CHICAGO (Sept. 1, 2022) – Chicago Fire FC II earned a season sweep of FC Cincinnati 2 with a 2-0 win on the road on Sunday. Omari Glasgow opened the scoring six minutes into the second half and Missael Rodríguez scored on a penalty kick in the 63rd minute to turn the match around. Goalkeeper Chris Brady made four saves to earn a clean sheet and close the road portion of the Fire’s schedule on a positive note.
After the match, Chicago Fire FC II head coach Ludovic Taillandier, Glasgow and Brady offered their thoughts on the road victory.
Chicago Fire FC II Head Coach Ludovic Taillandier
On adjustments made at halftime…
“We were definitely not fully committed in the project of the team, which was definitely to defend going forward, as much as possible, to put as much pressure on the opponent to try to make them go backward. We were a little bit shaky on this part. Definitely not a very good first half, we were lucky to be just at 0-0.
After halftime, we had to substitute a good player in Josh Penn because he was struggling with a hamstring. Then we put Mike Nesci in, he’s 17 years old and it’s always good for us to give some time of play to our young players. He definitely did well: his mentality, his energy, his movements. He definitely brought some enthusiasm to our play, to the front. That was good. In general, I would say that the guys coming from the bench did the job. What we can notice is that they came in well physically to increase the pace, which is a really good assessment for us in terms of training load and trying to develop the physical aspect of our game.”
On Omari Glasgow’s contributions to the team…
“Omari is fully committed, he’s giving a lot. He has a smile on his face at all times. He’s someone very important for us, on and off the field. His capacity to play different positions, for a coach, is precious because we need sometimes for him to play as a nine, as a winger, on the right or the left. He has played as an eight and today, he helped a lot as a center mid with a lot of running and his capacity to bring the play forward in counter attacks. That was really good play from him.”
On the importance of finishing the season off strong…
“For us, each game is an opportunity to learn, to improve, to develop our players. After all, it’s a season with lots of ups and down but I would say, in general, we feel like we are finishing stronger than we started. As a reminder, we started with two ties out of the first five games and three losses. Inter Miami, if we win, that would be four wins out of the last five, which is for us a very good ending for the season, if we can do that. And that would be great.”
Chicago Fire FC II Forward Omari Glasgow
On another goal scoring performance…
“I’m feeling very happy, you know. The team has been working hard over the last couple of weeks so they deserve all the praise on the goal.”
On what changed in the second half…
“I think we took control of the game more in the second half, whereas in the first half, we were defending, we weren’t playing the ball. So I think in the second half, we played with more intensity and kept more possession of the ball. We controlled the game.”
On the improvement of the team…
“I think the team has improved a lot from the first five games in the season. The team has improved a lot. I think this year, we could learn from it and go into the next season more confident, with positivity.”
Chicago Fire FC II Goalkeeper Chris Brady
On his saves and performance tonight…
“The saves are just an after product of what we do as a group. In the beginning, we struggled a little bit to get into the game, but the main point was just keeping the group in the game. So for me, that’s what those saves kind of count towards, especially because keeping our guys in the game meant that we’d have further opportunities later in the half, and more in the second half, to come back in the game, which we did. So the saves are not really the spectacle here; it’s the fact that, as a team, we were able to pull together and keep it at zero for the first 45. That allowed us to progress in the second half.”
On fans calling for MVP consideration…
“Personally, I’ve felt good. I don’t think I’m MVP-quality just quite yet, but it’s good. Like I said earlier, most of the good stats that you read under my name are team stats. Again, I can’t do it without them. I’m not too excited about any awards like that. I don’t think that’s where I belong right now, but hopefully, sometime in the future.”
On what to look for in the season finale…
“The biggest thing for our last game is, how do we want to go out, how do we want to be remembered this season and how do we want to go into next season; what tone do we want to set? The biggest part is, we have a chance to beat Miami and spoil their playoff race. For us, it’s a really big opportunity to really stick it to Miami, get some revenge for that last game and go out, put on a good performance and have people remember us as a team that likes to work hard and win.”
