Sporting Kansas City head coach Peter Vermes
On what he said to the guys in the locker room after the rough match ending…
“I don’t know if it’s as rough as that is. Look, it’s disappointing when you lose. Always is. Our effort in the game, coming in here, going down 1-0, come back 2-1, [go into] overtime, it says a lot about our guys, the way we play, the way the fight, the way they get themselves back in the game. Look, we’ve been on the other end of penalty kick shootouts and we know what it feels like to toss a win. You have to take advantage of your opportunities and we had three times we could have won and we didn’t do that. That’s really the reason why we lost and more importantly I thought we were in a good position earlier on. We gave up a really silly second goal. It was too easy but we played very well. We played very hard. [They’re] a good determined bunch and like I said to get up and it be 2-1 in overtime was pretty big time.”
On evaluating the season after making the playoffs and a U.S. Open Cup win…
“I never look at the season that way. For us, we want to win [MLS Cup] Championships. We won the U.S. Open Cup, great but that was over with. It’s done with. We were in pursuit of now an MLS Cup. There’s no doubt that we’re going to be very disappointed in the fact that we didn’t move on. I think we did enough to do that but at the same time we didn’t finish at the end and that’s the way it goes sometimes. We’ll learn from it and move on and those experiences are good too. It helps you grow as a team, as a club and as individual players too.”
On goalkeeper Tim Melia’s injury…
“I really don’t know to be honest. He had to come off. He just wasn’t feeling right. I really can’t speak to it. They have to do a lot more looking at him and examining. There was no doubt that he got kicked. That in itself was a bad situation but whatever, I don’t know at this point.”
On goalkeeper Jon Kempin stepping in…
“He did great. He did fantastic in the penalty kick shootout. I thought he was calm and cool when he came in, in the last final minutes of the game. I also think that he gave us three chances to win it and we didn’t take advantage of that. He did a great job and he has nothing to be disappointed about or anything other than we lost.”
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jon Kempin
On stepping in for goalkeeper Tim Melia
“I’ve been there before so I wasn’t too nervous. I have confidence in the team. I knew we were a goal down but I knew we’d get a goal or two and we did. Credit to them. Our guys played awesome and it’s just unlucky there at the end.”
On the team’s perseverance after going down a goal…
“It’s unbelievable, the atmosphere. The fans are unbelievable. You have to give a ton of credit to our guys going down a goal late and being able to lock it down and get another goal in extra time. Unfortunately they got one there at the end but our team played unbelievable and I’m very proud of them.”
On the offseason focus…
“I haven’t really thought about it. My whole goal was to win another MLS Cup. I’m sure this is going to hurt for a little bit but maybe I’ll think about it in a couple of days.”
Portland Timbers head coach Caleb Porter
On how exciting that was…
“I don’t think it’s sunk in yet, to be honest with you. At this stage of the season in the playoffs you need players to make big plays under pressure and we got that. We came out first half and I thought we were outstanding. I thought we were on the front foot, the dominant team. We didn’t get rewarded with the goal, but second half we found the goal. Credit to Kansas City, they found the leveling goal and then [Krisztian] Nemeth like I said, ‘big plays in big moments.’ He makes a big play and makes it 2-1. We sub on [Dairon] Asprilla and Maxi [Urruti] and Asprilla steps up, gets a cross in – great ball and Maxi smashes the goal. You need plays like that. Those guys come in off the bench and they make a play. It’s 2-2 and then now we’re in PKs. Adam [Kwarasey] makes two saves and under pressure scores the goal and Darlington [Nagbe], steps up and scores under pressure. And George [Fochive], who came in and didn’t have his best game, got beat on the second goal, he knew that. And Adam looked over to say, ‘do you want me to take it?’ and he said ‘no I’m taking it’ and he stepped up and he scores it. So I think it’s fitting. We’ve got guys who want to win and their hungry. We got plays from different guys today to win the game. But we needed those plays and that’s what ultimately the difference was. I want to credit Kansas City for a great game. There is a reason they have won trophies – MLS Cup and Open Cup trophies. They are a tremendous team, very experienced. They’ve got talented players. Peter [Vermes] is a great coach. It was a wonderful game. Great showcase for the league. Lots of drama, goals, physicality, tension, everything you want, all wrapped up in one. So it’s great for the league. I’m real proud of my team and real glad to be on the winning end. We look forward to now a series with Vancouver who is a very good team. We can’t celebrate this win long. Tomorrow we wake up and we are back to work and we need to get turned around quick and we will. This team will, but we are back at home Sunday. Our crowd, our fans, our supporters, the Timbers Army, I think maybe they were the ones that kept that last ball out of the net. It was either them or it was God because the thing bounced twice and I don’t know how it didn’t go in. Again, I said it all along and I will say it again, ‘it’s a game of moments and a game of inches’ and we found those plays and we won those moments and that’s why we are moving on.”
On beating Kansas City at their own game, a team who has been in penalty shootouts in big games before…
“I think that game played out just like they like it to play out. A lot of fouls and at the end they found the goal. They were managing the game pretty well, they were riding it out. I think it’s pretty typical for them usually they ride that game out. Then in PKs, I don’t think I’ve ever seen that many misses in PKs. I’ve been in PKs before, I lost the National Championship in PKs. I’ve won National Championships in PKs. I’ve never seen that many misses, so it was crazy, but again happy to be moving on. But again we are on to the next round, we are not satisfied, we want more. This team wants more and we are capable of more.”
On if the game was a testament to the team’s depth...
“Yeah and it’s a testament to how bought in everybody is. A lot of times your guys who are playing a lot are bought in, but when you have 1-20 bought in that’s real testament to the type of team we have the character and the spirit. Those are fluffy words, but they are real. They matter. Those things matter. I don’t care what level. Those things matter. That was the difference today. I thought our depth but also the buy in and the spirit of the guys who came into the game. Like I said we got a few plays out of guys that we needed too."
On how to get the guys ready on a quick turnaround…
“We just turnaround. It’s the tightest window we have played in all year. To be honest with you I don’t like the format. We play Thursday and we are three seed. I don’t know why that happened. It is what it is. No one cares about the format. They care who goes on. So we are going to find a way to get it done. No doubt the guys will be ready. No doubt they will be turnaround once the whistles blows, the adrenaline goes, they won’t feel it. We’ll be ready.”
On how taking PKs in the same end as the Timbers Army affected the shootout…
“I think it added more pressure in a good way. Like I said I think something kept that ball out I don’t know what it was maybe it was the air from them yelling so much. Something kept it out. I’m going to credit the Timbers Army for keeping that ball out, that allowed us to then win the game.”
On playing Jack Jewsbury in Diego Chara’s place tonight…
“I was real proud of how we played especially in the first half. I’m sure a lot of people when they saw Jack as a holding mid and two attacking mids thought ‘is that going to be too light?’ I had full faith in Jack to be able to do the job. We decided to go that way because Darlington has been so good in the middle and the two attacking mids we played with Diego [Valeri] and Darlington in that role we’ve been outstanding – Real Salt Lake and LA Galaxy. Then we knew Chara was out, the other option would be to move Darlington wide and play initially with George and Jack and I think it was the right decision to start the way we did. Then we brought George in like we have the last three games so it was nothing new. We delayed it as long as we could. Like I said I don’t think he had his best game, but he made up for it in the end. But I think that Jack his intelligence, his experience, his positional sense. We were on the front foot in the first half and the start of the second half and had some outstanding sequences, some passages of play, some chances and right now this system is working. Will Chara be back? I don’t know we will see. I thought Jack did a good job, but we also know we can switch it up. We can go with two holding mids. Everybody gets caught up in the numbers whether it’s a 4-3-3, 4-1-4-1 or a 4-2-3-1. The key is it’s starting points and endings points and if you watch Darlington’s positioning sometimes it’s two holdings mids, sometimes it’s two attacking mids and we worked a lot on that. When we are high up the pitch it’s two attacking mids. Where he can press, where he can get in the final third, where he can link with Valeri and he’s higher. The deeper we got the lower he got and the more he dropped in and I thought we managed him moving between the lines very well on both sides of the ball.”
On if that was the wildest game he had ever been a part of…
“I’ve been part of a lot of crazy games, but yeah I think this was probably up there. No doubt about it. Just glad to be on the winning end. I’m glad we are moving on but I feel for KC because I’ve been on the other side of that. Like I said I lost the National Championship on PKs – the final kick. There is nothing worse. But I thought we earned it. I really did, I thought we earned it.”
Portland Timbers goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey
On whether he thought the game would come down to him taking a penalty kick…
“It was like a movie. I hear everybody saying that and I agree. I didn’t expect it to go to 11 penalties. I didn’t expect to take a penalty and I didn’t expect to save one after I’ve taken one. I’m still a little bit exhausted. It’s a wonderful feeling.”
On the mental switch from concentrating on saving penalties to having to score one…
“I didn’t think too much about that. I’m Adam as usual. Calm. I won’t say I knew I was going to score, but I felt I could have taken an earlier penalty as well. It is what it is. That’s what happened. I took the last one and I’m happy now.”
On the short turnaround to face Vancouver in the Western Conference Semifinals…
“We have to take the positives with us and correct our mistakes. We have to start focusing tomorrow. We just get three or four days after 120 minutes so we have to be clever now and be smart with what we do. I expect everybody to just go home and rest now.”
On the last time he scored a goal…
“Norwegian Cup, 2010 I think. Penalty as well.”
On how confident he felt taking his penalty kick…
“I just said to myself hit it as hard as possible and a little to the side and see what happens.”
On the penalties he saved…
“We’ve been watching them. I went right on a lot of the penalties and that’s because of [Timbers assistant coaches] Pablo [Moreira] and Adin [Brown] doing a good job. A lot of research on penalties as far back as 2012, I think. I have to share that with them. They helped me to guess right.”
On how much he knew about Abdul-Salaam’s penalty hitting both posts…
“I was afraid it was going to touch me in the back and then go in. We would have had a different conversation if that would have happened. My heart stopped for a couple of seconds there.”
Portland Timbers midfielder Rodney Wallace
General thoughts on the match…
“That was intense. We got out of here with a win and now we’re looking to the next round.”
On if he’d ever played in a game like this before…
“No, this is the first time I’ve ever been through anything like this. I hope the fans enjoyed it because we sure did. We got another one at home so we have to bring the same energy. The players, the fans, everybody, this whole city. Let’s go.”
On if he’s going to kiss the goal posts from the penalty shootout…
“I’m not. I think we’re good. Everybody stepped up tonight from the field players, including Adam [Kwarasey] taking a penalty kick and then saving a couple. Everybody came through, it was a team effort.”
On how nerve wracking the experience was for the players…
“Like I said, it was intense. How you guys were feeling, we were feeling the same thing. Anything could have happened, but we had faith in our guys, we had confidence in our guys and the guys that came in. They stepped up and we never doubted anybody on the field.”
On the importance of the Timbers Army…
“This is something special in the city. It’s like no other place. I think that everyone understands that. It’s a driving force for us, the players, and we appreciate everything that they do for us. We try to play our hearts out for them as well. The whole stadium was jumping. That’s so important for us as a team. We feel it while we’re playing and tonight it was something special.”
On Adam Kwarasey’s impact on the game…
“He was definitely the man tonight.”
Portland Timbers defender Liam Ridgewell
On how the Timbers will process this victory…
“I don’t know. Certainly can’t watch it again, would take too long to watch I think. This season, this is what we’ve been about. All the way to the end, coming from behind, doing something when people have written us off and we’ve shown it again today. The post and some other things might have saved us, but we stuck together. We fully deserved it.”
On whether he’s experienced a game like this…
“I don’t think so. Maybe a five-a-side tournament I played at home as a nine-year-old. Never been involved in 11 penalties and nearly coming back around. Hitting a post and hitting two posts. It was just crazy. I didn’t know what to make of it to be quite honest. It was a bit crazy. Celebrating at the end made it all sweeter.”
On Adam Kwarasey’s performance…
“That’s what endears yourself to the fans. He certainly did that tonight. He scored one and saved two and was tremendous. All year it’s been a pleasure [playing in front of Kwarasey]. We’ve had 13 clean sheets and done so well. This can only give us confidence going into the next games.”
On what went through his mind when Abdul-Salaam’s penalty hit both posts…
“It was crazy. I saw him more or less celebrating before he’d even run and kicked it. Maybe it’s a little bit he’d never done it before. It was crazy. I thought it was going in the other side, hit the post and go in the other side of the net. Then it’s hit the post and come back out the other side and I thought it was going in the other side of the net. Then it came out. It’s great. It gave us a little bit of a boost we needed.”
