Chicago Fire FC picked up a point at home against FC Dallas in a blustery 0-0 draw at Soldier Field on Saturday to remain unbeaten through the team's first five games of the season. Following the match, Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson and forwards Fabian Herbers and Brian Gutiérrez spoke with media about the result. Read their thoughts below in full.
Chicago Fire FC Quotes
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson
On the health of Xherdan Shaqiri…
“Well, he felt some tightness in his calf. He felt like he needed to come out before he did something serious to it. So, hopefully it's just a little bit of tightness, and we can get him ready for next weekend. But nothing serious, as of now.”
On playing Shaqiri after international duty…
“Yeah, we thought about it. As a staff, we discussed it at length, but we decided, if anything, we needed him to play today. Maybe not the full 90 minutes, but we would at least start off with him on the pitch, because he makes that much of a difference for us. But he felt it, a little tight. He trained without issue or anything yesterday, so we didn't foresee anything like this happening. It's one of those things where you can't really predict, but he's a smart guy. He's an experienced guy, he felt it getting tight, so he just felt it was best to come out.”
On when the staff found out about Rafael Czichos’ status…
“Yesterday, also. It's one of those things where it's what we’re living with these days, you know? So hopefully he'll be back healthy and ready to go. If not next week, the week after.”
On how the team played without Rafa Czichos and Shaqiri…
“Well, it wasn't our best performance today. In reflection and talking to the guys after, I told them, listen, you know, it wasn't one of our best games. It wasn’t one of our most fluid games, especially on the ball. I thought it was a little slow tonight. We didn't move the ball as quickly as we would like to. Our style of play is one that likes to move the ball a lot and get into the front half, and for some reason, we found ourselves going backwards a lot today, which can be dangerous.
But also, I told them that it's a sign of a team that's gelling together, that's getting better, when even on your worst night, or a night when you don't play your best football, you still find a way to get something out of the game and not lose the game. And we were able to do that tonight. So that's the positive we'll take from this, but we could be better than we were today.”
On further testing for Shaqiri…
“Well, he's with the doctor right now and they'll take a second look at it. And we'll know more in a couple of days, probably.”
On a potential penalty for the challenge on Fabian Herbers…
“To me, it looked like he got tripped up, but the ref had a better vantage point than I did. He’s in control of the game and he didn't see it worth a penalty. So, we move on.”
On what he saw out of the attack once Shaqiri left…
“Well, I thought even when Shaq was in, we didn't move the ball as quickly as we'd like to. I think that stems from just the bye week. Sometimes it takes a while to get back into the game flow. But Shaq is a big part of what we do with the ball, on the attacking side of things, and when you lose that – even Rafa, even as a defender, he helps us build it out of the back because he's very good on the ball. So when you lose those two guys, it becomes a little difficult and we just weren't fluid tonight, at all. It got a little better late in the first half, but in the second half, we just weren't good enough on the ball, on the night.”
Chicago Fire FC Midfielder Brian Gutiérrez
On dealing with the cold and rainy weather…
“It was pretty cold, you know. I mean, it was cold but we dealt with it, I felt like we dealt with it well as a group. Yeah, obviously, it was cold. That's how it is.”
On how he would evaluate the performance of the team…
“I mean, yeah, it was slower than usual, but I felt like we grinded out the result. And the most important thing is that we didn't get scored on and we kept a clean sheet, you know. That's the most important thing.”
On the team’s response following Shaqiri’s injury and Rafa Czichos’ omission from the lineup…
“I mean they’re both two big losses for a team. They're really important for us. But I mean, as a group we have to grind it out, you know. Whoever's on the field, we (need) the results and just grind it out.”
On how he would rate his performance so far this season…
“I feel like this season, getting more minutes, I feel like I'm getting more confident on the field, getting used to the flow, the speed of play. And I just feel like I'm adapting to the speed of play, so it's more normal to me and it feels good.”
On his goals for the rest of the season…
“Well one of my goals is starting 10 or more games this season. You know, that's one of the biggest goals of mine. Getting more minutes, you know, and obviously scoring my first goal. That’s one of the biggest goals I have right here for the Fire. That would be a dream.”
On his experience playing with the U.S. U-20 team…
“It was a good learning experience for me and for the team. It was good playing against the top countries in the world like Argentina and seeing Messi there was like a dream come true, you know (laughs). We played River Plate, also. They were a good test for us going into qualifiers, which is in June. So it was a good experience for us.”
On what he’s taken away from playing with Xherdan Shaqiri so far…
“I’ve taken away his professionalism. On and off the field, he’'s a really good pro. And he's always a good guy. He's a good mentor for us young people. He wants to win here, which is the most important thing. I think when you see a player like that, that wants to win, (with) his quality, you get motivated, and you want to be there with him.”
On grinding out results and the difference between this season and last season…
“I think last year we would switch off in certain moments, during the game, and I feel like this year we're always tuned in into all phases of play and the game and I think we just grind out results, you know. Even though things don't go our way offensively, we keep a clean sheet defensively and we are organized when we keep talking as a group, which helps us on the field.”
Chicago Fire FC Midfielder Fabian Herbers
On how the team played without Rafael Czichos and Xherdan Shaqiri…
“I think the group battled hard. Those are our two leaders of the team. With Rafa being in health and safety protocols and then after 10, 15 minutes, Shaq, our best player, is off with a minor injury. I don’t know what it is. I thought that the guys that stepped in, obviously Fede Navarro did well in the midfield, he battled hard. [Brian] Gutierrez came in and did a good job creating chances and trying to create. Obviously, you can’t be a substitute for Shaqiri but I think those two battled hard and we stuck together as a team and we came off with a result. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a win but I think we’ll take the point and move on.”
On rating the team’s performance…
“It was a sloppy game. I thought overall Dallas didn’t create much and we didn’t create much either. To be fair, we could have been a little bit cleaner in the final third. The combinations weren’t really there, a couple of half chances in the first half and the second half, I feel like either team really didn’t have that much. I think the field was really heavy towards the second half with a lot of rain coming down. It felt very slow and very sloppy. I feel like that kind of reflected our performance and Dallas’ performance as well. It wasn’t a great game for the spectators, but we kept the Brimstone Cup at home so there’s something positive.”
On the difference between this season and previous seasons…
“That’s true. I said that against Kansas City when we were up 2-0 and then it was 2-1, we had games in the past that we might have tied that game 2-2. Today as well, where it’s a 0-0 game, I feel like in the past, when it’s a 50/50 game, we oftentimes, more often than not, have come away with a loss in those situations. I’m really proud of the group that we stuck together, we’re fighting together and we’re not giving up easy goals. In the past, we’ve given up a lot of easy goals. It felt like when the other team scored it was caused by our own mistakes and not because the other team deserved it. I think that’s something that has really improved this season and as long as we’re not giving up goals we cannot lose a game. We’ll take a point and move forward and we’ll see what we can do next week in Orlando.”
On the change in culture…
“In 2019, we still had Paunović as a coach back then. A lot has changed [since then]. You see even back then with Jonny Bornstein and I, maybe even Gaga and AJ Reynolds are the only players left from that group. A lot had changed, we had two new logos in that time and a couple of new coaches. [There was] a lot of turnover, but I feel like that team and the organization are moving into the right direction and we’re in a really good spot. At this point, I feel like in the past seasons we always had a slow start and we can be happy now that we haven’t lost. We’re sitting here with nine points in five games so it’s a good start and we can build off of that and hopefully make the playoffs, which is the goal for us this season.”
