Sporting Kansas City interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin
On the second half performance…
The spirit of the guys - they were not going to give in. It's the first time in a while that I heard at halftime -- after what was a pretty tight first half -- walking out of the locker room and saying we're not losing tonight. And so, with that mentality and that spirit, you can overcome a lot of things. We created a lot more opportunities. But that was because, as the guys grew in confidence, which has been missing for a while now, we started getting in and around the goal. We knew that was going to be something that we would have to fix before we could move in a positive direction of getting points. And on the flip side, I think defensively, despite the fact that there were a few close calls, the commitment for the guys to defend all 11 players on the field was fantastic.
On creating more chances…
In the first half, we wanted to get Manu (Garcia) the ball a little bit more and even though he got it from deeper positions, he was involved and he was touching the ball. We had a few opportunities to find him between the lines in the first half where we just missed a little bit. But our ability to move the ball and our rotations on the wings, I think unbalanced them at times. The first half they were just so compact. But the determination and commitment of (Dejan Joveljic) to be just a non-stop horse up there, it's not a surprise that he scored 20+ goals last year. It was just a matter of breaking out and he did tonight. And credit to all the guys with their commitment to get forward and their commitment to get in the box and not just in the box, but to finish the opportunities.
On his first game as interim manager…
I think the entire week -- for all of us, not just me, for all of us -- has been an emotional one. I have had to compartmentalize a lot of my emotions and feelings because I knew what I needed to do and what we needed to do to get the result tonight. And so we've been focused just on that. The emotions for me are probably still inside somewhere. But to be able to do this against a rival; in my first time coaching; with the commitment that the players gave; and the confetti on the field that we've been missing for a little while. It's a magical night.
On the players emotions at full time…
I know how badly that they wanted to do well. They're a great group of men. They just needed to trust each other a little bit more. And you saw the emotion as it's been building throughout the week that they wanted to do well for each other. That little skirmish at the end is nothing new to the week. A couple days ago, we had a few skirmishes in training and that means that you're on the edge and you're playing on the edge and you're competing right on that edge. I didn't see what happened down there. It's no surprise. It's St. Louis and Kansas City. It seems to have happened over the course of history, so why not tonight? But I'm proud of the guys.
On the clean sheet…
Well, I think in order to have any success, defense wins. And you have to use that as your foundation. As much as you want to be entertaining and bring joy to the crowd, you have to have a foundational piece and that's the defending aspect. Wanting to high press and pressure all over the field doesn't mean you want to defend any better or more. It's more of a matter of being compact and giving up less opportunities in front of goal. One of the things that we had had issues with recently is that it wasn't the number of chances that we gave up, it was the incredibly high-quality chances that our opponents have been getting. You could see when it was 1-0 tonight, that the commitment to remain compact, even if it was lower in the field, really made the difference. And every man out there tonight sold his body to preserve the result. And that's what it takes. That's what it takes to win.
On the play of Jansen Miller and Jacob Bartlett…
We knew we had something special in Miller when we drafted him. It was probably in the first week. Day by day, you could see the player integrating himself and getting more comfortable with the group. He's got a great personality, so I'm not surprised by his performance tonight. He's been outstanding. It's still his first year, so the expectation for him is that he's just going to keep progressing because with the mentality that he has, he's one that I would anticipate would have a long career in the league. Jacob Bartlett is a special player as well. Special person, special player. He's one of those number sixes that we've usually gone overseas to find and it's fantastic that we have one here in Kansas City. His maturity for his age (because) the position itself requires a lot of reading of the game and with a lot of young players, it takes time for that. But he's hardly put a foot wrong this year.
On John Pulskamp in goal…
John has a spirit and a competitiveness and a drive that pushes the group along. As he matures as a player, I think he's going to be able to read situations even better. But for where he is in his progression, he is an incredible asset for us. That’s not just in shot stopping, it's in terms of pushing the group each and every day in training. And that's a great thing to have in a team.
On the confusion with the substitution…
It was the sub card. I'd like to get clarification of how the other side felt about that. The sub card apparently had a number that was misrepresented on the card. I don't know if that was the case. Our assistant coach put that in. But at the end of the day, that's my responsibility and so I take it. That won't happen again. But as you said, it could have hurt us in a game. Luckily for us, our players pulled together and survived the moment. But that one's on me.
On the insertion of Nemanja Radoja…
We knew coming into the game that Khiry Shelton -- by the way, he had a fantastic performance -- Khiry Shelton was carrying a little bit of a knock and we didn't know how long we were going to be able to push him. Sixty minutes would have been probably the max and he pushed himself to that point or close to it. Jake (Davis) moved to right back and we needed a tough tackler in the midfield in a game like this and (Nemanja) did an unbelievable job. That tackle? Those are the little things that turn games. What is now a fantastic night with a 2-0 win, but without that tackle maybe they go in and they make it 1-1. Those are the little things. I told the group that you have to do the little things and that was one of the occasions tonight.
On his celebration with the players postgame…
I told the guys when I first stepped into the locker room on Monday that I was proud to be their coach. I will give them everything I have and in return I would expect that they would give the same back. And they did. And so that moment at the end of the game was a moment to celebrate together. Jake (Davis) and the rest of the guys, I think we all knew what we've been through this week, what tonight meant and the happiness of being able to feel that again.
On his history with the team and at the stadium…
I've been going to the wrong parking spot and the wrong seat in the locker room all week. And that was no different tonight, even with my name tag above it. I have been in a routine. I can get to the places, but once I'm there, it’s still new to me. I remember when this stadium opened that I would come on game day at 11 o'clock in the morning and just walk around it. It still means as much today to walk in here as it did in those first few moments when it was shiny and new. And so to do that as now the coach of the team certainly is another emotion which you can add to the week.
Sporting Kansas City forward Dejan Joveljic
On the win…
It's been a while. I'm very happy about the team’s performance and about my performance. I think we did well. It's always nice to win in derby games and it means a lot for us as you could see on the field. We go forward. We are happy. We are more confident and hopefully we are going to win more points.
On the team’s confidence…
As you could see when we scored the first goal, we felt some relief and it was like a good injection of confidence. Especially when we scored the second one and we could have scored even more. I'm just happy and I'm looking forward for the next game.
On the emotions of the week…
For me, it was hard because coach Peter (Vermes) was the one who brought me here. But I have not been here long at this club, so it's not the same feeling for me as for the other guys. I think for them it's very hard and also for other people from the club. What he did at this club, it's amazing. And if the next coach tries to do something like Peter, it would be awesome. He completely changed the situation and the view for this club. I can just say thank you.
On playing more direct…
Yes, that was our idea. When we lose the ball and when we win the second balls to try to go immediately forward. Somehow in the last games, when we won the second ball we played back. So now it was maybe the first time that we played direct and we scored. So we are going to continue doing that.
On building off the win…
We are going to just take two days off and prepare for the next game. If you lose the next game, this win means nothing. So we need to take points in the next game.
