Chicago Fire 4:0 Vancouver Whitecaps
Quote Sheet
Recap
Veljko Paunovic, Chicago Fire Head Coach
On Bastian Schweinsteiger’s status for the Portland game:
“Basti, we still have to see how it goes, but we had to pull him out of the game because he felt a little bit of sharp soreness. So he was actually smart and when the result was 3-0 he asked for the substitution. I think we will see, we will evaluate in the next couple of days how he recovers and we expect him to be ready for Portland. But we will know Monday.”
On Michael de Leeuw’s first goal of the season and what it means for him and the club:
“So happy for him. We were talking for a long time now how important his work for the team, how important his assists for the team also. And today at the half I told him he has to count that assist as a goal also, the one he played the ball to Niko and it was obviously great execution from Niko. But he won that second ball, he intuitively knew where the ball was going to bounce and then he started to run in that space, great first touch and then great pass to Niko. At the half I told him ‘keep it up, your opportunity will come, just be ready.’ Then when he missed the first one I was like, ‘that was the one.’ But, he was consistent and so happy for him that he can finally could score a very important goal for us. We always appreciate in the locker room that we have to be hungry until the end and play, every game with an empty belly, and he has that especially cause he didn’t score. But today I’m so happy for him and I congratulate him and obviously to the team on a fantastic performance and great effort. But, now I have to be the party breaker and I want to just stop the euphoria because I think it’s important to know we still haven’t done anything. It’s great to hear that are stats are improving and our history also proves great numbers right now. We still have to know that this is only half of the season and we have a long way to go and a lot of games to play and win and that’s how have to think about the next game is the most important game.”
On Matt Polster’s performance and learning a new position at right back:
“I think his acceptance to play that role and that position which we always said you’re playing as a midfielder on the flank. It’s not that you’re playing a fullback like a classic old time fullback. We want you to participate, to be on the ball, to go inside, to cause problems for the opponents in terms with being on the ball and create a superiority and assist or even score goals which would be even better. So for us, when you have the ball you have to play, depending on the situation, and he understands now very well and accepted to play at that position but also understand that he can very useful and help the team attack. Which is something that is important for the style of play we have now.”
On the team’s response coming off the U.S. Open cup loss on Wednesday:
“We had to work a lot on the mentality of the group and actually this win today helps us as a team to understand that everything we were saying and preaching that it’s possible. It was about the mentality, about how we rest, how we prepare and what we believe and today I think we shifted very well from the loss we had. Actually we lost on penalties which is different than if you would loss in a different way. For us it was very important to see that it’s possible to recover after 120 minutes in just a couple of days and perform like we performed today. Fantastic performance, fantastic mood, the mentality was great and that’s how the great teams play but we still have to work a lot to become a great team. We have to prove that now in the next game, Portland is going to be a great test for us and we have to keep the mentality we have now and play the way we played so far.”
On the team’s depth with David Accam and Dax McCarty out for international duty
“Thank you for asking that question because I wanted to talk about Juninho today. I think he assumed the role especially when Basti had to go out, he assumed the role as the leader and dictating the game for us with the ball. Defensively he helped a lot, he recovered so much ground today and was very efficient with the ball. To answer your question, that was very important that we had Juninho assuming the role that Dax was doing for us and his participation on the field was fantastic. Now I think also the team understands that everyone at their 100 percent and are ready to give that on the field and the team will improve. I just think once we have this we have to keep it and the locker room is very happy because we can finally see that keeping this mentality working like this we can get to the first place. But, like I said before, we now have to be aware that we have to keep the mood and the good results in order to improve more and still keep working and working towards our goal which is in the playoff.”
Michael de Leeuw, Chicago Fire Forward
On scoring his first goal of the season
"I feel good. Finally, you know? The monkey's finally off my back, but I think it was an elephant. I'm happy with my goal but also with the points. It feels so good that I scored but the most important thing is that we killed the game really soon. It was great. I'm happy; happy with the result, happy with my goal."
On being named Man of the Match
"I think I played a good game. I had some chances, one ball was headed out at the line, also one chance that has to be a goal. I was feeling it today, and at the end it's good that you score a goal. Sometimes, you just need a goal to open your account; let's hope that it keeps flowing now."
On winning after a midweek loss to FC Cincinnati
"That's big, the reaction. In the back of your head, you play 120 minutes, you lost in penalties, that's hard mentally. If you see how quick we scored the goals and we ended their chance to win, because we were so dominant on the field, we were winning duels, creating a lot of chances. I think they also felt, 'okay, they played Wednesday, 120 minutes.' Right away, we killed them. That was a good feeling for us."
On the lessons learned from Wednesday’s loss
"We know what we lacked on Wednesday. We had chances. At that point, the longer the game went, the more they start believing in the game. We were better in that game, but in the end they deserved it, for them it was a great game. But we knew what we were lacking in the game."
On the team's reaction to his goal
"That felt great, the support. I felt the guys were also feeling it, that I needed a goal. I felt the love from the guys, and that was great."
On partnering with Nemanja Nikolic
"When you have the ball on their half, you know Niko is always waiting on that line to go. He's always like a predator, lurking to get that goal. He's good at that. He's got 16 goals man, he's a killer. He's doing it for us, so that's great. We know his capabilities; I think we all adjust good to each other."
Juninho, Chicago Fire Midfielder
On the match
"I think we did very good. Missing a couple players, but we knew that it was going to be a good game for us, especially in front of our fans. They come here every single time, every single Saturday to support us so we can score the goals, and we gave what they want to see. I think our team did a good job managing the game and keeping scoring the goals. That's very important for us. We're first in the table, we have to keep it up."
On the depth of the team
"I think we have a very good group, very good, talented players in this group where in situations like this where you're missing players, they have to step up. The opportunity was out there for them and they did a very good job. That's the way, as a team, we have to continue. Looking forward for more kind of situations like this where we need to step up."
Nemanja Nikolic, Chicago Fire Forward
On missing David Accam
"Of course, David is a very important player for us but I think every player in the squad has motivation to show his ability. You see Arturo today had a chance from the coach and he played amazing, he scored a very good goal. So we miss David, because he's a very important player for us, but of course the players who are on the pitch all the time, they want to improve and to help the team to achieve his goals and to win every game."
On his scoring streak
"I think the most important thing is to believe in yourself. Of course you will have games like me against Orlando, for example, against Cincinnati, I had a lot of opportunities to score, I missed. I think that you can miss the chances, but you cannot lose the belief in yourself. You need to keep doing the same things, you need to believe in yourself to try to be better every day and to help the team to progress. This is my goal. Of course, every game, your job is to score goals; now everybody expects from me, not just the players, the staff also, the supporters."
On defenders adjusting to him
"I also know them much better, so it's easier. Of course, they will try to stop me, and I will try to be more sharp."
On another big win at home
"Not just the last two, I think that every game in Toyota Park, we played really good. I know a few games more, when we scored a lot of goals; against Seattle also, it was a really fantastic night, like today. It's really good to see our fans come back to the stadium in big numbers, it's very important. We have now their trust, they are behind us. This is just one plus for the team to progress and to be in this level."
