MLS Regular Season
Chicago Fire (2-6-5, 11 points) 1:2 Colorado Rapids (9-2-4, 31 points)
June 18, 2016 – Dick’s Sporting Goods Park
Veljko Paunovic, Chicago Fire Head Coach
Thoughts on the match and the halftime substitution
“Arturo had issues with his knee so he couldn’t continue. He asked for a substitution so that’s why we did it. Anyway, we had to make some changes. It wasn’t what we were planning, but at the end Joey Calistri came in and did very well in the game. He scored a goal and from that side, I think that was positive. On the other side, I want to congratulate Colorado. We have to get better, we have to be less innocent in these kind of games. Experience and determination are very important. That’s it, we move forward.”
On making lots of subs early on in the game
“We adjusted everything in order to win the game. First to tie the game, which worked well when we moved to the 3-4-3 formation. From 4-3-3 to 3-4-3 it worked well. After only a couple of minutes, we scored so we wanted to continue playing that way, but unfortunately we received that second goal and it was tough to come back.”
On the play of Joey Calistri
“He’s doing well. Long way to go for him but I’m very happy for him that he scored.”
On how frustrating the result is
"Of course nobody is happy with that, but the only thing we can do is move forward. Move forward and keep on working and believing. I think that’s what we also have to improve our faith in that we can be a winning team on the road, so that’s also something that we have to improve on.”
Joey Calistri, Chicago Fire Midfielder
On scoring his first professional goal
“There was a really good ball played back post. Rodrigo Ramos] made a great run to get there. I saw him about to head it back so I tried to get in position to score. He played a good header back and I took a touch first, then was able to put it home left foot and it was a great feeling.”
On the positives of the performance
“Obviously playing against one of the top teams in the league right now in a really tough environment with the altitude and everything, I think the fight from everybody on the team was incredible. I was proud to be on the field with everybody today. Sometimes soccer doesn’t go the way that you’d like and there are unlucky bounces. It is part of the game, so you kind of have to go with it, but overall I think everybody put in a lot of effort today.”
Johan Kappelhof, Chicago Fire Defender
On building off the performance
“The positive is that we were in the game until the end and we tried to keep the ball and create something. It was hard, we searched for our chances, but they didn’t come. It was good after the goal against us, we came back. That’s the good thing about us.”
