Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On conceding twice after going ahead 2-0…
The second (goal conceded had) actions that we just have to be much better at. I know it's the same thing I've said before, but we've worked on a lot of different stuff and unfortunately at times this is what happens. The first one with Willy (Agada), it's a mistake. The unfortunate thing is it's a mistake at a time when we don't need that mistake. But at the end, a good mentality by the guys to stay in the game and keep fighting. There were some things that they had to deal with late in the game with different balls into the box and set pieces. We were much better at those in this game than we were, especially in our last game.
On the play of Willy Agada…
Very good on the corner. On the second goal, we worked the ball really well in that situation. The circulation of the ball was great. I thought that Alenis (Vargas) did a really good job to find his space and then he puts in a great service. Don't get me wrong, Willy is in the right place but you can't miss that one. I mean, it's right there. He hits a great ball. But the circulation to get there was excellent. It was good. We deserved the third goal for sure because we could have probably scored four goals in the first half. I thought we were hungry. I thought we were good. We had to change the team around quite a bit tonight just because of some guys with some injuries and different things. I thought they did a good job. And again we got the result which is great.
On the team’s mentality…
The guys showed that they still have fight in them. Tonight was a good result. But we have got a big game on Wednesday now that we have to get ready for. The big thing now is just making sure that we get rest to recover in a good frame of mind and understand that it's going to be an absolute battle come Wednesday night.
On Jake Davis and Memo Rodriguez in the midfield…
I thought they did a great job. I thought their energy (was great). They won so many balls. They were busy in there. They were tough. They were hard. I actually think they did a really, really good job.
On becoming the third coach with 200 regular season wins…
Listen, those two guys are legends. So I'm very humbled to be in that company. But outside of that, I'm glad that we won tonight and that is what is most important to me.
On the 4-2-3-1…
Some guys have been struggling with some stuff and with the number of games we've had, we've had to know that there was going to be some rotation. We've done that quite a bit here recently. Guys have to step up.
On the red card…
I haven't seen the replay, but everybody tells me he threw the ball right into his face. So if he did, I can't understand how he doesn't get a red card. Sorry, I don't care if you're jumping up and down, you don't throw the ball into somebody's face. You don't do it. It's a red card. So I don't know why that didn't happen, but I'll take a look at it. I haven't seen the film yet.
On takeaways from tonight leading into Wednesday…
It's going to be a battle. I think sometimes you can get all caught up in the x's and o's, but at the end of the day you have to be first to second balls. You have to compete 1v1. In games like this, you have to be able to win your 1b1 duels. I think, at times, they found ways to kind of break through us a little bit. We have got to be a little bit more savvy in a couple situations. Sometimes we were really good. We won a ball in their half and we had really good recognition to go to their goal quick. And then at other times we had really good circulation of the ball. But again, we also gave up the ball in a couple really dangerous areas and that's what you don't want to do because they're a good counter attacking team.
On the play of Memo Rodriguez…
I tell him all the time, Memo has a lot of really good quality as a player. I think sometimes what players have to find is they have to find a routine in their own game. You have to play to what you're good at and what your strengths are. He's slowly starting to do that. The one thing that he does have, which he brought with him, and that is he's got a really good bite and a really good anticipation to win balls. Him and Jake (Davis) are two little pit bulls in there. And you need that. You need to be able to sometimes to muck it up in the middle of the park. And they both had great energy in there. They worked tirelessly today. That was one of the reasons why I think we had so much success, especially in the first half.
On the play of Alenis Vargas…
This was a much better match for him. This is one of his better ones because he had a rhythm to his game. That's what I was talking about earlier, about having a routine in your game. He's starting to understand that there's more than just play the ball over the top and let me sprint. He has to play within the game. He has got to defend. He still has to understand that he's got to be a little stronger in situations because he's a strong dude. But you also have to be strong in the moment. It's not just that you're strong. You have to be strong in actions. I thought that he got a good lesson tonight. At the same time, he raised his standard a little bit for the rhythm of the way he played and his routine.
On his message to the team at halftime…
We had talked about them playing the ball over the top by playing long balls out of the back and that we needed to recover quickly and anticipate those balls. The other was we just needed to keep the team compact, which we didn't do to start the half but we got better as the half went on. When we were compact, I think it was harder for them to break us down.
Sporting KC forward Willy Agada
Thoughts on the match…
Big ups to the guys. It was a good fight. Shout out to Memo (Rodriguez), my boy, with the match winner. He finished everything off. We're excited about winning and I want to say a big shout out to the guys. That was a great fight by the team and I wish we continue like that. For my goals, it's just what I like doing. We just need to keep our heads up and make sure we finish all the chances we get.
On his first goal…
Shout out to my boy Memo (Rodriguez). Tthat was a sweet cross from him. I saw the ball flying so I just tried to position myself there. I knew once I touched the ball that I was in a dangerous position there. Shout out to Memo. That was a good cross from him. I was just there trying to finish like always. That was a good cross from Memo, my boy. Hopefully we keep getting crosses like that so that we keep scoring goals.
On Memo Rodriguez…
Memo and coach, they have the best relationship between them so I will leave that for them. He’s a great player. He always makes sure he keep the midfield calm. We just want to see more of what he did today. Sometimes you need to stand up for your boys and he did that. I’m so excited for him for the goal and to help the team keep it 3-2. It's good.
On finding a winner…
It was just about hard work and just keeping consistency and to keep fighting until the end. We got the boys. Sometimes it gets out of the way. But we have amazing players here, quality players. The big boys know what they should do always. So we, the young ones, we just follow them and they keep saying, ‘hey guys, stay focused. We're going to get our chances and make sure you stay focused.’ I hit it. Memo came and finished it from behind. That was a good one from the boys. I'm happy that we stayed focused to the end of the game and we kept fighting. I hope we keep doing that until the end of the season.
On the red card…
Sometimes as players we just get too emotional sometimes. I would do the same thing if someone hit me. It's normal, you know. At the end of the day, we got the three points. I don't care what he did. If that's what makes us get the three points, that's what we want. A win is a win. My boy got the card, but most importantly we got the three points. This is what is important.
On the rematch with Dallas…
It's not going to be easy. Don't get me wrong. They have an amazing team and you can see in the second half how they transition. We just need to stay focused and keep our heads straight and listen to the coaches. We know they have great plans for us. You can see from the starters and the guys that come from the bench, the big boss knows what to do. So I will leave it to the big boss to decide. We’re just his boys. Whenever he says go, we go.
On the Open Cup…
Honestly, that would be great achievement if we can get ourselves to the final (especially) for players like me that have never gotten to win any trophies yet for the team. Fingers crossed and we hope our fans will stay on our side. I wish they will come and support us on Wednesday. I promise that the players will give all our best. That is another important game for the team and for us the players. We'll make sure we put everything just to win for the fans and for ourselves.
Sporting KC midfielder Memo Rodriguez
On his goal…
I think we did well on the break there. I saw a few FC Dallas players behind me, so I just tried to time my run on time. For a ball like that, obviously we got lucky that the ball landed and I had a good contact on it.
On playing in a double pivot…
I've done it before at the beginning of the season. Jake and I and the whole team did good work, hard work, and defended well. There's little mistakes that we've been making throughout the season and we have got to clean up. But now we have an important game on Wednesday that you either win or you go home. We want to win.
On Erik Thommy’s run prior to his goal…
Thommy did a great job there and obviously we did a good break. Luckily, I had great contact on the ball and was able to score. A great team effort today. Like I said, just little mistakes we need to clean up.
On his work rate…
Always since I came here, I'm a high energy guy. I always want to win no matter what. I've said it at the beginning as well. I hate losing more than I like to win. I think a lot of guys put in the effort today. I always play with a chip on my shoulder just to help the team in any way possible. Thankfully, my teammates made it easy for me to play today.
On his past playing against Dallas while with Houston…
I've scored a few goals against them. Obviously, Houston and Dallas and Sporting always had a history when they played each other. We played a great game today to have the team perform like we did today. We made mistakes that cost us but to come back and win 3-2 was great for the team.
On his run of form…
I'm happy that I landed here with a great group of guys with a great coaching staff. Obviously the season hasn't been the way we wanted but there are not many games that we have been outplayed other than Columbus. It's a matter of us not making those mistakes that cost us the game. Like today, we could have easily, comfortably, probably went up 3-0 or 4-0 and killed the game in the first half. We keep teams around and we need to have that killer mentality just to put them away.
On Peter Vermes’ praise…
We're high energy guys. Obviously, I wanted to win today. I'm sure everybody else wanted to win today. We know that we have a game against them Wednesday and it's going to be a little bit different. They rotated a little bit and we did as well. But we're going to come out and we're playing at home in front of our home fans. We have to have the same energy. It’s a sudden death game. It could be 90 minutes. It could be 120 or PK’s. We want to end it in 90, especially at home with the energy from the fans.
On the U.S. Open Cup…
It happened to me in 2018 when we were with Houston. We were in last place and we won the Open Cup. I think that's what we play for every day. We train to win trophies so for us to be able to have the opportunity to win the trophy and play in front of our home fans, it's a big opportunity for us to advance.
On the red card…
I don't know. Emotions were high. Obviously we are going to defend (Zorhan Bassong) to the end. He’s our teammate. We have to defend him and back him no matter what. He knows that maybe he made a mistake but we back him no matter what and we have got to fight to the end. There are things that happen in football. You have to close out games. There was like a minute and a half left. Emotions were high. We were able to close out the game so nothing comes from it.
