Swope Park Rangers Head Coach Paulo Nagamura
On the team's fight until the end…
The positive was they never gave up. They fought until the end even though they were down 4-1 with 12 minutes left to play. The goals we conceded were disappointing. One was a mistake by Eric [Dick] and the second was a foul by Rebellon with no one on the rebound and the third was after a throw-in. By the time they scored the fourth, we were throwing numbers up the field and they countered and found a fourth. The positive though is they never gave up and fought until the end which is a takeaway.
On other takeaways from the match…
There are four games left and we have a game on Wednesday against a team [San Antonio FC] that is also fighting for a playoff spot. We have to get recovered the next couple of days and be ready to play against another great team on Wednesday.
Swope Park Rangers Forward Hadji Barry
On his goal…
Kharlton Belmar got the ball and took the guy 1v1 and once he put his head down he knew I would be there. This is something we practice in training. He played me a great ball and I had a nice touch and buried it. It was a great start, but unfortunately we lost the match.
On the result…
The first St. Louis goal was a mistake, which brought them back into the game. Before that goal we had control of the game. We thought we were going to open them more and we had a few chances, but we weren’t able to capitalize. Once they took that goal they gained all the momentum. A lot of credit to the guys though who fought back at the end.
Swope Park Rangers Forward Ethan Vanacore-Decker
On his first professional goal…
Felt cool, would have felt better if we would’ve gotten the win. We didn’t give up, so that is something to build on.
On playing at Children’s Mercy Park…
It’s awesome. Just to look up is overwhelming sometimes. The field is awesome, it’s just a cool experience.
On the effort at the end…
We didn’t give up. We [Tyler Blackwood and Chase Minter] came in and we tried our best to help the team. I think we did, but sometimes you just come up short. There is always the next game, so hopefully we can build on this and take the win at the next one.
Saint Louis FC Head Coach Anthony Pulis
On preparing for today’s game…
It was tough. There was obviously a large emphasis on recovery. We had to travel as well from Salt Lake City to Kansas on Thursday. There was a recovery session when we got to the hotel on and then we did a light session yesterday and a lot of video. Kudos to the guys. It’s a mammoth effort to come on the road to a place like this and get a victory like this. They deserve an enormous amount of credit and it’s the way they’ve worked all year. They’ve been a fantastic group to work with. Swope is an extremely good team, so extremely proud.
On the team's press…
It was a concern to be honest and with the game being played at 4 o’clock with the heat and how long we’d be able to sustain the press. We knew there was going to be a drop-off at some point, so getting that two and three-goal cushion was important. Unfortunately, we let a couple sloppy ones through toward the end, but that was to be expected. The guys found a way to win in the end.
