The Chicago Fire suffered the team's first defeat of the season on Saturday, falling 1-0 to Orlando City SC on the road while playing down a man for the entire second half. Following the match, Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson and goalkeeper Gaga Slonina assessed the performance. Read their quotes in full below.
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson
On the frustration of losing a game under the circumstances in which the team lost today…
“Yeah, you know, it's not the way we wanted to lose our first game. But you know, it happens. It's part of the game. I thought the boys still fought, even for a long time, being down a man, I thought they still fought, you know what I mean. Ended up giving one away on a set piece.
So I just want to say that, you know, I told the guys, listen, that was a good fight, but the circumstances being, it was difficult. But they gave it their all and so I'm proud of that.
But a loss is a loss. We weren't going to go 34 games undefeated, you know, but we are happy with the effort the boys put in regardless.”
On how much of a learning moment it was for Brian Gutiérrez getting two yellow cards in about a 40-minute span…
“A big learning moment. And what I told the guys after is, yes, it might have been a difficult call on the second yellow. But that first yellow is something that he has to learn from, and all the other players have to learn from. You know, that's a really poor yellow to get, you know, standing in front of the ball, trying to block the free kick like that. You know, that's inexcusable. So hoping he learns from that, you know, because that's what really did him in.”
On how the guys stepped up with the team missing four key players for this game…
“I thought they did well. J.B., (Jonathan Bornstein), (Jhon) Espinoza, Guti, I thought they all came in and did well. Before that red card, I thought Guti was playing well. I thought he was moving the ball. He's a young kid. Hopefully he learns from this. I thought he was having a good game up until then. That really hurt us as a team.
But overall, I thought the guys did well. The guys who came on, they fought. Some guys were playing out of position, (Chinonso) Offor and A.J. Reynolds, but they still gave it their all. You know, we still had chances, even with, you know, (ten) men. But you know, this game is something we have to put behind us and just move on.”
Chicago Fire FC Goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina
On how frustrating it was to lose for the first time this season…
“Yeah, it's disappointing. It's always tough to take a loss, even if it's on the road. But you know, I have to give it up to the guys. I think we fought well. We stayed in our shape, we stayed compact, and obviously it's tough to take a loss but it's about bouncing back now and about recovering and focusing on the next game.”
On what is behind the team’s strong defensive showing, with this being the first time the team has trailed all season…
“I think it's just been the way we've trained. I think Ezra and the coaching staff have done a great job of making sure we are defensively organized and compact and everything. I think, yeah, I think our defensive structure has been really good and the mentality that we go into with every game, we want to keep that streak going and we want to concede as little as possible.”
On Orlando’s goal and if there was anything the team could have done better on that play…
“Yeah, thanks for the question but I think from my perspective, I think I have to do a little bit of a better job of reading that header coming across. It's obviously a set piece goal, so a lot of times it comes down to focusing that little bit of time. If you switch off for one second, teams will punish you. So I think from my perspective, I think I have to do a little better job of anticipating that header coming back across. I think I just switched off for that half-second and I think that cost us.”
On the message in the locker room after the game, given the circumstances of the defeat with the team missing several key players and going a man down in the first half…
“I think Ezra was proud of the shift we put in. Obviously it was pretty difficult going down a man but I think guys stepped in and played their roles. I think on a different day, it comes out as a different result. But Ezra is proud of us and he wants us to keep our heads up, focus on the next game and make sure we do everything we can to recover and train and be ready for the next game.”
