Head Coach Benny Feilhaber
Thoughts on the match…
That was first and foremost important in terms of what I told the players. They understood the importance. I prefaced this as the last game of the beginning of the season. Now we go on a two game road trip. Being able to get a lot of the first teamers in and having them feel like they’re a part of the team and being able to get a win as a collective unit was important.
On Pau Vidal’s Goal…
One of the things we worked on the entire week was being able to pass across and get bodies in the box. Pau (Vidal) is going to get a majority of his goals inside the six so I’m glad that he made that run, I’m glad he got the service and it was a good finish. It was in-between the legs, so it was good to see that one go in early.
On Ozzie Cisneros’ play…
I thought he was very good in the first two games. I thought he was a little quiet here today, but we told him that he has to find opportunities to impact the game in an offensive way. I think he had a couple of very good passes that just didn’t pan out. Maybe the run wasn’t exactly there, or the pass wasn’t exactly there, or somebody took an unclean touch. But he’s been involved in that area of the field. He was able to get involved with a heck of a finish with his left foot. Something that we’ve been missing is the ability to hit the target with power. We’ve had some shots from the top of the box and inside the box that have just not gotten to the goal with enough power or enough precision, and he was able to do both on that shot.
On not keeping the clean sheet…
It's disappointing. It’s not as disappointing because we still got the three points, but I let them know in there. It’s not the way we want to finish games. Any given moment can now produce a draw. You shouldn’t allow that to happen. It was clear-cut where our mentality dropped a little bit as soon as we went up two-zero. We had a moment where clearly the guy was not offside and both Chris (Rindov) and Jahon (Rad) fell asleep and are not playing the game. We almost gave up a goal there and then shortly after we give up a goal on a play where the guy dribbles through everybody. It’s soft. We all know it’s soft and that’s the mental part of the game. We want to make sure we continue on that. It’s a lot easier to improve on things when you get three points.
Looking ahead to the next two matches…
We’re excited. I think the first part of the season is over and we’re starting to know who we are. What kind of team we are. What kind of things we improve on. As a coaching staff, it’s exciting. You start to see these things develop and you can see a pathway to continue to improve as a team and as individuals. Going on the road will be a good test. Salt Lake is a place we lost and didn’t play well last year, and I hope guys are motivated by that. We play Cincinnati and we haven’t played any teams in the eastern conference so that will be interesting.
Sporting KC Midfielder Ozzie Cisneros
On getting on the scorer’s sheet…
It felt amazing. It’s been a very long time since I’ve been on the scorers sheet, almost like a year. It felt really good just getting that and to get on the list. It felt amazing but it feels even better to get the three points.
On returning from injury…
At first it was difficult getting back in. I was out for so long and it was a little tough getting used to it. The boys have been helping me out a lot and they made it a lot easier for me.
On getting minutes with the second team and his confidence…
It feels good knowing I can get minutes here when I am not able to play with the first team. I’m always able to get minutes here at a very high level. It’s nice being able to play here. I’ve been feeling really confident. The coaches here give me all of the confidence in the world to just be myself. I give a lot of credit to them.
On playing the 10…
It’s my favorite position. Of course, I’m obviously able to play on the wing but I love playing as a 10 and creating chances for myself and for my teammates.
