Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match…
I thought the changes that we made with the group, I thought those guys all performed really well. Some of them lasted probably longer than we expected and I thought they played well. A couple mistakes, but I have to say there's quite a few guys that performed. If you look at the three in the midfield and then the change -- with Memo (Rodriguez), (Zorhan) Bassong, I thought Remi (Walter) did a good job when he was in, then we changed it when we brought Jake (Davis) in – and I thought those guys really changed things in regards to possession of the ball and then also winning a lot of balls back in that part of the field. I thought Stephen Afrifa and Alenis (Vargas) were really good in the wings and lasted a lot longer than they have in other games, which was good. This was high intensity for them. A couple situations maybe could have turned the other way for us. We probably could have gotten back into the game. They made some good diving saves off the line, but a lot of guys played really well.
On Stephen Afrifa’s progress…
I think he played well tonight, especially with him being able to last as long as he did in the game because in other games he's tired out early or he just lost a lot of energy early on. But tonight he was good. It was good to see that evolution of him.
On captaining Jake Davis…
I think that he has been a spark plug within the group. His relentlessness on the field has been great. It was well deserved for him to wear the armband even though he's a young kid.
On the frontline…
Those guys played really well in the game. They were doing a good job, all those guys. I knew we were going to have to make a sub somewhere in the midfield and I knew that Jake could go as long as he could so bringing on Khiry (Shelton) at the end was pretty easy and Logan (Ndenbe) as well with the outside backs. I think those three guys in the midfield at that point did a really good job. And then especially the two guys out wide, they were at a good level tonight and it was important.
Sporting Kansas City forward Stephen Afrifa
On his start…
Obviously, I want to say it's good. Still, the result is what matters and we didn't get it tonight. So as happy as I am to get the start and get the minutes I did, I felt like maybe there's more I could have done. But at the end of the day, it’s soccer. Again, I’m glad I got the time out there.
On his goal…
That's, I’ll say, a signature shot of mine, just being able to curl the ball in. The second I saw Jake play it and saw the weight on it, that was my first decision and just hit it. It came off very well.
On the response from Wednesday’s match…
I think the group did very well. The scoreline to me personally doesn't reflect how the game went. We created a lot of chances. We had the ball. We played just as well as them. Obviously, the score didn't go our way but everyone looked good -- just mistakes here and there, just little things that cost us today.
