Postmatch Quotes
Chicago Fire 0:2 Vancouver Whitecaps
Match Recap
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Raphael Wicky
On what the team needs to do to improve…
“It’s very disappointing obviously. (As) I told you guys the last time, I'm trying not to only judge the results. Obviously, it’s a result business (and) obviously today the result hurt. Right now emotionally right after the game, I have to say that the 63 minutes before the game don't make me feel better because of the result. The result today, we need the result to go through. We needed only a point for the win, and in the end we stand here with a loss and right now that hurts a lot. Because we had everything in our own hand, everything was there. We just (had) to grab it. So it hurts. We've had three games now together with this group, so we are in the beginning. We are in the beginning. But we see good moments but we obviously also see that there is still work to do and we have to keep working. It's going to take time. But today it hurts.”
On the decision to not play Djordje Mihailović…
“It was a technical (and) tactical decision. I know Djordje is a good player and Djordje can help us, but there (are) certain things I don't want to talk here now. I have to talk (about) that internally. Djordje is a good player and I hope in the future he will help us, but I took the decision in these games not to start him for multiple technical (and) tactical reasons.”
On if all of the changes throughout the tournament and the weather delay affected the team…
“No. Because that would be looking for excuses. No, I'm not frustrated about that. I'm frustrated about the way we came back after the break, and the break was for both teams. The break was long. It was unusual. We never really faced that. But it was for both teams, and I'm very frustrated and disappointed about the way we came back, very sleepy, not ready, and that is what frustrates me. All the other things, no. We knew things are going to be different down here. We never complained about it. We had a good start in the tournament. We can't start to look for excuses now with all these things. We have to look at ourselves.”
On why he didn’t make any more substitutions…
“We brought in Elliot, obviously we brought in C.J., and yeah, for me the reason was we had our chances. We had our chances before. We had our chances after that. So making multiple subs doesn't really help because even with those subs, there were times after that we were a little bit disorganized defensively already when we tried to push (for) the goal, so I didn't really want to make subs just to make subs. Besides Djordje who can be an offensive guy and then a few young kids, there weren't many offensive players on the field who I thought in that moment will have an impact in the game. That doesn't mean I don't trust the guys, but you have to see, okay, where you can bring a guy and what makes sense.”
On his takeaways from the tournament…
“It's part of the progress. It's part of what we have to deal with this year. Like I said, we have seen some really good moments of our team and we have now gone through a very disappointing loss against Vancouver, and we have to keep working. This was our third game together with this group. We had two more games in the beginning of the season but there were a lot of players not there. We have a good team and I believe in the team, but we have to keep working and do certain things different, and today, like I said, I'm very disappointed about the way we came back after this break, which I'm here standing right now directly after a game. I need some time to think about it, and also talk through why it happened. Before that, obviously there were very good things. But it's a progress. It will take time. We will keep working. We are very disappointed now. We will talk about things, and then the only thing is we keep going. We keep working and we stand up again.”
Chicago Fire FC Defender Jonathan Bornstein
On what the team learned from this experience…
“ I think what we learned is that we need to be tuned in at all moments. Games are going to be tough in this league. We are going to have to overcome circumstances. I think today's game is indicative of that where the first 60 minutes before the -- before the weather came in, I felt like we were controlling the game and we were having a lot of chances, limiting their amounts of chances. And then, you know, we go in for that pause, the weather comes through, we have to wait an hour pretty much to get back on the field, and we just weren't ready; at the beginning, we gave up two goals. In all types of this, the tournament, the whole year, we have had to overcome obstacles, but I think at all times you have to be ready. That's kind of what we learn from the whole situation. Secondly, I think obviously we don't know what's going to be happening next. So we're going to have to kind of wait around for a few days to kind of figure out what is going to be with the league in terms of our training. But we'll keep ourselves prepared in whatever we way have to. We went through three and a half months where we -- as a team, and I think all our guys did a great job during that time, and so we'll see what is ahead of us. It's really hard to say without actually knowing.”
On what changed after the weather delay…
“It's tough to say because I was subbed out right before. I wasn't on the field at that time. Just looking at it from afar, I just thought we didn't have the energy right at the beginning of the restart, and they had a little bit more possession, just a few more chances than us during that time. I think the first shot on goal was a goal and second time on goal was another goal -- mentally we just needed to be stronger I think after the restart. I can't tell you what the answer was exactly, but obviously we gave up two goals in that time, so something was wrong.”
On CJ Sapong’s disallowed goal…
“I just checked out the highlights after the game, and from all the highlights that they have posted and the goal line camera, it's hard for me to say because obviously it has to be clear and obvious, and from my views that I've seen, it not clear and obvious whether it was a hand ball or not. I mean, you have three players right now battling, two of theirs and C.J. and they kind of sandwiched C.J. where he's like bringing his arms up because of them, and it looks like it could have hit anybody's hand in that situation. For me, it's not clear and obvious, but obviously the referee thought differently, disallows the goal. You know, it is what it is. In the moment, you know, you're upset, but there's nothing we can do now. I just hope that they can clearly set the rules of what can be taken away with VR tech and what can happen. That's my thought on that.”
On the mood in the locker room during the weather delay…
“You're trying to stay as concentrated as possible. Guys asking how much longer it was going to be until we get on the field. I think that doubt was kind of always on everybody's mind. But the moment we knew we were going to be heading onto the field, everyone kind of started focusing on getting ready for the game. Obviously, our captain, Calvo, was using motivational words to get everyone ready; C.J.; Robert. They started to do the mental side of it probably 20 minutes before they knew they were getting on, and then a little bit before warm up, they were actually doing some runs outside and getting physically ready to go before they actually stepped onto the field to do the warm up. Stuck in that situation, I think you go from running at full speed 60 minutes to having to go inside of a little bungalow and wait around, not knowing when you were going to be able to go out again, but both teams had to do that. You know, obviously like I said before, I just don't think we came with enough energy after the restart as we should have done.”
Chicago Fire FC Midfielder Álvaro Medrán (translated from Spanish)
On the result…
“It's the worst type of game that you can lose where you're playing well and you're doing your job for the first 60 minutes, and then we have the stoppage. And, well, after we came back from that after the stoppage, there were two mistakes that you just can't have, and so even after playing a good game and not letting them shoot on you and not letting them attack much, there's that stoppage, and then you come back and you struggle after that. So, having played well and then coming back from that and losing the game, well, there you have the result and it's just one of the worst feelings. We came into the tournament with the new tactic that we were trying to learn. It worked really well in the first game when we came together but now it didn't earn us a result in the following two games. So, we just have to keep going out there and keep getting better and keep working hard and working together so we can get better results.”
On what changed for the team after the weather delay…
“I think it was attitude. There were a couple of plays that you can't allow in a soccer team, especially in a tournament. We went into it, there were some details that needed to be worked on and you need to work on them quickly and keep moving forward. I think we were a little confident because we were playing well for the 60 minutes before that, and there are just details that we have to work on that we can't allow, but more than anything, it was just a question of that attitude going out there because those tiny details eliminate you from the tournament.”
On CJ Sapong’s disallowed goal…
“I actually didn't see the play very well, but I think looking at it, going into it, both players were going in hard for it and it could have been a hand ball on either one of them. It would have been off their body -- it could have been off of his body and it would have been a goal, but it's something, it could have been either player who handled ball. And I also didn't see the penalty on C.J., I have to review, but I think it maybe was more than not. But those are the things that the league has it deal with and we just have to keep working hard and getting better.”
On the uncertainty of not knowing when the next game will be…
“I haven't really thought about it much. I mean, we just lost. But now we are just going to go home and the coaching staff is going to tell us what to do next, what the next steps are. We might play against some of the teams that have already been eliminated. We might keep training the same way that we have been. They are going to put a plan together and let us know what the next steps are. We just going to keep going forward and keep preparing.”
