QUOTE SHEET
Chicago Fire 0:3 Columbus Crew SC
RECAP
Head Coach Veljko Paunović
On the Chicago Fire’s performance tonight:
"No excuses. I think we had a good first half. We played against one of the best teams for me, definitely in our League. They got, in this game, everything they did in the first game, when we played in Chicago. They converted a lot of opportunities. They definitely deserved the win, and congrats on that. We’ll move forward. Unfortunately, we got more injuries in this game, so that’s not good, but we have to just work and keep going. We’ll get better. That’s always our statement. We always work to get better from games like this, and we move forward."
On having a week off to prepare for Houston:
"It’s good that we now have time to recover from that game. But also, it’s important to start getting back injured guys. For a long time now, the team is suffering, not in terms of anything else, but just the sake of rotations. We need everyone back."
On what needs to improve for the Chicago Fire:
"I think in the first half, we had chances. We created chances, and I think that in the second half we opened very good with a chance by [Aleksandar] Katai, which we didn’t convert. Against this team, you cannot permit yourself at not being sharp. In the end, it comes back to you. We have to get better."
On having other players step up to score goals:
"Everyone scores on our team. We did in the past. We just have to come back to form we were at some point, and we get better. [Nemanja] Nikolic is an important piece, but other guys also try to score. Last game was even somebody that is not usual to see scoring, in the last two games, Kevin Ellis scored two goals. Yes, of course. We want everybody to score goals, and score ten goals per game, but it’s not easy."
Chicago Fire Forward Diego Campos
On the importance of minutes for young players:
"It is a good experience. Sometimes the team is going to win. Sometimes you’re going to lose. That’s soccer. I think that we need to learn it’s really important for us as rookies to get all this experience and talk to the guys and feel all these types of games. I think that we learn a lot even though we lost. It’s a great experience and a great opportunity to learn."
On preparing to face the Houston Dynamo:
"It’s great to have all this time to prepare [for] next game. It’s always hard to lose but we need to look into the future and get this couple of days to relax, watch the video, learn and look to Houston and prepare to win that game."
Elliot Collier, Chicago Fire Forward
On getting playing minutes:
"It’s huge. Honestly, trying to get the most minutes and most experience out of this first year and trying to make the most out of the opportunities that the coaching staff has given us. It’s huge like I said, can’t ask for more getting starting minutes coming off the bench. Just gotta make the most of it."
On having a full week to recover before facing the Houston Dynamo:
"It is going to be good. Well get back, have a couple days off, rest, recover and get back after it and prepare for every game like we normally do. It’ll be nice to have a home game and try to get a win."
