Quotes: Sporting KC 3-1 New England Revolution

Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes

Vermes and his thoughts on the game...
"We came into this game with the idea that we were going to play. We outplayed them tonight. From the beginning of the game all the way to the end we were fantastic. There's not much I can say about the determination and the ambition of the players. But their effort from the first to the last minute of the game and the way they managed the game was exactly what we talked about during the week leading up to this game. So I can't say enough about the perseverance and their determination to make sure that they left here with a win and they did it in incredible fashion. And the last thing that I'll say is that the crowd was absolutely incredible and the fans were unreal. It was amazing how the guys ran as long as they could, and so much of that has to do with the motivation of the fans and the way that they are behind the team."

On Paulo Nagamura's return...
"There's not much I can say other than the fact that he hasn't played for over two months and for him to go in and play 90 plus minutes is absolutely incredible. He's an absolute warrior and he's something that we've been missing for a long time in the middle of the midfield and it's great to have him back out there because he really is an important player in our group and in the way we play."

On Benny Feilhaber's performance...
"I thought he was very good on both sides of the ball and I thought possession wise he helped us a great deal. One of the things we wanted to do tonight was move the ball around and move it around quickly. He was excellent in position and that helped to keep the ball and make them have to chase us so he was good as well."

On Claudio's first goal in the run of play since July...
"Claudio and I had a talk here last week and I said to him that there's more soccer to play here. You don't understand yet what the playoff environment is like, but the opportunities are going to come and you're going to put one away for us or maybe two and they're going to be big goals. Him going on and finding his right place on the field during a couple of those situation were huge for us. He is what he is: a goal scorer. And it's great to see him get confidence on that goal because we need him down the stretch here." 

On Matt Besler's leadership role Wednesday night...
"He did something at halftime that I won't speak about which was fantastic, but he was good in a lot of other ways just outside of being good in the game and he led very well coming into this game. That's a huge step for him and this team because we need his leadership and the way that he sort of took charge over the team these last few days. And that's a big thing and a big reason we got the result we got today. So I'm very happy for him and for the team because we need field generals on the field and he's starting to come into his own and it's in a very quiet way."

On Houston as the semi-final opponent...
"Here we are again. They're a very good team. They always turn it on at the end of the season. One of the difficulties that they provide, especially late in the season here, is that we have a very short turnaround here and we're going into some different weather. But we've done well against them over the course of this year for the most part and it's going to be a great matchup because it always is. They're a great team. Dominic does a great job with the group and I have the utmost respect for him and how his team plays and the fact that they come to play. So from that point of view it's going to be a tremendous series."

Vermes on the entertainment level that Sporting KC brings to MLS...
"If there's one thing I stand behind, it's our league and the way we play in this league. There's an entertainment value that is extremely important to the success of this league, and if you watched tonight's game, you don't leave here and say you weren't entertained. Our players managed the game extremely well in all the pieces of the game and on top of that they also entertained. It was an unbelievable environment and I've always said the interesting thing for me here at Sporting Park is that there's a connection between the fans and the players and the players and the fans. And that is the thing that needs to be replicated all over this league for it to continue to grow. So from that perspective, our fitness is based solely around the fact that we want to play a high-tempo, entertaining style of game and when we're given the chance to do that, it's entertaining for not only the people watching live, but also the people watching on TV and everything else and our fitness is a huge part of that."

On the attacking style of Wednesday's gameplan...
"We said no matter what the other team does, we're going to play this way and we are going to take certain situations into our own hands and we are going to make sure that we force things to happen the way we want them to and that's a credit to the players." 

On if Sporting KC took matters into its own hands...
"If there's one thing that you will always notice about our team, there's not a guy that every cheap shots someone. If they did, I'm the first guy to step in and take care of that because that's not the way we want to play. We play hard, but we play fair, and we want to play to make sure that we are always entertaining as well. We want to get results, don't get me wrong results are first and foremost, but we have to do that in conjunction with entertaining and that's a big thing that we learned tonight. We did not go out and wait around. We played, and we played well and then we also got the result and that's a big achievement."

On why New England wasn't able to keep pressure up offensively...
"Teams decide to try and do that here, but then they start dropping off over the course of the game because they can't go anymore. They're coach was trying to get them to step up, step up, step up, but they couldn't. They couldn't sustain it. These guys break them down, break them down, break them down and that's a part of who we are."

Sporting KC defender Seth Sinovic

On what he thought of the win...
"Obviously that was a huge win, I think New England is a really good team, they're young, they're up and coming. They have a lot of talented players and we knew it was going to be a tough battle. But I think we dominated the game from start to finish, I think we gave up the one goal and one good opportunity in overtime, which Jimmy made a huge save for us. But this game shows the type of type of character this team has. The game in New England, down two goals, needed one goal to make things more realistic coming home, and then when they tied it up tonight and we needed another goal so we just keep fighting and hopefully we can bring that to the next round." 

On scoring in a crucial playoff situation..
"It's a lot more fun scoring in the playoffs, not that I know what it feels like to score in the regular season. But no, it's a lot of fun. Zusi made an unbelievable challenge on that play (New England Player) is very strong in the air and for him to go on and win that ball and flick it on to me was the difference. I was just kind of going after it and ended up hitting it and hoping. Thankfully I connected well and it went in the goal." 

On scoring in front of the home crowd...
"There's no better feeling. I was so excited with that celebration. Hopefully I showed a little bit of how much this team and this city means to me and how much it means to play for them. So yeah it's unbelievable to score a goal like that, and unbelievable to keep us in the playoffs and hopefully there's more to come."

On how the team felt after New England's goal in the second half...
"The first goal was a good goal and got ourselves back into it, but I think we then let down our guard a little bit on that set piece. We always talk about every roll of the ball and always being focused throughout the entire game and I think we let our guard down a little bit on that goal. So that was obviously frustrating but we knew we had plenty of time to get ourselves back into it and thankfully we had an opportunity and we took advantage of it."

Sporting KC goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen

On New England's attempts to create countering opportunities...
"We kept telling each other that we had to be aware of their counters and I think we did a hell of a good job of that today." 

On his big save late in the game...
"It was a perfect angle for me to slide down with him and get my foot on it. I just did what I had to do." 

On getting a three goal support from the team...
"Amazing. It takes the pressure off the defense. It was awesome to get three goals, three very good goals; very, very important. They came back from 1-1 but we stayed calm. It's funny, I asked Seth yesterday just before practice, 'Is it not time for you to score again?' I'm very happy for him. He deserved that."

On seeing Houston dynamo in the semifinals...
"It's just amazing how we meet each other all the time. There are going to be some very exciting games. You know it's a quick turnaround so we've got to prepare ourselves for that game."

On the mutual respect between clubs...
"I have the deepest respect for what they've done from the time I've been in here America. They always find a way to get through and enter the playoffs."

On having an added confidence this year against Houston...
"Well it's two teams that fit each other pretty good. I think lately we've done pretty good against Houston."

New England Head Coach Jay Heaps

General comments on the match...
"I think we fought hard. Unfortunately, the first half is what did us in. We didn't play real well, but it wasn't for lack of trying. We tried to get our bearings but credit to a good bunch of players on that team."

On improved performance in the second half...
"It felt good. We started to move the ball better. Scotty made a good improvement, so tactically we made a little shift and we found a goal. A bing-bang play and then they go back and tie it again on the aggregate side. For me, it's a really disappointing game to a really good group of guys in our locker room."

Heading into extra time after expending so much energy during regulation...
"We tried and I felt we had a couple chances here and there. We were hoping to get to penalties because we were hanging on and we thought we had the advantage there."

New England Revolution defender A.J. Soares

 Thoughts on the match...
"It was a fun game to play in. It was a fun atmosphere. Both legs were awesome and it was great to be a part of it. Obviously, we are disappointed that we lost. I thought we did enough to win. We played really well over both legs. We had little spots where we were excellent and they had spots where they were excellent. It was a good battle. We went back and forth and at the end of the day, they came out with it. So I'm just really proud of the guys. The work rate, the commitment to winning over the last couple months has been phenomenal. It was a great team to be a part of and I'm really proud of the guys."

On Matt Reis...
"That's been the story the last couple months. Matt Reis has been phenomenal. I'm really sad to see him go down with that injury. Hopefully, he can bounce back quickly. He's a stud and really led us into the playoffs and through that last stretch of games where we needed to win all the time. He was that backbone, the guy we leaned on all the time and when we needed something to be said, a veteran presence to come in and let us know how it was going to be done, he was the guy. When we slipped up in the back, he was the guy that made the save. He was great and tonight he was great again and I'm just bummed out he went down with that injury."

On tired legs going into overtime...
"I wouldn't say we went into it tired. You have to keep in mind that they, in the first half, had to expend a lot of energy to get that first goal just to bring it even. So we knew going into the second half that they had just gone full out and that they had just put everything on the line to get that goal. It's not 0-0 in our minds and we have 45 minutes to play the game. We went out there, we did what we need to do and then we let a goal in, obviously. And then at the end of the day, they just got one on us."

Reflecting on the season...
"First of all, you keep in mind the feeling of losing. That sucks and you don't want to feel that again. It's not fun. Everyone feels terrible about not getting the result. But now we know how to win. We know how to win crucial games on the road. We showed that and everybody is young on this team. We can go forward learning, having been in a playoff series now. That experience is always huge going forward."

New England Revolution defender Darrius Barnes

Thoughts on the match...
"The effort was there. The effort was definitely there. It's just a difficult game. It was pretty much what we expected when we came out here. They were going to come out in waves. They were going to come out flying. That's what we predicted and that's what they did. They came out flying and put us under pressure early. They didn't really let us get in a groove the whole first half. They put their stamp on the game early. That definitely bothered and affected us in the first half. They had a couple chances in the first half and scored the one at the end of the half. 

"Then in the second half, I thought the game opened up and we could play and found a couple of chances. Dimitry [Imbongo] makes a terrific finish on the set piece and that point we are feeling pretty good and comfortable. Unfortunately, we gave up that second goal that kind of took the wind out of our sails a bit. We hung on and played a bit until we got to overtime. They got a goal at the end of overtime and that's the way the cookie crumbles sometimes. You have to give credit to Sporting. I think they are a quality side and that they will make a big run in these playoffs. Big ups to them."

Thoughts on the overtime...
"Going to overtime, we were still confident. At that point, the game was completely open, it could have gone either way. The way they played, they had the majority of the ball, but we definitely had our chances. Especially on the break, we were able to get some good possession going forward and hit them on the counter. We had some chances as well, we just didn't put them away. Unfortunately, they buried the chances they got. Like I said, the overtime was a completely open game. It could have gone either way and they took their chances."

On the season...
"It's another one in the books. I'm extremely proud of this team. At the beginning of the season nobody thought this team would be here. This team showed a lot of resiliency, a lot of character. Everyone this season improved dramatically. We improved as a team and individually, and I don't think this is the last you will see of this team. This team is going to be back here next year, in a more dominant position ready to make a run at this thing. With the talent, and the young guys, and the experience we have on this team, next year could be a pretty big year for this team."