After going down to nine men, Chicago Fire FC fell 2-1 to the New York Red Bulls at Soldier Field on Saturday. Read postmatch thoughts from Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson and defender Jonathan Bornstein below.
Chicago Fire FC Quotes
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson
On the officiating tonight…
“I mean, as far as the ref goes, I want to commend the ref. I thought he made a very good call. Fletcher threw an elbow on Gaston. Fletcher was carrying a yellow already so he reaches in his pocket, realized that he was carrying a yellow so he doesn't give him a second yellow and I think that's how, you know, I applaud him for that because that way you keep the game level, 11 for 11, and you let the players decide the game, so I want to commend him on that. That's all I'm going to say about the refs.”
On the weather conditions tonight and the rain delay…
“Well, I think, you know, both teams had the delay and it's something that obviously affects the players because now you have to get cooled down, you have to warm up again and get going again, and it takes a while to get going. But you know, both teams have to deal with that. So there's nothing we could do there. That's just one of those variables that we can't control in this game.”
On Jairo Torres’s arrival and what it’ll take to score more goals…
“Well, Jairo definitely helps us but from a team standpoint, I thought tonight we were creating some chances. I thought we were getting out on the break. We were able to play through their press which is a very, you know, strong press. But it's just about finishing. Once we get in the final third, we just got to finish our chances. Jairo will definitely help us create more chances. And I think the more chances we get, the more likelihood we get to score goals from the run of play, as you said, but we don't really care how we score goals. You know, a lot of the goals that we've given up have been set pieces, tonight we gave up a PK goal. So for us, it doesn't matter how we get the goals, we just know that we need to get more goals.”
Chicago Fire FC Defender Jonathan Bornstein
On what was challenging about the conditions and the playing surface tonight…
“I think anytime you play in a game with weather the way it was tonight, the pauses, heavy rain came down during that pause, the field started really well the first half, but then the second half was really wet. It slowed it down a bit. It’s always a challenge to play in those, but I think both teams have to play on that field. It was kind of two different games, to be honest, the first half and the second half.”
On how difficult it was to play with the break due to weather and going down to nine men…
“It was not a normal day, right? I think we started the game really well. I have to applaud my teammates because they gave everything in the first half and the majority of the second half, they gave everything. We were in a good place to win the game. Yes, it was difficult to make that pause for the weather, the rain and the lightning, but we stayed focused and I think we still came out of the pause really well. Of course, playing with nine men on the field is difficult. I applaud my teammates. Nobody put their arms down and everyone gave their all to the very end.”
