Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
On the red card in the first half…
First off, he got two yellows in two minutes. I don't know if the first one is a yellow card or not, but it really doesn't matter. You have it. You have to be aware. To get a second yellow in the way that he did, the referee is 100% correct. If you grab a guy, you hold a guy, you pull a guy back - holding is one of the seven cautionable offenses. One-hundred percent, he is correct.
When a team is struggling like we are, and then you are that undisciplined, it has an incredible negative effect. I tried at halftime to get the guys to rally a little bit. I think at the end, they tried. We got a penalty kick, but sometimes when things aren't going well -- they're not going well -- and then that happens. We still were in it a little bit. The second goal means nothing to me in that regard.
But that was a really, really bad mistake in the game today. You can't make that mistake. If you've been playing the game for a long time, which he has, and so have other players, at the end, you can't make that mistake. You can't make that mistake. You just can't. It's called a caution. So you should be cautious after that.
On Willy Agada working toward full fitness…
From his team, he was out more than five weeks. We tried to get him here fast, but he couldn't get here based on the documentation with immigration. But he gave a great shift. I was going to try and do something different in the second half with him. I was going to pull him off at some point, but when we went down a man, it changed everything.
On the team’s performance…
The performances -- other than a few plays here and there in a lot of games -- have been the difference. It's one of those things where you can spend time looking at video, you can spend time talking about it, all those different things, but at some point there has got to be a responsibility that you take when you step inside there that you make sure that you don't make those mistakes that hurt your team. And unfortunately, to go into a situation where we get the man thrown out and then they score, it puts you behind the eight ball big time. We had a chance to get back in it, but it just wasn't there.
On the play of Ben Sweat…
When he's played, he has a pretty good record for us. In the last game in the first maybe 10 minutes, he was a little out of sorts. I don't blame him. He hasn't played a number of games in a row, so he's going to be a little bit. But all of a sudden he found his game and he was excellent in the game against Sacramento. And today he was very good again.
On how the red card impacted the game plan…
I think we had a very good plan going into the game. We make it to halftime and we have the ability to bring Roger (Espinoza) and (Erik) Thommy into the midfield. We have the ability to bring Daniel (Salloi) on in the second half. And at that point, maybe Johnny (Russell) isn't stretched and he can actually stay on. Now you have (Willy) Agada and you can bring (Graham) Zusi on at halftime or with 30 minutes left in the game, and we can go and put the push on them in our place. Obviously, we had to do that based on the amount of minutes that we had in the game in Sacramento. So we had to kind of adjust the guys around.
It's disappointing when you know that you had some difference makers coming off the bench and you were getting ready to use them within less than five minutes and that occurs. It hurt us and it's a shame because I think all those guys would have been different and the game would have been different if we had that opportunity.
Sporting Kansas City defender Ben Sweat
On his resilience after playing 116 minutes on Wednesday…
I want to do everything to help this team out. We're in a tough place right now, so I could care less what I put my body through. As long as I put the team first and help the team, that's what I'll do.
On his preparation ahead of this match following Wednesday’s match…
This is almost my 10th year as a professional. I know how to take care of my body and I know the things I need to do. In every game, we have to put the Open Cup game behind us and now we have to focus on the regular season. I knew I was playing this weekend, so I knew I had to get ready, and I did everything possible to get ready.
On the team’s effort while playing down a man..
We had chances to tie the game, possibly win the game, down at the end. Everyone put extra effort in and that's what it takes in games like this. We just haven't had the roll of the dice this year, and that's just football. We have got to learn from our mistakes, and we have to play for something this year and it's just one game at a time and getting results while we have all these home games this last part of the season.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Felipe Hernandez
Thoughts on the match…
I think we controlled the match for a little bit. There were parts where we went forward and defensively, we were compact and didn't give them much. But unfortunately, playing down a man is tough any time in a game. It's difficult to play down a man.
On finding positives in the performance…
I think one thing that we always have is our work ethic. Even down a man, we were able to create some chances. It's just difficult playing down a man for a half or more.
On supporting a teammate after a mistake…
It happens. It happens to older guys, younger guys, it doesn't matter. He knows. He's apologizing. But there's nothing to apologize (for) because it's a team effort and it's happened to people before. We just have to work around that and work around being down a man.
On the play of Willy Agada and Erik Thommy…
It's good to have them here. They’re getting fit. It's good to have them here and doing their thing. They seem to be fitting in pretty well, so we're excited for them.
