Sporting Kansas City head coach Raphael Wicky
On the team’s gameplan…
The idea was to put another fast player who runs in behind next to Dejan (Joveljic) to help him there, with Shapi (Suleymanov) coming into the pockets where he's very, very good finding the number 10 positions normally. That was part of the game plan, because we knew that they were going to press very, very aggressive and they were going to have a very high line. We had a game plan on how we can find some free spaces and then accelerate our game with Capita (Capemba) or with Calvin Harris stretching because they will have a high line. That was the plan, but we struggled. We struggled to play through their high press, to connect a few passes, to be a little bit more calm and then actually materialize on that with Calvin up top in the first half while it was 11v11. So no, I was not happy with how we were playing in possession. I think, in this game particularly, it was not good enough. On the other hand, we knew that we have to defend very compact against them. They are a team which plays collectively very well and I feel like there we have done a good job. In moments, even in the first half, we had three or four moments where we won the ball, because we knew they tried to play through the center. They did do this well, but we also knew that we have chances to win balls and I feel like we had three or four opportunities then with Dejan, with Shapi, with Calvin, where we can be a bit cleaner and maybe we score a goal. And then, obviously, everything changes again with a man down, but I felt like the effort and the way the team worked for each other, ran for each other, fought for each other, was good in the second half. We even created one or two moments where we obviously could equalize and we didn't give up many chances with one man down. It's just obviously very disappointing that we concede the decisive goal on a set piece.
On the red cards…
It's not that we had many red cards. We have now have two in a row. I don't think we were a team who were extremely hard and had a lot of yellow cards and a lot of reckless challenges. I think, in the end of the day, when you make a yellow or a red card, most of them are wrong decisions. I think Kwaku (Agyabeng) instinctively felt he could tackle and get the ball. The other guy, I haven't seen it, was probably faster, and that obviously then looks like a heavy foul. I think Moises (Mosquera), in that case, has a yellow and I think his decision should probably (be to) try to play back that ball first time to the goalkeeper and then nothing happens. But then, obviously, it's easy to say this from the sideline. When you're in that moment sprinting and the ball is bouncing, I don't know why he took that decision. But no, in general, I'm not concerned. It just doesn't help. It just doesn't help then when you have to play games for a full half with one man less, because in both games, we were competitive. We were in the game against Houston. We were in this game here. Again, like I said in the beginning, we were in this game with a few counter chances. In possession, we were not good, but we were in the game. And then, obviously, it doesn't help.
On Manu Garcia…
Manu was available for selection, but we had some discussions with him about his future in recent days so I decided it was best not to involve him in the game tonight. That's all I can say. Everything else, I defer to David (Lee).
On Or Blorian’s injury…
I have not had time to ask him or speak to the medical (team) yet. I hope it's nothing bad. I hope it's just a knock or something. He gave me a signal after an action and asked for the sub. I don't know what it is.
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Stefan Cleveland
Thoughts on the match…
I think we struggled in possession before the red card more than we should have. We knew they were going to press hard and I think we started to figure it out after about 20 minutes or so and then it was getting better. And then, you know, red cards change games. I thought the team responded excellently. I thought that we did really well to deny chances, to kill the game and break up the momentum when we had the opportunities to. And then, I mean, set pieces. It's really difficult to take a goal from set pieces when the boys are fighting so hard and not conceding any chances, really. It's really frustrating. It's something that we need to continue to improve on, because we can't keep conceding set-piece goals. It's really difficult. At the end of the day, I thought we fought really well. Even the Houston game, obviously, two really difficult goals to concede. We handed them two goals, but other than that, they didn't really create much, so that's two games in a row where we played with 10 men for more than 90 minutes and defended really well. We've got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot and make the plays that we need to make.
On the goal off the set piece…
I just watched it back. I think that we can just organize the marks better. I think Reggie Cannon comes a little bit late and everybody on the back post drives our team down and blocks Ian (James). They block me. I'm never getting to that ball. I think Ian can get to it if he's not blocked, but I think that we can recognize and organize a little bit better that Reggie Cannon's just laid off of the rest of their team and they're trying to drive all of us down so he gets a free header. They executed well, but I think we need to respond with the experience that we have a little bit better in that moment.
