Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
On success of forwards throughout the match…
“It was some of the best that we’ve had. I was telling somebody before that I thought that between Diego [Rubio] and Daniel [Salloi], it’s almost like they’ve been playing together for 10 years with the relationship and combination play. The ball that Diego plays him here late in the second half, where he kind of goes to his left and cuts back to the right and slips in through, and Daniel misses it to the far post, that was a fantastic little combination. It was very good. Daniel’s movement off the ball was good. But Diego was very good in holding the ball up for us tonight, it caused a lot of problems for them. It’s amazing that he doesn’t have a hat trick tonight, honestly.”
On what fueled the forwards…
“Hunger. They were hungry. I knew that putting Daniel out there -- he’s going to go for goals. His movement is going to be very good in the fact that he can hold the ball up very well and bring players into the game. I also thought that Latif [Blessing] was very dangerous in the first half. He stretched the defense a lot and they weren’t ready for it. But being able to play through a focal point up front was a big piece of tonight’s success.”
On success of defense…
“I think Chicago, coming into the game, is probably the best team in the league. I told the guys to start the week that this is going to be your biggest challenge of the year thus far. No disrespect to any of the other teams that we’ve played, but they have a style of play, they have a lot of experience to their team and they’re very strong right up the middle. So because of that, it was going to be a big challenge for us. I thought what was great was I thought we had a great gameplan and a great execution. They got the deflection -- that really was a half-hearted service, if you will -- outside of that, they didn’t really have anything in the first half. The second half they got a little bit more, but it wasn’t like we gave up a lot, and Tim [Melia] comes up with a great save on the header, which keeps us in the game. That’s what we always expect of our keeper, to make one big save to keep us in the game, and he did that tonight. He actually made a few. But the guys played very well against a team that was good. It was interesting because we had to make some tactical changes in the game, and so did they. It was good because it was a little bit of a thinking man’s game at different points, and we had to change and they had to change and that was good. For us to come out on top is hopefully a good confidence builder to help us understand that sometimes we have to do some things differently in the game from a tactical perspective and still get the result, and we did it.”
On play of Latif Blessing…
“I’d say him, Ilie Sanchez, Gerso Fernandes, all of the guys we brought in, their acclimation has been almost seamless to the team. There’s one thing about soccer, they’re very good players, they’ve got great attitudes but they’re great people. The fact that they fit in so well and so quickly, not just on the field but off the field -- it has a lot to do with off the field -- they’ve all exceeded our expectations from the point of view of how fast they’ve simulated to the team.”
On play of Ike Opara…
“He was good, he was smart. He played within himself today and didn’t go crazy. I think on the second goal they scored I think he pulled back because he didn’t want to slide tackle the guy and cause a penalty. I think he had the ball and I think he pulled out late, but outside of that I thought we was very good. I thought he was smart, he played with his head, no pun intended, but he played with his head. And I talked to the guys about that as well, that this is probably going to be one of those games where everybody is going to need three advils after the game because of the headaches they’re going to have because of the thinking they’re going to have to do over the course of 90 minutes because this game is going to be a thinking game. It’s not just going to be about who is running more, who is fighting more, but it’s also going to be about thinking, and we did a really good job of that.”
On play of Cristian Lobato…
"Yeah this was a really good introduction for him to kind of see what an MLS game is like. He’s very good on the ball, he’s very clean. He can play five positions on the field. Left back, two attacking midfielders and left or right wing. He’s got very good quality. What he needs to do now is get familiar with the pace of an MLS game, with the physicality of a game, that’s what he has to get used to. He’s a quick learner, he’ll figure it out pretty quick.”
On return of Matt Besler and Graham Zusi…
“First off, it’s not easy for those guys. They just come off a huge win, they win the Gold Cup, they joined a very impressive group of people, I’ve done that. What’s hard about what they did is that we’ve prepared all week, and then they only had one day which is the easiest day of the week, Friday. So for them to jump back in and not miss too much of a step was good. It’s going to be nice to have them here now and get a good rhythm going forward.”
On consistency of Seth Sinovic…
“I wasn’t sure if he was going to ever reach his form again to be honest with you. He struggled in ‘15 and ‘16, with his injuries and concussions and those type of things, I wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to get back to that form, so credit to him for getting back to his form late last season. He worked hard in the offseason and he’s been very steady. I always call him a steady Eddy and a Safety Sam, that’s what he is. And he doesn’t get a lot of accolades and those type of things, but he does his job and he never really goes out of the lines, he just does what he needs to do. Obviously you need those type of guys, and believe me, it doesn’t go unnoticed by us.”
Sporting KC striker Diego Rubio
On the forwards producing tonight...
“We want to score goals. We want to score goals, we want to help the team. But it’s not just to score goals, it’s to win, win every game. And today, everybody was going for the same goal, to win. We are happy. I think all the team did a really good job.”
On what forwards need to do to maintain momentum…
“We need to continue to (move forward). Today we had many chances to score some goals because of the movement we made in the front. If we continue to do this, if we have 10 chances then I think we can score four or five. We need to have more and more chances every game. I’ve said it before, if we score more goals than the other team, then we are going to win. That’s the most important thing. We need to build more, but we’re doing a really good job of that.”
Sporting KC midfielder Benny Feilhaber...
On the combination play from the team’s offense…
“I think they did a great job, from Latif (Blessing), to Diego (Rubio), to Daniel (Salloi), I think all three of them had big impacts on the game. Obviously Daniel and Latif both had a goal, Diego had an assist – should’ve had, I’ll talk to him, he should’ve had his own goal when he was able to spin that guy in the box. But you could see the interchanging, Diego laid one off to Daniel that he should’ve had another one as well, so there’s some real good interchanging in there and I really do think that Diego is a guy that’s going to change the way we play a little bit. He’s a guy that likes to bring other players into the attack, he’s obviously a good finisher as well but I think he brings that added worry for the defense. I’m disappointed that he didn’t get a goal for himself tonight, but overall, those three guys played pretty well together I thought.”
On the emergence of Latif Blessing…
“I think that he feels more at home, he knows that he’s allowed to do the things that he knows how to do and feels comfortable being able to provide that for us. That goal, I don’t know if it looked easy or not for you guys but that’s a difficult skill to just be able to deftly touch it like that and keep it away from the goalie and put it inside the post. I think the things that he’s doing for us just brings an added factor, a different approach when he gets the ball than a lot of the other guys. He’s kind of an x-factor for us, that’s important for us going forward so it’s great to see him getting goals, having fun, doing his crazy dances at the end of the game. I like seeing those dances, cause that means we got the three points so a good night for him.”
If he’s had a bicycle kick from close range before…
“That close to the goal? No, I’ve never had a bike that close to the goal and I highly doubt I’ll ever get a bike that close. I almost got caught in the net. I don’t know if I’ve ever scored a bike outside of a preseason game once with New England – you guys can look that one up on YouTube.”
Sporting KC defender Matt Besler
Thoughts on the match…
"Offensively, that was some of the best soccer we’ve played all season. Our team’s ability to make the right pass and to be creative in the final third, I think you guys saw that the movement was there and the decisions were there. There have been many games where we have had trouble breaking down the team and tonight wasn’t one of them. That’s definitely a very big positive from this game."
On going against the Fire attack…
"Chicago is a good team. We knew that going in and they confirmed it with the way they played. I think it was two good soccer teams playing a well-contested game. Both teams like to play with the ball and I think that showed. Chicago does some different things with their formations. [Bastian] Schweinsteiger drops deep a lot of times and they push their outside backs forward. At times, we probably didn’t do our best job dealing with it. At the end oft he day we needed to win the game and we got the job done."
Chicago Fire head coach Veljko Paunovic
Overall thoughts on the match...
“It was a tough match for us. First of all, congrats to SKC for the win. We conceded two in the first half, in my opinion too easy. We weren’t sharp. We weren’t aware defensively. We committed mistakes that a team like Sporting Kansas City was not going to just let it go away. We are disappointed obviously, but I think we had a good reaction after the first goal when we conceded and then scoring the goal. Then we established our possession and we started to play the way we wanted but then again second goal was a difficult moment for the team. We wanted to recover well for the second half and what we said in the locker room at halftime was that we have to start strong, we cannot allow another goal and actually we did everything opposite. Good reaction after the second goal. We had opportunities and were close to tying the game. I think that is positive about us but still we are not the Chicago that we were and we are still looking for our best form to come in the coming weeks. We have to keep working hard and stay positive. Still a lot of things to put together and get better so we are going to keep working."
On the lift that David Accam brought Chicago when he entered the match…
“David [Accam] obviously scored the goal, it’s an important goal. It was a great cross by Patrick Doody, it was a good assist and yeah he had the opportunity to tie the game. Another great build up and great cross from [Matt] Polster. Yeah of course, David is important for our team."
On the All-Star break…
"It is an honor to be the All-Star coach and I’m looking forward now. That’s our next game and I’m looking forward to prepare the best we can. Prepare the team to be competitive and to represent our League the best possible way world wide and I just can’t wait for the opportunity to come next game."
On Zusi and Besler back in the lineup for Sporting KC…
"Obviously very good players. They helped their team. We prepared to play against Sporting Kansas City and I believe we conceded three too easily. Two goals in the first half and the third goal was too simple. We weren’t at our best and we have to improve."
Chicago Fire midfielder Dax McCarty
General thoughts on the match…
“Sloppy game from us. Not good enough. Second goal right before halftime killed us and took away all the momentum that we gained last 15 minutes of the first half and then concede another sloppy goal in first couple minutes of the second half. Then you're chasing the game from there against a good team.”
On where the breakdown was tonight…
“It was execution. You score two goals against the best defense in the League on the road against the keeper that’s playing the best in the League right now, you should probably try to defend and not concede three goals if you want to come out with a result. But that’s not the case, we defended very poorly and that’s what you get. The first goal is my fault. I’m trying to be cute and head the ball backwards because I think we have defenders there and I put a guy in on a 75 yard run unimpeded to our goal where he gets in the box and scores off a deflection. Second goal, guy comes through in the box, cross, Lampson makes a great save. We don’t win the second ball, goal. And then the third goal, a guy's just standing in the box with the ball at his feet six yards from our goal and we have no one closing him down. So I think it’s pretty simple where the breakdowns occurred and it’s not just with the defenders or the midfielders or the attackers, it’s with the entire team.”
Chicago Fire midfielder Juninho
On team’s performance tonight…
"I think we did a decent job playing against a very good team. Sporting Kansas City have been very solid at home. We knew that from the beginning and they scored first and then it was hard to get back and try and win the game. It was a good match for us. We didn’t get the result we were looking for.”
On back-to-back road losses…
“It’s tough to come back from the break and have two games on the road. We knew that from the beginning and we were looking to get points. It doesn’t matter home or away, that’s our mentality. This time we couldn’t succeed, but we are still looking to get back in form.”
