Chicago Fire Head Coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop
On playing his first game at Toyota Park
“Obviously disappointed to not come away with a win, but for the effort, I thought both teams played pretty well on a difficult surface today. What I did like about our guys was that we were probably closer to winning the match than to losing it, so that’s always good. We had a couple of good chances to get that second goal. I think that one chance, I haven’t seen the game on tape, Mike Magee’s chance late with his left foot there. Having said that, we didn’t lose the match; I thought we did some bright stuff, we tried to play the way we want to play, but I guess in the end, a draw is a fair result.”
On young guys making their first appearances at home
“I thought they did well. It’s never easy for these young guys to come in and play in such a big stage. I think both Harry [Shipp] and Benji [Joya] last week did a good job and played well today again. Victor’s [Pineda] first taste was today; I’ve seen more of Victor than he did today, but having said that, I think it’s always good to give those guys a chance to blossom and play; and I think that from our injury situation right now it’s a chance for a lot of guys to get some minutes and play and see how they get on, so I was pleased with all three of them.”
On game plan
“Well, I think the difficult part was we wanted to obviously possess the ball better and play better, obviously play our type of game, a possession-based high press; but I think that the field didn’t really suit either team. When we started the press a little bit, they just banged it along and we did the same, so it kind of got you a little bit of a scrappy affair. What I liked about the team was we did create some good chances in those sort of scrappy moments. I was pleased with that, and we had some good moments where I think on a decent surface we might have had a chance at scoring a goal; game plan changed a little bit, once we saw the surface we talked about it, we couldn’t take any chances trying to play out of the back too much with the field. Having settled that, there was some good play in the final third from both teams, but I thought we had some good looks today, but we didn’t finish them.”
On Matt Watson’s play and versatility
“I’ve known Matt for a number of years, as I’ve stated before, but I just like those type of players that can slot in anywhere; kind of get what I want out of the player, and he does that, he gives you 100% any position he plays. I thought he played very well last week, I thought he played very well today; maybe some early moments, a little bit he had to get used to that position, but once he did, you saw he sticks to his task, and he does all the things I ask of him so it was a great pickup for us. He’s slotted in well with the injury situation we’ve had, the suspension as well, so, I thought he played well.”
On Mike Magee’s Performance
“Mike’s not played a game for maybe 6 weeks, so, not to say it showed, but what I liked about it [was that] we spoke at halftime, he said ‘I’m fine.’ Once he gets through, once he gets into his rhythm, he’ll be fine. But, again, he had that good look, I think he had another chance, I think it was on a cross, I wouldn’t say usually he would probably score, but pretty close to it; but it’s good to get 90 minutes. He’s a big part of what we’re trying to do, and a big part of the club. He soldiered on, he looked tired obviously at the end; but he soldiered on, and on the break maybe we could’ve used him to get that winning goal, but it wasn’t to be today. But I was pleased with Mike’s performance.”
On the defense’s progress
“You’re playing against two really, really good players in [Tim] Cahill and [Thierry] Henry. They’re very, very crafty, they’ve played at the highest level, so it’s never an easy day. And I think, especially Thierry Henry, he knows how to find the spaces and he’s difficult to pick up. What I liked about us, especially the second half, we started to stay with runners and figure it out a little bit better than the first half. I thought they had a couple of opportunities in the first half where they carved us up a little bit from late runs, but we talked about it at halftime and I think we adjusted well and snuffed them out a little bit. They did have some situations that they looked dangerous on, but all in all, I was pleased with the back four and the defensive work we did.”
Harry Shipp, Chicago Fire midfielder
On the first half:
“We definitely had a good start to the game, we had some good chances after to make it 2-0, but unfortunately they pulled a goal back. Overall, I thought it was a pretty good start heading into the half.”
On how comfortable he is:
“It’s only my second game professionally. I’ve played less than 180 minutes total so it’s still a little fast. I’m still getting a hold of things, in terms of getting comfortable going forward, focusing on defensive responsibilities and keeping things simple. I’m trying to get those balls, playing those passes because that’s what I like to do - I like to set up those guys up top to score some goals. Hopefully it shows in the next couple of games.”
On the surface:
“It was a little choppy. We tried to get the ball in their attacking half and not play around with in our own half because you never know; you could slip or play a bad pass because of the field.
Going forward when the field starts to get better we’ll start to get better possessing in the attacking half and hopefully we’ll score some more goals.”
Mike Magee, Chicago Fire forward
On how he feels:
“I’d feel better with a win, but individually I thought the first half I was sloppy and was having a hard time trying to find the ball. Hats off to them, they came in with a great game plan.”
On the result:
“I would have preferred a win, but it’s nice to get the first game behind you.”
On the field conditions:
“It was rough and bumpy. It was hard and took about two touches to get the ball under control, which was unfortunate for both teams. But considering how bad the weather was, it should have been a lot worse. It was actually a lot better than I was expecting it to be.”
On the physical play:
“It got chippy at times, I don’t think it was too bad. As the game when on it was so wide open that both teams were just trying to end the play as quickly as possible. The pitch was so bumpy that it got to a point that it was even hard to counter or connect passes to the middle, so the whole team was just knocking it forward.”
On play of the younger players:
“These kids are good – Benji [Joya] and Harry [Shipp] are both good. That’s the plus to take away from these first three games. The future with them looks good and they will only get better.”
Victor Pineda, Chicago Fire midfielder
On his first professional appearance:
“It’s a lot of fun to be out there. It’s something that I’ve been working for, for a while now. It was exciting just to be in a game that was 1-1 knowing that you can score the goal to help your team win the game.”
On waiting for the appearance:
“I didn’t lose hope, but at times it got frustrating. I think that helped me to mature in a lot of ways. Mentally I’m a lot tougher now than I was, not just from when I first signed but from just a year ago or two years ago and I think that’s going to help me a lot in the future.”
On what Frank Yallop said to him before he entered the match:
“He just said to enjoy it and he asked me if I was ready and just laughed a little bit. I feel like I’ve been ready for a while.”
