QUOTE SHEET
Chicago Fire FC 0:1 Sporting Kansas City
Match Recap
Chicago Fire FC Head Coach Raphael Wicky
On the takeaway from the match tonight…
“Look, I think overall, we made a good match. Sporting KC is one of the top teams. They play together since long time, the same coach, they have a lot of continuity. We were here, and we didn't deserve to lose. We could have taken this game, so I'm taking that the team put a lot of effort in there, created some chances. Obviously, we talk the same after the game, we lose, it's the same. We have to convert those.”
“On the road, you're not going to get six, seven, eight, hundred percent chances like we had, two or three, and that was the difference. They had that one set piece where they scored and we were not able to score. But overall, again a lot of positives, we have to take that. It hurts right now, a lot. Players, as well, they are inside; their heads are down. But tomorrow we have to get up and keep moving forward and keep working and take the positives out of that.”
On the team missing Gastón Giménez and Brandt Bronico stepping up…
“So of course we miss Gastón. I mean, Gastón is a very special player. Gastón is one of the top midfielders in this league, and of course we miss him. But it doesn't really make sense to talk about him too much. He's not here. We knew he's not going to be here for a while. We need to find other solutions.”
“I think BB (Brandt Bronico) stepped in. BB had a good game, did a great job. He hasn't played since a long time, but he did well. But I also -- you have to understand, I don't ask, for example, from the player who steps into that position to do the same as Gastón does. I didn't ask BB to do the same. I asked BB to bring what BB can bring, and he did a great job there. Overall, still we had good moments in our game. Like I said, a player like Gastón is difficult to replace, but we need to find other solutions, and we will.”
On Johan Kappelhof playing again and whether he is ready to start…
“That's difficult to say. Johan was out from several months. He only started training with us full-time, like he maybe had four or five team trainings because right now, we don't train much. To start, I can tell you now, it's day-by-day. We have to see how he feels. We have to see how he feels after these efforts, after hard training. When we have hard training, we always have to see how he feels. Then, yeah, with the schedule we have, yeah, maybe at one point, we have to throw him. But his health is always most important, and that's why it's day-by-day and we have to see how he feels.”
Chicago Fire FC Defender Johan Kappelhof
On how he feels after the last couple games and what the last few months have been like since he last played in March…
“Yeah, it's good to be back. It was a tough time for me personally. It was I think the toughest time in my career. I'm not used to have injuries, so it was tough. Tough to deal with. But I'm happy to be back and help the team wherever I can.”
On how close he thinks he is to being back to 100 percent…
“Pretty close. Pretty close. The previous game was the first step in being back with the team. This is the next step for me, 20 minutes. So we're increasing week by week. So I think I'm very close to 100 percent.
On his injury and the recovery process…
“I actually re-injured it two or three times. I was back maybe for a week in team training, and then it happened again. So it was not like I was back for weeks. It just reinjured pretty quick after I got back with the team. Yeah, it was, as I said, it was a very, very tough time for me to deal with the re-injury. I'm glad I'm fully healthy now and glad I can help the team.”
Chicago Fire Defender Mauricio Pineda
On what it means for the team to have Johan Kappelhof back…
“Yeah, I think we're all really excited to have him back. He's obviously been out for the majority of this season, so we're excited to have him back, and get him fully fit and help the team in any way that he can.”
On what made the match so difficult…
“Yeah, I think we expected a really difficult game on the road. I think we knew that from the start. We knew we had to start strong, and I think we did. We were mentally ready for the game from the first whistle. I thought we got off to a good start. Had a couple chances that we could have finished off, but in an away game like that, I think it's going to be a pretty hectic game like that against a good team so it's going to be back and forth, and I don't think we gave up too much in the back, but at the same time, we have to be more clinical in the offensive half and just grind it out when it comes down to keeping the zero in the back, and I think that's where we fell short today.”
On how the team, including himself, is feeling physically…
“I think pretty good. Obviously it's difficult playing a lot of games like this in a short period of time, but I think we have a lot of guys that will step up and change the game either off the bench or start if we need them to. I think it's really challenging the depth of the team, but I think we're pretty happy with the guys that are stepping up and helping with that.”
On whether being able to play different positions changes his approach to training or whether he feels ready to step in wherever asked to contribute…
“I think it's been pretty clear from the coaching staff that I might have to step into that role. I think I just have to prepare mentally and be ready for whatever position I have to play and just give my full effort in whatever spot I get called up for.”
