Chicago Fire (1-2-3, 6 points) vs. Montreal Impact (4-2-0, 12 points)
Toyota Park - Bridgeview, IL
April 16, 2016
MLS Regular Season
Veljko Paunovic, Chicago Fire Head Coach
Thoughts on the match
“Yes, it’s tough. Sure it was difficult for us to see that after the lead and playing good in the first half, to see us give up this game but there’s a long way to go. We have to learn from these games, we have to learn how to play when we have a lead and when we have to also, you know, take advantage of opportunities we create and we have to mature, be more mature, but that’s part of the process and part of the game. We had a great opponent in front, we played tough against them and also I’d like to congratulate to Montreal on a win. They deserve it absolutely and all the best.”
On the winning goal
“I think we wanted to win this game. We wanted to press high and the counter, especially coming from Piatti, for me it was a surprise. When I saw him coming inside, we prepared. We knew how he likes to cut inside and finish but the shot was perfect. It was executed perfectly so congratulations. I have to see it again but I don’t think it was stoppable.”
On Didier Drogba being a game-changer
“For me what concerns me more is that we, like I said before, we weren’t mature in this game. When Drogba came into this game we were impressed by him and that’s something I’m not happy about. He’s one of the best players in the world, a great guy and everything, but our team has to understand that we have to respect ourselves as we are respecting our opponents. And I don’t think we were on that page. I don’t think we were good. So, still that’s something that we have to learn and I believe for the next games the lesson we learned in this game will be improved.”
On preparing for Drogba
“We don’t have to be impressed by him. If he comes, everybody talks about Drogba. He is a fantastic player and a fantastic guy personally, I love him but it’s the same thing, when you’re playing the game you have to respect yourself and give your best. I’m just thinking that, as I said before, we just have to be more mature.”
On putting shots on frame
“Working on it. Just training and practicing. Always talking about it, having meetings. It’s one of the areas we have to improve. We have to improve. We are emphasizing every time in our sessions and in our meetings that we have to finish actions, we have to score goals, we have to take shots. All these kinds of things in practice. It’s these kind of things we have to improve.”
On Montreal holding majority possession
“Arturo did well. He gave his best in the first half. In the second half we needed to keep more possession. We needed a guy like Matt Polster who can hold the position in the midfield but he’s also more creative, which was important for us to put him in the game. I think in the end it was a game where we have to improve and understand and learn how to play these types of games and how have to finish these types of games.”
Kennedy Igboananike, Chicago Fire Forward
On the match
"I am disappointed to lose after leading in the first half. We thought we were going to have it in the second half. Sometimes in soccer you never know. I think we gave it our best, everybody did well, but we made mistakes and they took advantage of it. We just have to keep our heads up and move on to the next game. There's a lot of games left so we just have to keep our heads up."
Matt Lampson, Chicago Fire Goalkeeper
On the goal
"It's not luck, he's a very good player. It's one of the things I was talking about with the guys in midfield and the backline, what transpired to give him so much space right at the top of the box. You can't leave a player of his caliber that open for a shot. It was a very good shot, he hit it just about as good as you can. Unfortunately, I didn't get a save on it. Credit to him on a good finish, but in the grand scheme of things, we lost the game on it. We're going to have to come back with some serious zeal and start racking up points."
On Didier Drogba's goal
"He didn't create it, I created it for him. I pushed the ball away right in front of the net, that's on me. One of our things, just like when we play Columbus with Kai Kamara, Orlando with Cyle Larin, with a big guy like that, you hone in on him, you plan differently than you do with other attackers. Honestly, I thought we neutralized him. That was a self-inflicted wound and he made us pay. He's a great player, and he had a very good finish on it."
On defending against first-place Montreal
"It's tough to organize when you have so many people to take into account, but we have a great defensive team. Like I said, the first goal is a mistake on my part; the second goal is a little bit of transition that we were slow to come back and organize. Good teams make you pay, and they're the first team in the Eastern Conference for a reason. Unfortunately, we needed points at home, and we didn't get them today. That's the bottom line."
