Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On assessing where the team is at…
I’d like to score some goals. I think that's the biggest thing. If I look at the game, I think the first half was kind of back and forth, a little even. Second half, we were all over them, but not enough high-quality chances. So, at the end, we don't get the result. You get burned on the play that they scored, but we have to score two or three with all the domination we had in the game.
On what the team needs to do to create higher quality chances…
It’s not one thing, but it's a number of things. We had opportunities in the first half with a couple of chances that we have to do a little better with the decision. When a guy that's wide open, we wind up taking a shot or making an extra pass when we don't need to. There were two opportunities in the first half where Johnny (Russell) was wide open on two plays and he's walking in on the goal one on one. But we didn't make the decision. Some of its recognition. One of these balls has got to drop. We have got to keep staying determined to try to do it.
On helping the team improve in the attack…
We do it every day. We do it all the time. It's putting them in those situations, putting those situations that make those decisions. It's all of that, but you have got to be able to do it in the game.
On Alan Pulido’s start…
I’m happy for him. He has worked very hard to get back to where he is. You can see his quality when he plays. He's a high-level player and he changes everything in the game. He's very productive. Obviously, he's still trying to get his rhythm in the game and he's trying to get fit for a game where he's not just surviving. Obviously, it was good to see him be able to play 60 minutes. I wasn't sure if he was going to just do 45 or maybe a little bit more. He said he felt like he could push it a little bit more. That part is good. We need him 90 minutes if we can get there.
On if the team found Alan enough in the first half…
Yeah, I think he was involved in the game quite a bit. I do. Could they have found him more? Sure. But I think for him coming back into the group, it was for sure a good first start for him.
Sporting Kansas City forward Alan Pulido
On his first start since 2021…
I am happy now about my minutes here and my first match here at home. But of course, I don't feel good about the match because we lost. The most important part for me is the team winning. The sensation is bad.
On what the team needs to create more chances…
I think we need to work. This is the most important thing for the team. We need to work. We need to be focused about the lost opportunities. We need to change the mentality because we can do more. I know, on this team, all the players have very good quality. We missed chances for scoring so we need to be focused about that and just working every day.
Sporting Kansas City captain Johnny Russell
On creating more chances as a team…
Just us being better in our final decision around the final third. It’s simple as that. We haven't been good enough up until this point. The shots we're having are not really clear shots. There are men in the way. Every shot has been getting blocked. So it's up to us to find a different way to create an opportunity for someone else and I don't know what it is: if we're taking too long on the ball, if we're not playing the extra pass or if we're playing the pass when we should take the shot. Just nothing is clicking right now. It's not frustrating anymore. I can't really use the word that I'm thinking right now. It's not good enough and it has to change.
On his frustration at the end of the match…
I got hit in the head. I took an elbow. I don't know who it was from and he's poking me on the ground and telling me to get up and that it was soft. A bit of frustration as well but if someone takes a head knock, I don't think you should be anywhere near them. I don't know what he's doing, but probably a bit more frustration from me than anything else.
On his first 90 minutes of the season…
It felt good. That's what I’ve been working towards. They asked me a couple of times how I was feeling but I didn't want to come off. I felt there was something there in the game and I wanted to stay on and try and help the team, but I wasn't able to do that. But it's good to get 90 minutes and add to the fitness and just keep building on that.
On getting Alan Pulido involved…
We tried. It's difficult when they play five at the back. They've always got one or two men around him. So I think he found those spaces brilliantly and it's going to take time, but I think you can see in some of the things that he's done, that quality is still there. So we just need to get him fit and get him up to match fitness. The more games he plays, the better he's going to get.
Colorado Rapids head coach Robin Fraser
Thoughts on the match…
I’m just really, really proud of the team. This is, for me, one of the harder places to play in the league. Very good team, very well organized. The crowd here is fantastic. I’m really proud of the way we played tonight. We had some good moments in the first half and in the second half we just fought like crazy. To get points on the road, sometimes that's what it takes. So for us, a really, really huge effort. I’m really proud of the team.
On his message to the team at halftime…
First thing was just to calm down. The game was really kind of chippy toward the end of the first half and just try to settled our nerves and point out the things that we can do well to get into some decent positions. Then we just talked a lot about ways that we could probably get at them. As it turns out, in the second half they were really, really good and the halftime talk was probably a waste of time because we ended up defending like crazy and just fought so hard.
On Diego Rubio’s goal…
It's a fantastic individual goal because he creates it for himself. The ball gets cleared out and he works incredibly hard to win the ball. This is Diego when he's at his best, when he's confident. As soon as he wound up to shoot, I figured it was going to be on target and he picked out a great spot and he did it. For the goal, all credit to him - just an amazing effort to actually get there and win the ball and create the opportunity.
On his message to the team after the game…
This is how you do it. Sometimes it's pretty, sometimes it's not. But the one thing that you need is this kind of fight and this sort of resiliency. Because of that, we were fortunate to walk out of here with three points.
On the play of William Yarbrough…
Another really, really good performance. I feel like Will has been really good all year. And as I said, in this place, they do a tremendous job of whipping balls in. They have a lot of numbers in the box and it's a lot for a goalkeeper to have to deal with. I think Graham (Zusi’s) service is about as good as there is in the league and he put so many balls in tonight. I thought Will just had a really, really strong commanding performance - dealing with crosses, lots of bodies around him and this is kind of a microcosm of his season so far to be quite honest. He's been really good.
On getting a win in his 100th game…
I probably care less about winning my 100th game than I do about winning our first game of 2023. But it's been an incredible journey to be here and be with this team. From the very beginning -- from the very first day I was with this team and they were in a pretty bad year in 2019 so from the very first day -- the character of the team is what stuck out to me the most. Since then we've had some incredibly good times. Sometimes not so great, but some incredibly good times. And it really comes down to a fantastic group of players and an incredible staff, an incredible coaching staff. This has been a tremendous journey. One hundred games is a big milestone, but we feel like we have so much more ahead of us and I'm so excited to do it with this group of players and this staff.
