Sporting KC Midfielder Benny Feilhaber
On the loss:
“It’s a frustrating loss, because I think we prepared really well for this game. I thought we played well. Definitely deserved more. If I were to be honest I’d probably say something stupid so I won’t say anything else.”
On if they felt confident coming into the game despite recent struggles at Avaya Stadium:
“Yeah we felt really good this week and I think it showed on the field. I think another day maybe we take three points so we’re frustrated with the result for sure.”
On how he felt about the play in the 55th minute in that wasn’t called a penalty:
“I mean what do you think? I don’t want to say anything where MLS is going to look at it and get upset about my comments, but I think the replays are pretty clear and I think it was pretty clear on the field as well that it should have been a penalty.”
On what they said to the referee after the no-call and if they got an explanation:
“No. Jair doesn’t want to talk to anybody unless he’s showing people a yellow card. He’s very unfriendly with any of the players and it’s frustrating to be in that situation when you’re trying to get some kind of communication from the referee and he’s not giving it to you.”
On where the team is headed after their third loss in a row:
“We’re 4-4 so we’re right in the middle of things. I think we’re right smack in the middle of the Western Conference so it’s kind of where we take it from here. I think it’s safe to say that we had a better performance today than we did in the last couple losses. We need to try and get points, but we need to continue to evolve our game and continue to improve.”
Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
On the play in the 55th minute that wasn’t called a penalty:
“I don't need a replay. A hundred percent [that was a] penalty and red card. Changes the game. Doesn’t get called. Other things are going to happen in the game after that. I don’t think we lost anything. I actually think if you look at the number of chances that we created in comparison to them I think we were actually very good playing away from home tonight. It’s unfortunate that it was a big miss and it was a two-part miss. It was a penalty and then also it was a red card and both were missed. Changes the game.”
On if he regrets not taking advantage of the opportunities they had in the first 20 minutes:
“No. Look, we’re playing away from home. I thought we did a lot in the game. I thought we controlled a lot of the game. I don’t think we really gave up too much in the game in regards to the kinds of chances that we created in comparison to them. We did more than enough to come out of here with something for sure. Like I said, unfortunately there was a big miss and it changed the outcome. I truly feel disappointed for the players because they worked very hard in this game and I thought they were good in all aspects of the game.”
On if Avaya Stadium is a tough place to break a losing streak:
“I don’t buy into any of that stuff. I just don’t. I’m just not one of those guys. Every year players change on your roster, teams change, everything changes so it has nothing to do with one place or another. Just sometimes it doesn’t happen. That’s it.”
On if Brad Davis and Matt Besler getting back in the rhythm made him see where the team is going:
“I mean we still have a couple other guys out as well. From the very beginning of the season we’ve had quite a few guys that have been injured in different ways. Three guys have gone away to international duty and two of them come back injured to us so that never helps. There’s no doubt that I learned a long time ago in this league that it’s not how it starts, it’s how it finishes and it’s a cliché but it’s the truth. If you look at 2011, we played ten games on the road and we won one. We were in last place in the entire league and we would up winning the division at the end of the season. Anything can happen. The frustrating thing is when you play well like we did tonight and like I said, that the game gets changed and changed on a very simple call. Normally when players are going 1-v-1 with a keeper and they have the ball and they’re ready to shoot, they don’t dive. I don’t know too many guys that do that.”
On if they pulled off Matt Besler because he was still building fitness:
“I just wanted to be smart. I knew that they were going to start lumping the ball. The fact that he came a few ago coming off a concussion, I just knew that it was going to be a lot of aerial duels and it was easier to put Ike [Opara] in at that point and let him deal with it and not put him in harms way.”
On if he was thinking about set pieces too on the other end:
“Yeah absolutely. There’s no doubt that Ike is fantastic at that, but it was a lot of that. I felt they were going to try to pump the ball long too as well and I wanted to be careful. We still had time in the game.”
On what worked in frustrating them in the first half:
“I thought our timing to run to press the ball was very good. I don’t think it was we did it in ones, we did it in twos, threes, fours and the team stayed very compact in those moments. I thought it put them under a lot of pressure and the other thing is when we won the ball I thought we played forward quickly especially in the first half, which put them under pressure, eliminated a lot of their players and we were able to go on the counter quickly. And then the next you know, they’re having to face their own goal, chase the game and now they don’t have the same energy going forward when they win the ball.”
