Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match…
I thought that we were pressing, meaning that we wanted to get a goal. We were also being very smart with the ball. At the end, it was a wonder goal. That’s like Zinedine Zidane’s goal. What a fantastic finish. What a great way to stick one in the back of the net. That’s big time. That ball is in the air. He hits it first time. It’s great for us to go onto the next round. I think we deserve it. We were good tonight. Don’t get me wrong, Dallas is a great team. They had their full lineup out there. It was a tough match. We managed the team really well over the last couple weeks, especially with injuries. It’s a big result for us.
On fighting back after the 1-0 deficit…
I’ll be honest with you, I felt really comfortable. I felt that we were playing well and I thought we were going to get some chances. I’m really happy that we got the goal before half because I think that gave us a chance to make some good decisions at halftime on how and what we wanted to do. It worked out well.
On Daniel Salloi’s two goals…
We were talking about how we were going to make a sub, we weren’t sure yet. I think it was the right move to push Daniel inside. It got him in some really good positions. He’s got an ability to find the net. Credit to him, as well.
Sporting Kansas City defender Ike Opara
Thoughts on the match…
We survive and advance. I thought we had a lot of good moments after the first 15 minutes. We started out slow and then we rebounded and we got into our game and really started putting them under. An unfortunate second goal for them, but we showed our character again to fight through and getting the winning goal. The young guns came through again for us, as well.
On Daniel Salloi’s two goals…
One and a half. It was big for us. Obviously to tie the game, it gave us momentum going into the half. I don’t know how he gets it off so quickly but that second goal was wonderful. It gave us breathing room to really put them under. We had opportunities for a third goal but an unfortunate mistake led to their goal. We showed our character to finish off the job.
On Yohan Croizet’s goal…
I had the perfect angle. I saw him winding up. He hit it great with contact. Well, maybe sliced it a little bit, but it was good contact to begin with. The keeper had no chance. That’s a goal that wins a game right there.
Sporting Kansas City forward Daniel Salloi
On the team’s performance…
That’s big time. We know how to compete in this Cup competition. I think this is huge. We had a big advantage that we played at home. I think we had a great performance. Nice goals. Yohan, wow – that was unreal. I’ve never seen a goal like that. I’m super happy that we could win, especially that we didn’t have to go into overtime. I think this is big and hopefully we can go all the way.
On the assist from Ike Opara…
Yes, I watched it back. I told him sorry. In the game, I didn’t realize it’s going in. You know what? I’m a forward. I have to steal goals sometimes.
On his second goal…
I only remember the end to be honest. I have to watch it back. Kuzain played me the ball. I knew I could turn and hit it as fast as I can. That was a good shot. I’m super happy. That’s my first brace ever in my career. I’m very happy for that.
On advancing in the tournament…
It’s very important. As I said, it’s something that we are capable of. I think we compete well in this Cup competition. I hope our schedule will be fine and we can win the next games and we can go all the way. Winning something is already making the year successful. We take it seriously.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Yohan Croizet
On his goal…
Seriously, it’s my best goal in my career. In the last minute. I’m really, really happy tonight.
Thoughts on the match…
It was a difficult game. I think so. All game we had a good position. After the second goal, it was my time. I was so happy to score my goal and to help the team.
On the home crowd…
The fans are really amazing. I just want to say thank you for the support. Now we keep going for the future rounds.
FC Dallas Head Coach Oscar Pareja
Thoughts on the match…
Obviously, I’m disappointed with the end after such a good game we played. We scored two goals in a difficult place. We tied the game in a moment where we were putting a lot of things together and finishing strong. Kansas City is a good side, they found ways as well. What just frustrated us was the end in a play that was controlled by us and then suddenly the goal came. I thought we did a good job today, obviously disappointed with not advancing in the Cup that we like to put all that we have into. But the effort by the players was good, finding the ways around, starting the first half leading the game and all the time competing and we were in the game all the time. We came out of the locker room thinking that we left everything on the field.
Thoughts on the comeback goals…
We were in the game all the time. First leading then Kansas City found ways, then balls that were controlled by us, and then at the end when we tied the game I thought we were with more muscle in the middle and the front. I was very optimistic about going to extra time if it was necessary. The team was playing really well. But it was a great shot .It was just through the upper 90 and we couldn’t save it. Congratulations to Kansas City for advancing in the Cup.
On the challenges Kansas City presented…
I think both teams fought a lot. We gave them a lot of trouble up front and in the first half we got in behind them a lot and we had some clear opportunities early in the game. After that in the middle, they had players that are very good, experienced players who can put things together and then they made us drop more than we wanted. But the game was controlled and still we wanted to have those transitions, and we had it. I would say that in the middle with (Roger) Espinoza and (Ilie) Sanchez, they found ways just to get behind and we coped with them and sometimes I thought we got over it and we created problems for them, but it was a good battle.
Getting over this loss for League play…
I say all the time, I don’t like the rankings, I don’t like any of those things, but I will say to our team to just keep working and keep aiming for the next game, next game, next game. The League is long. It’s wild and at this time of the year, with respect to everybody, it is not time to make any analysis. This is a team who has ran it, this is a team who is working. We need points. We’ve got to get back into the League to get into a good spot. We will fight for every point in there as we did today and we hope we can accomplish the next goal which is just getting into the playoffs.
FC Dallas defender Reto Ziegler
Overall thoughts on the match…
It was a battle and we lost, so we are really disappointed. I think it was a good game because I think to come here and play like we played is not easy, but on the other hand they scored three goals so we have to be disappointed, especially with the third goal. It was a fantastic goal but this is what happened.
On the team continuing to fight throughout…
I think the second half was not so good but when you look at the first half, we created a lot of chances and I had the feeling that we could win this game. It was really physical and we have to learn from that game. We know this opponent now really well and they are in our conference and we’re going to play better next time against them in the League.
On moving past this loss…
We are professional players. We always want to win but in football sometimes you lose but now we have to learn from these mistakes. I think we can go away with our heads up. We gave everything. It was not perfect but you cannot blame anybody because we fought for 90 minutes.
