Chicago Fire Manager Frank Yallop
On how Chicago performed away from home…
"I think we created some good chances to score. It’s frustrating when we don’t really hit the target when we should in certain areas. And then to go down a goal, obviously it was a great finish by (Paulo) Nagamura with a good ball in. But we did enough to at least get a goal today and it’s just disappointing to come away with nothing out of the game."
On the referee’s decisions…
"I’m still trying to work out why David (Accam) got sent off or why Jeff (Larentowicz) didn’t get a penalty. I haven’t seen the replays so I can’t get into it, but it looked to be a penalty kick from where I was sitting. But again, I’m not close to the play. I thought we deserved a draw out of the game. To be honest, I think Peter (Vermes) would probably say the same thing. We had enough chances to have scored at least a goal. I thought Kansas City was good in the first half. I thought they had good chances, but so did we. It’s frustrating to play pretty well in the second half in a place like this that’s difficult to come to. They are a good side, but we played pretty well and got nothing out of it."
On Sporting KC’s defense in front of Tim Melia…
"Whatever Vermes does with his team in changing things is obviously a coach’s decision. We had the same game plan coming in and I thought it worked pretty well. What I didn’t want to do was sit back and see what happens because if you do that, then you’re going to get beat. I would think our inability to penetrate in the first half held us back. In the second half I thought we did well. I thought we were on top of the game; we bossed it a little bit. The goal was kind of out of the blue and once that happens, you’re on top and think you’re going to win, and all of a sudden a goal and it changes things."
On the Chicago Fire defense…
"We’ve got to make sure we’re tight defensively and a good unit. I think the conditions and maybe the travel because sometimes you come away from home and feel a bit leggy, and that’s not an excuse, I just felt they didn’t quite get going. We weren’t sharp in the first half, I thought. The second half we started to get our wind and get into the game. I said, Kansas City always starts very strong at home and they get at you. Once the level dropped down to par level, I thought we played well. I thought we matched them. And I said at halftime to the guys, ‘Good thing is it’s nil-nil, we’re still in this game.’ We pushed on and I think a draw would have been fair."
On the Chicago Fire attack…
"The final ball and the final touch is what’s missing with us right now. We’ve done pretty well at home, but away we don’t finish off great moves. I think we’re not really there to bury (the final ball). It’s our Achilles heel right now. I think that’s the thing we’re just lacking at the moment; it’s not from belief or not trying, just off a little bit right now. It’s maybe a combination of confidence and maybe not making the right runs at the right time. But we had the opportunities to hit the target enough times in good areas, just to make the keeper work. I thought we didn’t make the keeper work enough in two good chances, and that’s the game. You don’t get many chances, probably six a team per game, and we had two really good ones from Guly and Quincy (Amarikwa), and we just didn’t hit the target. We didn’t score."
Chicago Fire defender Jeff Larentowicz
On Chicago’s 1-0 defeat to Sporting KC…
"I really think we were unlucky not to score in the first half and late in the second half when we’d get to the byline and have opportunities. When we passed the ball well, we were dangerous. When we didn’t pass the ball well, we gave them opportunities. We knew that was going to happen coming into the game, and in the end they don’t have a lot of chances but they do score their one chance, and that’s the difference."
On Chicago’s missed chances throughout the match…
"It’s frustrating we didn’t put a few of those away. It’s happened in the past against Vancouver. When we’re on top, we have to put our chances away, especially at a place like this. We didn’t do that. The opportunities were there. If we go through a game where we don’t create opportunities, at least we say we weren’t good enough. Today we had opportunities and we didn’t score."
On his collision with Matt Besler inside the penalty box at the end of the game…
"It felt like I got there first. The referees said Besler got there first. I haven’t seen the play yet, but it certainly felt one-way to me. Even the lineman was pretty confident in the call, so we’ll leave it at that."
On Chicago’s upcoming road matches this month…
"We’ve got three difficult away games coming up in-conference. We’ve got to have the ability to play well on the road. At this point we haven’t done that. We’ve shown we can play at home, but on the road it’s a different story. Like I said, in the second half we limited their opportunities but we gave up the goal. We’ve learned the lesson that you have to play well on the road to win, and we’re going to have to do that in the three away games later this month."
Chicago Fire midfielder Harry Shipp
On Chicago’s 1-0 defeat to Sporting KC…
"In the last couple games, we were able to come out and kind of control tempo and control the ball, especially in the midfield. There were large parts of this game where we didn’t do that, and we relied on trying to pick up second balls, which is probably their biggest strength in the midfield. If we could go back and do it again, we would probably try to play more between the lines instead of getting the ball and being taken by the crowd and wanting to get it off your feet."
On Chicago’s missed chances throughout the match…
"We’ve created a lot of chances the last few games, and we said to build on that, you need to score goals. This was more of the same thing, and eventually you have to try and switch it. Hopefully that’s next game. We’ve got three big road games coming up this month, and we’ve got to prove we can play on the road."
On the performance of central midfielders Chris Ritter and Matt Polster…
"They really fought today. It’s tough because Sporting KC puts a lot of guys in the midfield. It’s always going to be a lot of running for those guys trying to pick up second balls. They were floating between up to three guys, so they covered a lot of ground and did well. It’s a tough place to play, especially for two young guys. We’ll look forward to hopefully building on this in the next couple games and trying to play a little bit more."
On Chicago’s upcoming road matches this month…
"Our first focus is Real Salt Lake next Saturday. Hopefully we play well and get three points at home, then we start focusing on those conference road games."
