Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On if your club was tired late in the match
āAfter five or ten minutes being down a man you could tell we were getting big time. Weāve had five games in 15 days and this was the last one. We traveled over 16,000 miles, but we went down two men we had some pretty good fight in the end. We almost scored one which is pretty good. It was a good fight by us in the end. The game was changed by the calls.ā
On goalkeeper Alec Kannās performance tonight and what you say to keep his confidence up
āThese guys, theyāre pros. Obviously I have my words with them, I think at the right times he knows thereās nothing you can do. The first goal was a great goal. The second one, weāre pushing everyone forward and weāre down two men. It is what it is, I donāt think itās going to affect his confidence, heās done a good job.ā
On how you manage the two red cards moving forward
āWell Iām going to appeal the first one. Iāll tell you right now weāll win it. If we donāt win it then somethingās wrong. Because itās straight red, thereās no chance. No chance, the guy gets an arm to his chest. I mean you want me to show you, I donāt know what game this is, but itās a manās game and thereās going to be contact. Thatās ridiculous. I actually think the referee had a little bit of a grudge because I donāt know how you give that call.ā
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Benny Feilhaber
On the match and how the red cards affect morale
āI donāt think it was our best game. We didnāt have as much high energy as we normally have in games. I donāt know, I think we weathered the storm for considerable amount of the first half and put ourselves in a position the second half, but obviously the red card makes a big big difference. We have to basically put 10 guys behind the ball at that point. They scored quickly after that with a nice shot and it put us in a tough position with the second red even though I donāt think it makes any difference on the score. I think itās a soft call by the referee, Roger (Espinoza) looks like heās trying to protect the ball and put his body in the way and obviously shield him with his arm. I donāt think thereās any assort of malice or over exertion of power. I think itās a silly card to give at that point in the game, having said that they outplayed us and probably deserved the three points.ā
Sporting Kansas City defender Ike Opara
On how the red cards affect your morale on the field
āThe effort was still there, the guys were giving it all they could. I canāt fault what everyone put on the field and played this game today. Obviously it wasnāt easy circumstances.ā