CHICAGO (April 6, 2024) – Chicago Fire FC (2-3-2, 8 points) defeated Houston Dynamo FC (3-2-1, 10 points) 2-1 on Saturday evening at Soldier Field. Following the Fire's win, Head Coach Frank Klopas, Goalkeeper Chris Brady, Midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri, and Defender Arnaud Souquet spoke with the media.
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Frank Klopas
On a strong sense of urgency early in the match and Brian Gutiérrez’s impact…
“It was a short week and obviously it was important for us that it was a short week because we wanted to get back on the field as quickly as we possibly could. Obviously, [some] pressure in this game; it’s early in the season, but this becomes almost a must-win game for us. I thought we had a good preparation going into the match. I thought there was really good energy with the guys. I think there was some really good football that we played in the first half against a very good team.
And with Guti (Brian Gutiérrez), I think the kid’s still a young player, let’s not forget that because he's a quality player. You see when he came in, he was fresh. But I think we also have to be, how we manage him and manage his minutes. He's played a lot of minutes and there's also fatigue, not only the physical fatigue, the mental fatigue and the stress and the pressure with a young player. But I talked to him, he came in and it was great to see him energized and really be aggressive. That's when he's at his best, I feel, when it is just instinctively for him. But it was great to see him get the goal, but it was overall just really a huge win for the team, almost a must-win early on. And now we have to go enjoy this moment, regroup again and prepare well to go on the road, to play a really good opponent in New York. We have to find a way to get points on the road now.”
On the team’s increased aggressive play…
“I think that was really good energy from the team and really aggressive from the start. Obviously, look, you’re playing a good team, they try to change a little bit the way they were building up play. But the one thing that we talked about going into this game is that we took away – as we looked at and reflected on the last game in Atlanta – that we broke their midfield line 72 times in that game; a lot more than Atlanta did, they were 61. But then in the final third, we penetrated only nine times, so we were not as aggressive. So I talked to the guys.
And sometimes, look, I saw that in that game, that I felt that the team did not look fresh. Tonight, we were fresh, we were dynamic. But of course, when you get in moments in the final third, I want the players to be aggressive. I don't care if they lose the ball, unless obviously, if there's someone wide open and you do that, of course, you always have to make the best decision. But we need to be aggressive. The game comes down to moments like that, in 1-v-1 situations when you can beat your opponent – then, you make it really difficult for the opponent. So, we (got) in good spots, I wanted to continue to be aggressive. We created the chances, you know, against a good team, they also had their chances. I wish we would have had the clean sheet in the end. But overall, I felt the performance as a whole was very good and that's what you need to get a result, which we didn't have in the last game.”
On the team's defensive performance…
“I think when you look at the goals we give in, I think it's just, from a collective standpoint, I think we're in good spots. And I think it's just individual errors that we have to clean up, and that's the thing. I don't point to one guy. I think overall, as a whole team, that we need to improve. We really wanted to focus. I think it's important for us, we get chances, we're going to score goals. But in the other end, we need to be a better defensive team, like we were in the second half of the season last year. We were one of the better defending teams. You know, even though we didn't make it, you can see the turnaround. We need to get to that level again. And once we're there, then the W's and the results will start coming, but it starts from there.
The mentality was good today. We can always improve, individually, the duels. I think that's one thing that we talked about again, also. We need to win our duels, we need to win one-on-one situations, but there was really good energy from everyone today. And I thought, even Arnaud [Souquet] came in, we made some changes. I thought he hasn't played in a long time but he helped us a lot in the build-up. He's an experienced guy that gives us a lot of quality on the ball. And I think that we could have been, I feel, even more dangerous at certain moments. But he brought a lot of quality onto the field today.”
On Allan Arigoni’s performance at left back…
“I thought it was a really good, solid performance. I think they're really strong on that side with [Adalberto] Carraquilla and overlapping with the fullback, they're really dangerous. We tried to force them on the other side, on their left side, which is their weakest side and tried to pin them on one side and of course, they broke through. But I felt he was excellent. And then, this is the difficult part with us because we have – with [Andrew] Gutman being out and also with Chase [Gasper] – I think now I have to put, invert guys. But at least with Allan, he’s played there before. It's good that with Arnaud (Souquet), we've been able to get him minutes with the second team to find his rhythm, because he was not with us in preseason and you can see his quality.
So we're a different team, I think for me personally, when Andrew is there playing or even Chase. When Andrew is there, you can just see, we overload the left side, we become really dangerous and Allan's on the right side. And then, we get into the final third, our ability to get quality crosses in. So now, I felt it was very good. And you're right, I had seen Allan play in Lugano. Not naturally, but he likes to come inside and stuff like that. But he just matched up with [Griffin] Dorsey really well, from a physical standpoint. And I thought he was solid, other than the last play in the end, when he threw it in the middle instead of down the line. But anyway, let's forget about that now (laughs).”
Chicago Fire FC Goalkeeper Chris Brady
On the Chicago Fire’s defense against the Houston Dynamo…
“Yeah, defensively, aside from the goal, we bend but we don’t break. We kind of showed that tonight, whether it was crosses, through-balls, shots, whatever I felt like myself and the backline dealt with that pretty well. And like you said they were coming off a couple of wins. They were probably confident coming into this game but they weren’t as sharp as us defensively. So, kudos to the guys in front of me but we got it done. Wasn’t pretty but three points, three points.”
On team miscommunication and risky defense moments during tonight’s match…
“Myself, backline, midfield, started off a little slow which occasionally happens. But once we get into the game, pretty confident with the ball at my feet and with the ball at anyone else’s feet. So, we all kind of work into the game, the more touches we get. But yeah, that one, I have to look back. I don’t know if that took a hop of what maybe I just mis-hit it. But thankfully it didn’t go in. Just, anything to keep the ball out of the net.”
On the change in the team’s performance against Houston compared to the previous match…
“Yeah, huge change. I think that the resilience part of it obviously was the biggest change. Looking back at the Atlanta game, we give up one, we give up two. We kind of put our heads down, threw in the towel a little bit. But this game was a good indicator of you know, we got that first one. They came back, they came back, they scored that goal there, but we were able to see the game out. Thankfully, Guti’s masterclass of a goal helped us pull out with the win. But yeah, that resilience from all the guys that believe that no matter what happens, we are going to stay in this as a collective team. We’re going to finish this out, get the three points. So, I’d say that’s the biggest difference between the two games.”
Chicago Fire FC Midfielder Xherdan Shaqiri
On the emotions of the result of the game…
“It feels very good, especially since we haven’t won in a long time. It’s always a good feeling for the boys to have a win in the pocket and three points at home. I always tell the guys, ‘when we play at home nobody comes here to take points.’ This is always our goal, we want to take our points especially at home in front of our fans. Today that was the most important thing, we took these three points. We knew it was going to be a difficult game, Houston Dynamo was the Open Cup winner last year and they have a good team so it was a good win against a good team today. This gives us, I hope a good boost for the next games.”
On the game-winning assist to Brian Gutiérrez…
“We trained a lot this week, especially on how we wanted to play, how we wanted to approach and go forward. I think the guys did pretty much good but sometimes we do everything good until the last 15 or 16 meters, we don’t do the right thing. This week we have to improve more and be more direct and more like killers in front of the goal to try to create more and to be more dangerous and to create more chances, so you can create more and also probably score more goals. I think we had a good game, especially offensively. We tried a lot, we created a lot and we just have to lower our mistakes. Today the most important thing was the three points and I’m very proud of the boys.”
On if the international break allowed him to be more energized…
“No, I’m normally more tired when I come back. That’s why I was on the bench last game because I traveled a lot and I was all over the world. Yeah, I also need rest sometimes but I trained the whole week with the team and I was good again. I wanted to help the team today because as always the most important thing is the three points and I think the guys fought until the end. How I said before I think in football sometimes you don’t have to play perfectly and today we fought to the end and kept the win which was the most important thing.”
On the creativity today compared to previous matches…
“We are still in the beginning of the season, you cannot be perfect in everything. This is pretty much normal in football and as the season goes along we’ll get better. We have a couple of new players who do have to settle in too, they also need games but our goal is to make the playoffs this season, this is the most important thing and there’s a long way to go. We know we are not perfect now but we keep working hard and this is the most important thing, to stay humble. We have to work hard every day and try to build on these three points and try to win as many games as possible. I think this also gives the boys more confidence in the games to try more and to create more. We can build on this.”
On Hugo [Cuypers] almost finding the back of the net…
“I think the most important thing and the good thing is he works very hard everyday in training and he wants to improve. He’s also a designated player, but he's a young player, he needs to improve too. He’s training a lot and he’s analyzing his game too. I hope he can score in a lot of games but as you see he fights for the team, he runs a lot, he tries a lot and the goals are going to come. We try and I try to feed him too, as you can see, but the longer we play together I think it will be better and during the season I think we’re going to have a lot more fun, also, playing together and we can see a lot more of Hugo [Cuypers], for sure.”
Chicago Fire FC Defender Arnaud Souquet
On how he feels after his first game this season with the First Team... _
“Good. I try to bring all my energy and my experience with the team because we need to bring some points. I think we started good with the PK. I didn’t see the fall so I don't know what happened. I thought the team in the first half, we tried to play good so sometimes it's good sometimes it's not good. Second half, maybe we were scared or maybe we lost some confidence to try to play and we concede one goal. But the most important [thing] is the reaction and we scored a second goal. Okay, it's not perfect for the game, but you take it and it's the most important.”
On the importance of being back on the field playing First Team football...
“I'm happy. You know, the career of a player, sometimes there are ups, and there are downs. You have to keep pushing, keep working. And that's it. I know it's difficult to explain what's happened with the Club at the beginning of the year, but now it’s the past and the focus is for the future.”
