Quote Sheet
Chicago Fire vs. Sporting Kansas City
Toyota Park – August 23, 2013
Mike Matkovich, Chicago Fire Assistant Coach
On the atmosphere
“How about those guys tonight? How about the Fire? They played good, good for them. I’m so happy for the guys. They came out here tonight in a playoff atmosphere.”
Patrick Nyarko returned after missing two matches with injury but took a few hard hits. What does the team have to do to protect one of its best players?
“The most important thing is we went through the protocol. The league does a very good job, I’ve never seen anything like it. There’s point 1, 2, 3, 4 all these steps they have to take, so the training staff felt he could give us 30 minutes. We knew that going in, and that was the game plan going in there. It’s a game of contact sometimes guys get hit. He will just get better as we go. He took a tough hit at the DC game.”
On Hunter Jumper scoring his first career MLS goal
“I am just so happy for Hunter, this is his chance. We talked before the game about giving guys opportunities. He played like a veteran tonight. He was focused and we kept things simple for him. What can you say? He has got to be the man of the match in my eyes.”
On the shutout
“We kept things tight, obviously they hit a crossbar and we had a brick. You know how it is in this game, you take your chances. For the most part we were pretty strong defensively. We kept things simple early in the game and played in their half. There were times where I thought we could’ve played a bit more. It’s hard to find those moments to play. Overall defensively I thought the guys rolled their sleeves up tonight. At halftime we said you know it’s 45 minutes and you have another 45 minutes of the fight.”
On overcoming this week’s distractions
“Those things happen in this sport. Professionally the guys are focused and that stuff happens off the field. More importantly we are a group and we are focused on the field. We knew what was at stake. Every point is valuable, so we can’t let that stuff distract us right now that we are in the middle of a playoff race. Most important thing is what happens on the field.”
On the play of Arevalo Rios
“I think he is just going to get better. It is going to take some time for them to figure him out. The guy has played in two World Cups obviously he gives you everything he has. He has leadership, I know he doesn’t speak English but he leads by example and he is such a great guy to have. He is a true professional and comes in here every day and works hard. It’s just a pleasure to have him on the team.”
On Anangono being an impact player
“Any time a guy comes to a new country and a new environment it’s going to take some time. He had a great shot, but we just have to give him time. The nice thing about the guy is that he didn’t start and came in played his role and helped us win and that’s the most important thing. Sometimes guys come in and are not team guys, but this guy is clearly a team guy. I think he’s going to get better as we go along. There are so many players throughout the world that have changes. Sometimes it takes up to six months. We will be patient, we like what we saw tonight, his goal is coming.
Mike Magee, Chicago Fire forward
On Hunter Jumper tallying a goal and assist in only two appearances:
“I didn’t see the first game he played in, but you can throw away the goal and defensively tonight he was amazing. To shutout a team like K.C. is as difficult as it gets and he was fabulous.”
On the team playing with a chip on their shoulder:
“We’re trying to make the playoffs; we have a big chip on our shoulder right now. I think that playing at home we need points. Last week we had a terrible result and this week we are trying to make up for it.”
Hunter Jumper, Chicago Fire defender
On his goal:
“It still hasn’t sunk in yet, but it feels pretty good just because we got the three points. Going into it we knew it was a really big game. We looked at it and we were eight points back behind first place and had two games in hand, so three points is huge.”
On the shutout and defensive performance:
“It was easy out there tonight because communication between the back four and Rios and Larentowicz was unbelievable. Guys were talking, and when everyone is talking and helping each other out it was easy for me to step in. Obviously we were going for it and wanted to be better on the ball, but defensively I thought we were sound and weathered the storm. I thought they had a couple of good chances, but I think we had a couple of good chances as well, especially when Juan [Anangono] came in. The guy can head the ball, he’s a special player.”
On his position change from left back to center back:
“I’ve been playing there in practice lately and it’s not the biggest transition, like it would be playing forward to defender. I definitely appreciate the position a lot more because you don’t realize how much communication you have to have out there. Last year I thought our defense was incredible – when you have guys like Arne [Friedrich], Austin [Berry] and Baky [Soumare] back there they are natural leaders. For someone like me, you just have to be open, grow and learn the position. I just pushed myself and hopefully it won’t be too much of a transition.”
Sean Johnson, Chicago Fire goalkeeper
On the shutout:
“It shows a lot about our team’s character and will. I think we’ve been okay defensively for the past 11 games or so, but to get a shutout shows and reflects all the hard work we’ve been putting in week in and week out. I think we deserved it tonight – we fought, we battled and we made plays when we had to and came away with a result.”Sporting KC Head Coach Peter Vermes
On the match:
“We gave up a very amateur goal early in the first half. It gave them some life. We were chasing ever since. I thought we created more than enough chances to get back in it. We actually really had some good chances and the frustrating thing is we didn’t score. That’s really on us. At the end, you have to score. That’s what the game is about. When you don’t score, you’re not going to win. You’re not going to get back into the game. Unfortunately, we really needed to put the pressure on and I think we would have scored. It would have changed the game a little bit for them as well. They were content with just bunkering down and countering, bunkering, and countering. They never really built the ball out of the back at all. They played every ball long from the very get go. It’s obviously is a much different game. Anyway, I think we should have scored.”
On the upcoming game in Honduras:
“We got to do it, right? After winning the Open Cup last year, that’s the world we are in. We want to be in the competitions. It’s exciting for us to be involved in that. We need to continue to stay in form for the league as well, not just the Champions League. Good thing is, we have a lot of games left and we have to get back on it quick.”
Sporting KC Goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen
On the having more opportunities to score in the second half:
“Yea, I think we did. I think we started extremely poorly. We gave up a couple of chances, we gave up a goal. We were struggling for the first twenty, twenty-five minutes, the last piece of the first half and second half, we did everything we could. You don’t win games when you don’t score goals. We created some good chances but we weren’t sharp enough to score with them.”
On needing three points to pull ahead of New York:
“We should probably not focus on winning our division now and we should focus on making the playoffs now. Focus on the next point. The last five points we’ve got five points and we are still in it, which is impressive but the train is going and if you want to be on it, it’s now.”
Sporting KC Forward Teal Bunbury
On the differences between the first half and the second half:
“I felt like we played well in the first half, we were creating a lot of chances but we weren’t putting them in the back of the net. We had a little mishap and the Fire were able to put it in the back of the net and that’s how they got their goal. But besides that, I felt like we put them under a lot of pressure and they didn’t have too many chances other than the one they put away. We had a decent amount and could have done better. Overall, I felt like we had a really good game, despite not putting goals in the back of the net.”
On feeling frustrated not getting the equalizer:
“Not really, our mentality is we don’t give up and we just continue. There’s not a point in the game where we really got frustrated. Obviously after losing, no one is happy but throughout the whole game I feel like we kept it even keel, didn’t get frustrated, and didn’t show too much emotion. We were unfortunate not to get a result.”
On working towards keeping the team at the top of the conference:
“We have a great squad, great team unity. We have a lot of games coming up, so we are going to forget this game and just move on from it.”
