Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
On the starting lineup...
“Lot of changes obviously to the lineup. I thought the guys that came in, with not having a lot of games under their belt, actually all did a really good job. It’s not easy anywhere in this league, let alone do it with a bunch of guys that haven’t played a lot of games in succession. So from that perspective, I’m very proud of the guys. I also think that I’m proud of them for trying to play the way we want to play. At times, we actually did some really good things, other times we fell short. But, you know the good thing is they had the courage to do it and then another piece is that they found a way to get back in the game and grind out a result, which is not easy. You kind of expect what the first half was like because there’s a little disconnect on our side, but we built ourselves into the game and took some good information into halftime, which then now translated into the second half, which was really good.”
On resting players for Monterrey...
“It’d be great to do well in the game and see if we can make a run at it. We’ll see. We’ll see how it goes. I mean, that’s our big thing. They just lost 5-1 to Toluca so stuff happens.”
On Sporting KC’s ability...
“I think we have a good team. I’ve said this before: I don’t think we’re seven goals better than Montreal, and I don’t think we’re five goals worse than Monterrey. Sometimes games happen like that. We’ve got to respond in the correct way. I thought today was a good step in that direction.”
Sporting Kansas midfielder Gianluca Busio
On scoring in consecutive games...
“Yeah, I guess every time I score a goal it’s some kind of history now. I tend not to look at that stuff. I try to just go out there and play my best and if that means getting a goal, then that means getting a goal. I’m happy to get it and hopefully I can just keep on going.”
On scoring in front of his parents...
“That was the first professional game they saw that I scored in. So it was good to see them in person and, you know, they don’t have to watch it on TV all the time. I was just happy to have a family that can support me.”
On momentum going into second leg of Concacaf Champions League...
“It definitely gives us more confidence going into the second leg. Obviously we wanted to get three points. We want to get three points in every game. It’s definitely difficult, but it’s also a hard result so we’re going to take it and move on.”
FC Cincinnati head coach Alan Koch
First thoughts on the match...
“I just spoke to the team -- and in the big picture, which I think is the most important when playing against a team like Sporting Kansas City, and for us, our sixth game together -- to get a point, that’s satisfying. In the small picture, actually the individual game that we played today and how the game unfolded, our hope, our goal was to get three points. I think if we capitalized on more of our chances, we make it 1-0, we make it 2-0, the game may or may not be over at that time. So, a little disappointing in the small picture, in terms of not getting the three points today. But in terms of the big picture, playing against really -- what I think is definitely one of the best teams and one of the best franchises in the league -- I’m satisfied to have gotten a point.”
On not capitalizing on opportunities...
“That’s why I speak about the big and the small. It’s kind of a combination of both. I think that when you’re 1-0 up and you create chances, if you don’t take your second chance, a lot of the time you leave teams in the game. If you give a team like Kansas City -- with the quality players that they had on the pitch today and the quality players that they brought onto the pitch today -- you leave us in a precarious position. So obviously, it’s always frustrating when you’re leading in a game and you don’t get the three points. So, if we take more of our chances when we’re 1-0 up, make it two, it may be a different story right now.”
FC Cincinnati forward Darren Mattocks
On the match...
“We performed just pretty good, especially the first half. But I think everyone’s a little bit disappointed, because we think that was the game we could get three points. You know, I think we created a number of chances in the first half and a really good chance in the second half to put them away. Against good teams, if you don’t put them away, they’re going to find ways to get back into the game and they did just that. But overall, we take a point from a very good SKC team. They showed their best tonight.”
On the goal and creating chances...
“Yeah, I’m never worried about scoring goals. I know the goals are going to come, (I’ve) just got to be a little bit more consistent. Not just me, the team total. When we get chances, especially home games like this, you have to put them away.”
On the result after last week’s loss...
“I think, even though it’s a bit disappointing, we took a lot of positives from this game to just create so many chances. We could’ve scored four, five goals. That’s a really big positive we can take from this game because coming next week, playing the best team in the league, we are going to need to be confident to create chances.”
FC Cincinnati midfielder Leonardo Bertone
On chances created...
“I think the great chances is one thing, but we have to score the chances. We can finish the game. We didn’t finish the game, so they came back and at the end it feels like a loss.”
On the biggest difference from last week’s match...
“The biggest difference I think were chances. We had so many chances and we didn’t score. They had like one or two chances and they scored.”
On how physical the game was...
“I think it was like every game physically. We have to run a lot and we have to move a lot and it is the same like every time.”
FC Cincinnati goalkeeper Spencer Richey
On dropping points at home...
“I don’t feel good about it at all. We know they rotated a bit today and they’re probably one of the two deepest teams in the league in terms of they can go 15, 16 guys deep and still put a good team out. They showed that today. But at the end of the day, if we want to be a competitive team in this league and is in the playoffs each other year and striving for a Cup, these are the games we need to win. A mistake from me in the back lets one in and then a couple missed chances up front. We leave two points on the table."
