Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match…
You always have to have effort, so that that's an easy one and that was there from all the players. But there was a high level of concentration and focus in the game. I believe that we stayed very disciplined to the concepts, to our model of play and to the things that we normally do very well. That's why you put yourself in a good position like this. They don't always turn out this way, right? Because maybe the ball's not going in that night or whatever. But we didn't give silly situations away and we reacted really well. We were very good in possession. We use the field well. The other is that, especially up front, we had very good transition today. When we lost a ball or we put a service into the box, we immediately put them under pressure which made them have to play very quickly. We won the ball back very fast ourselves. When we played Columbus, they did to us what we normally would do to teams in the past. Tonight we did that, I believe, to Austin. And Austin's a good team. From front to back, they're a good team. They're solid and they have some very, very good players. But I thought the fact that our guys were positionally very disciplined and then also in transition were excellent. It really didn't give them much opportunity.
On being able to score on the counter attack…
It’s probably decision making. It's not like we haven't gotten into those positions. Sometimes it's execution, but I would say the positive has been that we've been in those situations. We just haven't executed. Tonight, that second goal was fantastic. It was good.
On Stephen Afrifa’s performance…
It was good. I still think he needs to have recognition of certain situations on the field, but the important thing was that when he came in he contributed in a meaningful way. And it wasn't just the goal. I think he put them under a lot of pressure with the ball. He still can be a lot better defensively, but he definitely put them under pressure with the ball which was very good.
On the play of Tim Leibold…
For the most part it was good. There are some things that he has got to have better recognition with and, when he does, I believe he’ll have an even a bigger impact in the team. But I thought he had a solid game. He was good on the ball, which was important. They changed wingers in the second half and they put him under pressure. I thought he handled (Jader) Obrian really well. He's not an easy guy to handle. I thought (Kayden Pierre) did a great job in the first half against him. KP had a really good game tonight. It's one of his best games he's played for us since he's been here, which is a good sign for him. I also thought that (Dany) Rosero and Robert Voloder was good partnership there as well. Alan (Pulido) was very good in the flow of the game, but also his timing to pressure and his decisions were really good to help make the game predictable for us to win it back.
On the midfield trio…
Nemanja (Radoja) is like a pit bull a little bit, right? He's more of a ball winner. (Erik) Thommy wants to go forward mostly and Jake (Davis) is an in-betweener. The good thing about Jake is he helps us with some bite in the middle of midfield. That helps us a lot. In games like that, Nemanja needs somebody, at times, next to him to really help him so he's not having to cover all that space as one. Jake had good space. I thought when Memo (Rodriguez) came in, this was one of his more disciplined games positionally. It was very impactful for us.
On Jake Davis staying in the midfield…
Right now, with us still not having guys back, it seems like that's going to be a place that we're going to need all hands on deck at the moment.
On Marinos Tzionis…
We haven't talked about Marinos. Some players sometimes feel a lot better when they start and he does. He's one of those guys. I think it gets him into the flow and the rhythm of the game. I think in the first half, there was many times that him, Thommy and Leibold were very good in their interchange and keeping the ball, especially down in the corner. They created some really good stuff out of there. The one time when he picked up the ball and went to goal, if he just went straight there's a chance he goes right up the middle. But outside of that, I thought he had a good game. It was good for us. It was good again for another guy like that to have an impact. He had a lot of energy too in the game.
On closing out the game…
It's the focus and the concentration in the game, but it's also the discipline positionally for all the guys. I thought we were very good at that tonight. I think that's a big reason why. We had some intelligence in the game on certain situations. We didn't lose ourselves. We didn't panic. We got in front of the ball. We didn't try to win it. It was good decisions.
On the players’ satisfaction with the shutout…
I think they're going to feel pretty good. They'll feel good tonight, but they'll feel pretty good tomorrow as well. Like if you drink coffee, the coffee will taste a lot better than it's tasted other days after a game here recently. I’ve probably said this many times because I've been here a long time, but having played as a center forward for half of my professional career and the other half as a central defender, if I never would have played as a central defender, I probably would not have had as much respect and understanding for how important defending is. Defending always wins championships. If you look at all of our successful years here, and there's a lot of them, we always are top three in goals against or in a lot of years we're number one. You have to be able to defend because you're not always going to be on on the attack side because it takes something special on certain days. Tonight, as I said, it comes down to being very disciplined, very focused and concentrated in your position and not letting emotions drive the game. When you're that way, then it becomes very hard for a team to find a way to break through you. And then the final piece on that is that if you're pretty good with the ball -- above average -- now it makes it really difficult for the other team.
Sporting KC forward Stephen Afrifa
On how he feels…
Great. I had the confidence. The coaches trusted me. They told me at halftime that there's a chance I'd get in the game and to just be ready. I had a good warm up and I took my opportunity.
On his goal…
The whole run, Johnny (Russell) didn't look up once. At least I didn't see him look up. I was kind of worried. But right at the end, he looked up, seen me and it was all good. I just had to focus and put it in the back of the net.
On the assist…
Just seeing the ball come across, (I was) happy. A lovely ball from him. I have just got to keep going with it.
On doubling the lead…
It’s everything. A 1-0 lead is one of the hardest leads to protect. At home, we want to get out with a win for the fans. Being able to put us that goal up just helps a lot. I enjoyed it and we have got to keep pushing.
On his recent run of form…
I’m just taking my opportunity. I have just got to keep pushing because at the end of the day, I want to help the team and I want to show Peter that I'm ready to do that.
On his growth…
For me, the number one thing that I think we all agree on with coaches is defensive effort. Just in situations, I kind of take time off and just lose a little bit of focus. So that is a big part. Offensively, just getting better at combining with the rest of the guys. My dynamic is just always fast paced. I need to learn to slow down a little bit and play with the guys. So there's a lot of different things to learn.
On his moment with Johnny Russell…
It’s amazing. We play for each other. I'm just trying to do my job. Seeing him come over that far just helped me keep on pushing.
On his movement…
Just watching over the past few games, just runs in different moments. There are times where I go too fast and just make the wrong decision. Again, it’s just taking my time and learning and improving.
Sporting KC captain Johnny Russell
On his assist to Stephen Afrifa…
I was aware that he was there. My first intention was obviously to cut inside, then I was going to take it on my own. Obviously, just the way the play developed, I seen his run. I felt it was a little bit maybe too tight for me to try and bend it in the far corner. So, I've seen him come flying and obviously just put it across goal and it's a very good finish because it is bobbling. It's bouncing a little bit and he catches it well on his weaker foot. He gets his reward for making the run. Stephen's been brilliant for us recently as well. I spoke about it at the beginning of the year that he was someone to look out for. It took a little bit of a while for him to find his feet this season, but I think everyone's starting to see what we were talking about now.
On scoring a goal in transition and getting more of those opportunities…
Probably being more direct, I think we’re maybe being a little bit safe at times and just trying to keep the ball in those situations. Me and memo were kind of surrounded at that moment. I think it was three or four guys around us and he manages to stab it to me and the boy lunges in and managed to flick it on the outside of him and once you beat him then you've got the whole half of the field open. We're a team who has been very good on the counter, we haven't shown it this year. Hopefully that's something that we can continue to show. I think a few times in the first half, we’ve done it as well. Second half not as much. I think we controlled the game, we didn't start the second half too great, but I think we controlled the game very well in the second half towards the end as well.
On carrying the result into the team’s next matches…
We spoke about, obviously time's running out. We're at the same sort of scenario we were last year after the Leagues Cup, we had a certain amount of games left and we spoke about how many we were probably going to have to go and win. We're under no illusions of how difficult we've made it for ourselves. We know out of the last 14, we're probably going to have to go and win nine, 10 of them. We've won the first one. We're going into a difficult place on Thursday against a team who's doing very well this season. We’re due a performance and a win there. Hopefully this is the one that we can turn that sort of form around. I don't actually think I've won there since I've been here, so that's something that I would like to get off my back.
On the team’s discipline on the night…
The effort's always been there, but the effort's been more individual. Not in a bad way, but guys are doing things that they're going out of their job to try and do something, to try and spark something for the team. People are trying things that aren't necessarily in their game to try and spark something for the team. I think tonight was – the effort was there – but we were just so disciplined throughout. We knew exactly what our job was, what was expected of us in our position, and then even when guys were out of position, we covered them. Something we spoke about that we have to get back to the togetherness that this club's about. The guys get on far too well to not show on the field in the way that we've been playing, and that was something that we spoke about getting back to. I think you can see it tonight that effort is there, but it's an effort for the collective and we’ve all done it together. When one person pressed, we all pressed. It wasn't as if one guy went and the next guy was late. When we went, we all went together, and I think that was the biggest transformation tonight.
On if the belief is still within the group to turn the season around…
It has to be. That's something that will be getting drilled into the players. I've been here for long enough, I know what it means to play for this club. One hundred percent is at least that's expected here. While it's mathematically possible, we will give everything we have. Even if it gets out of our reach at some point, we are still going to give everything for this club. Like I said, we know what we have to do. Going down this last stretch of games, we know how many games we're probably going to have to win, points we're going to have to pick up, and we've done it. We've started with the first one, that's the first one ticked off, we enjoy it. We move on to the next one and we have to make sure that we perform in the exact same way.
