After a Kei Kamara brace and some late-game heroics from goalkeeper Chris Brady helped lead the Fire to a 2-1 win over Minnesota United, Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson was joined by Kamara, Brady, midfielder Fabian Herbers, and defender Miguel Navarro in assessing the team's performance postmatch. Read their quotes in full below:
Chicago Fire FC Quotes
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Ezra Hendrickson
On the attitude needed to hold on to a late lead...
“What we don't want the players to think, or what attitude that we don't want them to have, is a fear of failure, right? We want them to have that will to win, mindshift. We're trying to shift that so that when we get ourselves in these positions when we're up 2-0, even if something goes wrong like the goalkeeper made a blunder tonight, that we don't go, 'oh s*, here we go again.' It's more like, we can win this, we're going to win this.
We gave them a task before the game, we said, listen, we have an opportunity to make a statement tonight, a very loud statement. They are one of the last undefeated teams; let's send them home with their first L. And moreso, let's get our first home win. You know, we put ourselves in a good position against D.C., against Cincy to get full points. We didn't, but we weren't going to let that happen again tonight. I did age maybe 10 years in the last 20 minutes of the game, but I gotta take my hat off to those guys in there. No one gives us any credit; no one expects us to win games. But we're blocking all that noise out and they come every week, every day, to training, they put in the work and it's showing, it's paying off. And once we get that mind shift fully shifted, I think this is gonna be a hell of a team to deal with this year.”
On Kei Kamara's contributions to the Club…
“Goals! But Kei has shown over his years in the league that he just knows how to score; he knows what runs to make, he knows how to get in the end of things. Wished he got that third one to really put the game out of reach there in the second half. But beyond that, he's a leader, man. In the locker room, he's been enormous for us. You know, we have a fairly young group. And you know, they call him 'Grandpa,' because most of these guys are 19, 20. But he's always there, he's always putting his arms around the younger guys. He's always trying to help them out, giving him advice. On the pitch, you can see him getting the guys to stay focused and stuff like that. So, he's been a great addition to this team, beyond just his goalscoring, what he does in the locker room and on the pitch, as far as leading the team, has been very tremendous for us so far.”
On the progression of Arnaud Souquet...
“You know, I think he's still learning the league, he's still getting his bearings, so to speak. But, we brought him because he's a good player. He's the type of outside back that fits our style of play – we want those outside backs to get forward and that's why we play two pivots. So, sometimes we let both outside backs go so one of the pivots can stay, so we always have that balance. And tonight he was tremendous, he had a very good cross. And Kei set his defender on the far post, made a run, Arnaud found him and Kei did what he does and put it away. So, we expect that from Arnaud; like I said, he's still learning the league and he's gonna be better, he's gonna get better, but I thought tonight he was good.”
On Chris Brady's mentality following a blunder...
“Well, especially in that position, you have to be able to forget things really, really quick. So I thought after he made the blunder, he was able to forget it and gave us a couple of big saves. Again, he's still young, 19 years old, he's gonna make mistakes. Unfortunately, in that position, when you make mistakes, sometimes it costs the team. It didn't tonight, but he's gonna be good for us. He's getting better every day, every week. But his mentality to be able to just put that past him and forget what happened, and finish out the game strong, was very good. And that's a sign of a good young ’keeper that's growing and is only gonna get better.”
On recent improvements in the attack...
“Well, we spent a lot of time in the offseason, in preseason, working on our attack. Not just the end result, not just the finishing, but our build-up: our ability to get from back half to the front half, from Zone 2 to the final third. And I think those are showing. Guys are making the right runs. We have guys now who are trying to look to run behind defenders, which gives us more space for the likes of Guti [Brian Gutiérrez] and Shaq [Xherdan Shaqiri] and these guys to pick up the ball in front of teams’ back four.
So we're getting a lot more space to play, our speed of play has improved and we're just a lot better, a lot more efficient, going from Zone 2 to Zone 3. And now that we're there, we're finishing the chances that we weren't last year and that was very key. That was something that we felt kept us out of the playoffs last year with the 12 shutouts: not scoring enough goals. We've addressed that and we've brought some guys in who we know can put the ball in the back of the net. So far, it's not the final product, but we're making the kind of progress that we expect to make and we just want to continue to do that and continue to get better every week. And I think those guys, they believe in themselves, they believe in what it is that we’re doing and it's shown, and I'm very happy for them.”
Chicago Fire FC Goalkeeper Chris Brady
On the team’s mindset in the second half…
“No fear. I think today, especially, you could see that we were fighting to solidify that win. Ezra made some tactical changes that allowed us to do that fairly well. Going to three center backs, bringing Wyatt in. Yeah, just the thought among the team was ‘we're not losing this game.’
On responding after the goal he conceded…
“You look at the clock and see that there's 30-plus minutes left in the game, so you have to figure out a way to set aside the mistake. It happens and obviously that one's on me. And I take full responsibility for that but like I said, there were still 30 minutes left in the game to finish out and I think us as a defense and as a team, collectively, we did that really well.”
On how he can regain his composure in a high pressure situation…
“I would just say you need a lot of mental fortitude. It takes a decent amount of strength but I’m not here to toot my own horn. Like I said, that's a mistake that I made. One that you guys will never see again. And yeah, just like I said, we're a team. We make mistakes as a team and we win as a team. So yeah, it was just all focused on the need to win this game.”
On the two big saves at the end of the match…
“Yeah, it does feel nice, and obviously helps me put it aside a little better. But tonight and tomorrow are days where we're gonna look back, what I could have done differently, where my head was at, speak with our coaches. Yeah, move on from there. It's in the past, got the W tonight, which was the goal. And yeah, it's on the next week.”
On looking ahead to next week’s match against Philadelphia…
“That game is one that we're going to want back, especially them coming here instead of us going in there. It's tough to play at Subaru Park, but it's even harder to play here, like we've shown tonight. So I think that's a game that we're gonna stick it to them and get back those three points.”
Chicago Fire FC Forward Kei Kamara
On how he felt about his performance tonight…
“Outside of the goals, what I like about the way I played, I helped the team. Really, it's an important game, when the coach told me that I was going to be playing up top, I knew the backline, they're strong, and I knew that I have to be a body to be an outlet for the guy. So when the ball comes forward, I have to hold it, lay it off. And it'll just be a problem for as much as I can do during the game, because I knew I wasn't gonna be able to go the whole game. So just do as much as I could do.”
On his first start at Soldier Field, and playing at the nine position…
“It's not a competition, you know, I'm here to help. So when the time comes for me to play, I'm gonna be ready. Definitely, It was great to have the first start here at home and our first win. It was really good. You know, for me, really, it's helping. I know I'm not gonna come in here and be the number one player all the time. But you know, when the time comes and the coach says you're playing today, I'm gonna be ready for it, whether it's here at home or on the road.”
On passing Jaime Moreno on the all-time scoring list…
“It's great to have those achievements and Jaime (Moreno) or you know Jeff Cunningham and all those guys that have been there. You know, guys I really respect and obviously looking up to. Chris Wondolowski, I've always said, you know, he's a player that played Division II soccer in America and me and him were the only guys that played Division II soccer. So for us to be up on a list like that, it's really good. And it's, it's a big, big achievement. So you know, I enjoy it.”
On the opportunity of playing against Philadelphia next week…
“That was big. This was a big win for us. Because you know, again, we've been battling during these six games or so. So for us to finally get a win at home, it's big. You know, we knew coming into these three home games that we definitely need to maximize some points and that's what we want to keep doing. So now we can worry about the next game before we can start thinking anywhere else in the season, but if we continue to play the way we played tonight, obviously finishing the game all the way, it's going to help us this year.”
Chicago Fire FC Midfielder Fabian Herbers
On his thoughts on tonight’s win…
“I think we played a great first half. You know, we were very patient with the ball. I think we kept good possession overall and deservedly we scored two beautiful goals as a team. And then, you know, in the second half obviously one goal, an avoidable goal. As a team we should defend that better. And then we were scrambling a little bit again. It's been a theme for us, that we're always struggling up 2-0 lead and if we get the first goal and then Minnesota was really close to getting the second goal. So, ideally, we would like to close out those games more, you know, try to score the third goal, close out the game earlier, and not make it so exciting until the very last second because Minnesota is very close to getting the tie here.”
On his relationship with Gastón Giménez…
“Yeah. I mean, I've played there in the past already. And now we’ve played like three or four games in there together and I think we have a good relationship. I speak Spanish so we communicate easily and I think we work well off each other. You know, we have different qualities, he's more the guy that drops in the backline. He's very good in possession, very good on the ball and I'm a guy that also likes to attack, make runs off the ball and like to get in those spaces and a half turn and try to find the midfielders in the strikers as well.”
On the team’s attack in recent matches…
“Yeah, I mean, I think Kei has done a good job. First of all, getting in the box. I think his hold-up play is very nice, something that we haven't really had in the past. Especially when we have the ball up front and we can come underneath them and work off of that. So I think that's something that's clicking. But as a team, I think we're a little bit more cohesive than we were in the past. We try to be more patient with the ball, move the ball from one side to the other. That's always what we emphasize in practice, and I think we've done pretty well in that regard and created some decent chances. Today I even think we could have scored three or four or five. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. But I think if we keep going like that, we're going to win more games than we lose.”
Chicago Fire FC Defender Miguel Navarro
On the victory tonight…
“We’re happy. Happy with obtaining these three points that were necessary for us. We were coming off some ties that were a little bit bittersweet because we were playing well but at the end we would fall a little bit. This victory helps us gain confidence and now we have to keep going.”
On the chemistry between the defensive line and the rest of the team…
“The chemistry is excellent. From game to game and practice to practice we feel better each time and we ultimately hope to carry on the intensity from this game.”
On how the team will prepare to face the Philadelphia Union after this victory…
“Definitely a complicated game because we know the Union’s quality but we have our own weapons and we’ll try to do some damage with what we have.”
