Sporting Kansas City II Head Coach Benny Feilhaber
Thoughts on the match...
I told the guys we had the lead because we are a pretty good team, but we didn’t come out with any kind of energy today. If you go through the last ten-fifteen games that we have had success, it’s because of the energy of the guys. We outworked the other teams, we put them in difficult situations both offensively and defensively. Obviously, we’ve been very good on the high press. We didn’t do any of that today. They looked comfortable from beginning to finish. We had some good moments in the first ten-fifteen-twenty minutes. We were able to take a two-nothing lead, but we never looked to be playing our style of soccer and we got punished we didn’t deserve anything out of this game unfortunately.
On John Pulskamp's performance...
Pulskamp was our best player. He was fantastic in the first half to keep us at zero until the forty-fourth or forty-fifth minute when that 2-1 goal came. He had some pretty big saves in the second half too. We didn’t protect him. From front to back, we didn’t protect him. We didn’t do enough. We made it easy for them to get into those shooting positions. When you’re down three to two you have to do something different you have to be proactive, you have to play the game a certain way and Chicago was mentally and physically superior to us the entire match.
Update on Alenis Vargas leaving the match early...
I think he felt something on his hamstring. We were going to make a sub for Pau, but not bring Vargas out. I noticed something and asked him about it and he seemed to gesture that he needed to come out, so we’ll see what’s going on.
Thoughts on the progression of the players this season...
I think we’ve put together a good group, and that goes back to the offseason in terms of scouting from our second-team staff, to the first-team scouting department. I think we’ve done a pretty good job of building the squad and there have been a few players that have done well, a few players that obviously played in Open Cup and the fans obviously remember Ethan Bryant. I think there are a handful of guys that I would say have an opportunity to make a first-team roster next year, but you know that’s a conversation that I have to have with the first-team staff and see where it leads me.
Any explanation for the energy today…
That’s a tough one for me as the coach to talk about because it has been very consistent in our training sessions. We had very good training sessions this week, and an excellent training session yesterday, which made me feel good about where we were at. Sometimes it’s just the confidence. The confidence, how do you get it, how do you lose it, the mentality of willing to work, in a certain game, you see it all over the world there are teams that look fantastic one week and then it seems like they take a step back. That’s why it’s a 28-game season, and I’ve told those guys you don’t win or lose in the regular season any one game. You have to put the whole package together and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of that for 26 games. Hopefully, we can finish in the right way. In playoffs, you can’t take a bad step, so I don’t have a good answer for you, but I do know that when you don’t show up to play this is what happens.
Sporting KC II Defender Lucas Rosa
On his goal...
It’s something I’ve been practicing all year, and I didn’t really have a chance at all until today so happy that Jahon [Rad] had a good way to find a foul there. So, it’s good to see it happen in a game. I was able to see it go in – As soon as I hit it I saw the wall was a little bit lopsided, I realized if I hit it over the wall it was going in, thankfully that happened.
Thoughts on the game…
It was tough. We had a lead even though we didn’t play that well, and didn’t really deserve it. We just needed to do better, to hold our ground and be strong in our challenges because we kind of let it slip. We got a little sloppy at the end and that goal before half gave them life. If that game goes to half at 2-0 it’s a lot different. A good lesson for the postseason. Better to happen now than in three weeks when we’re in the playoffs. We will learn from this and come back stronger.
On being one of the team's leaders...
I am just trying to help and lead by example. It's how I have been my whole life. I’m not one to be yelling or raising my voice much, I just try and give advice in more one on one, off field, settings. Anything they need and I’m there to help. Just trying to be a good example for them.
