learning the new formation and learning to play off each other but they’re two great players so it’s fun to play with them.”
SOUNDERS FC FORWARD OALEX ANDERSON
On how he grades his debut performance:
“My performance wasn’t that good. Out of 10 I would give it a five or a six. That’s not what I do. I could’ve done better but sometimes that’s how it goes. I just have to work a little harder and prove to these people what I can do.”
On the message from Coach Schmid before entering the game:
“He told me to track back because we were down a man and do my job and just to do what I do best.”
