Sporting KC Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the game...
You´re playing your first game of the season. Very rarely is everybody 90 minutes fit, let alone able to play 10 men for 90-plus minutes. It showed a lot of determination and courage from the guys to be able to fight the way they did. What they did really well was they were actually smart. They were really disciplined defensively but they picked and chose some really good moments. We could have stolen the game at the end a couple of times. There were great opportunities. Dom had two of them, but in the end, I think a tie is probably a fair result.
On rookie Amadou Dia making his debut with a start at right back...
He did very well. I give the kid a lot of credit. He has got some cojones. He can step out there and he can play at this level for sure. He is playing out of position. He is really a left back, not a right back, so I give him a really high mark in regards to the way he played today. Never got out of shape, made some very good individual plays, recovered really well. He was very good tonight.
On the performance of Benny Feilhaber...
I put him back to central defender and I thought he was excellent there. He was actually very, very good so I was pretty pleased with the way I saw him play. Like I said, at the end we could have won the game. His service he gave to Dom at the back post off the right side was tremendous. He had a good performance.
On Ike Opara scoring a goal in his first MLS match in nearly a year...
Ike has a tendency, especially off of set pieces, and that is where that started. It started off of a set piece and we got the rebound. Somebody opened it up wide and the service was fantastic. Great ball in and obviously a great finish for him.
On the team's current form...
I think first games are always tough. There are quite a few guys that on Friday we came in here and trained in the stadium, and there were quite a few new guys that came into the stadium and looked around and were like, “holy cow.” They were wide eyed. Obviously that was with nobody in the stadium. I can imagine what it must have been like for some of them today when they walked in and saw the full environment that our crowds present. I think for all of our players at the end, it was a good first performance. Do you want it to bo better? Sure, you always want certain things. There are pieces of what we did today which I think eventually will put a full game together.
On Sporting KC's overall performance...
I think at times we were really good. We broke a couple of times. We were very good going forward, but we were more like a one hit wonder. We didn’t maybe possess the ball enough at times in the other team´s half. The other thing is I think at times we gave up too many second balls in the middle of the midfield. I think as the game went on, we got a little better with it. We felt more comfortable.
On Matt Besler's ejection in the 70th minute...
There is no doubt the second call is a yellow card. The first one I don’t think it is a yellow card at all. What happens is Matt never hits the guy. If he hits the guy, then it is a really harsh challenge and he deserves one. He never touches the guy. They guy jumps out of it and doesn´t get hit. I don´t think it is one of those things where the guy is coming in with a straight leg. You got a guy who is kind of sliding his leg and whipping his leg across. It is a little bit different. But sometimes it happens.
On the team's cohesion...
It was okay. It wasn´t great, but I don’t expect it to be at the moment just because it is so new and we are just starting. As I said before, when you play exhibition matches in preseason, they don’t present the same environment and intensity as an MLS game does. We have games ahead of us that will help us get into the form we need to be in and I like that. There is one thing I see and I see a tremendous amount of potential with the group of guys that we have.
On the status of new signings Marcel de Jong and Soni Mustivar...
Marcel was actually available to play today and so was Mustivar, but neither guys has been here long enough. They need to get some rhythm at training before they become guys that are considered for the starting lineup or the A team.
Sporting KC defender Ike Opara
On playing in his first MLS match since March 2014…
It was really good to get back on the field. I wish we had gotten all three points for the fans. Everyone worked their tails off. We fought, went down a man, and kept fighting. We had a couple good opportunities to take the lead and get the win, but all in all, we’re happy with our performance on opening week.
On scoring in his first MLS match in nearly a year…
I kind of envisioned it all day, except I envisioned a win as well. It was a great ball from Benny [Feilhaber], and I was lucky to get in the right spot and put in the goal. It was a great moment for the team.
On defending Bradley Wright-Phillips throughout the match…
He’s obviously a top striker in this league. He’s very good with his movements, he’s pacy, he’s strong. He’s got a lot of good qualities to him. I thought everyone did well battling him. I don’t know if he got any shots or clean looks for sure, but I thought we all did well. It’s always nice to play well against a top striker.
On how he felt after playing 90 minutes…
It’s been a long time since I felt this (tired). I’ll just ice it and get ready for next game.
Sporting KC midfielder Benny Feilhaber
Thoughts on the game…
We came out really well. Both teams tried to press in the first half and it wasn’t really a pretty game. Everyone was trying to feel each other out in the first game of the year. There wasn’t as much technical play, but more physical. Then it opened up in the second half. Obviously we were able to get a goal and they were able to get a goal. The red card changed the game for us a little bit. Having said that, I still think we did a good job in the last 20 to 25 minutes, not only preserving the 1-1 draw but also creating opportunities to try to win the game.
On assisting Ike Opara’s goal…
It’s great to see him get on the score sheet. Ike and I were roommates for a long time, and it’s always nice to be able to assist and get your roomie a goal. It was big time for him. It was incredible for him to make this recovery, be able to play 90 minutes in his first game of the year and get a goal for us. We know how strong he is in the air, so if you put it anywhere close to him, he’s probably going to get one.
On moving to centerback after Sporting KC was reduced to 10 men…
It was definitely Peter Vermes’ choice, but maybe I forced his hand with some of the things I’ve said in the past year or so, saying I’m a great centerback. We always have a laugh about it, but sometimes in small-sided games in training I’ll play centerback. I convinced him a little bit, I guess, and he gave me the opportunity. It wasn’t the easiest of circumstances to go in there when you’re down a man, but thankfully Ike helped me a lot and told me where to go as much as he could. I was just listening to him and Seth [Sinovic] as best as I could. We got it done in the end.
On the current state of the team…
There’s no doubt about it that we need to improve. When you have the turnover that we did, when you have a lot of new starters and new guys on the bench, it’s obviously going to make a big difference for us. It’s going to take time—it’s not just going to take one preseason and we’re suddenly off with a bang. I think we’re in a good spot to compete in each and every game right now, but we want to be in a much better spot three, four, five or six months from now. We’ll be improving each and every day in training and games. It’s not going to be the final product until further in the season, which is probably the way we’d like it anyways. There’s a long ways to go, but we’re content with where we’re at right now. Just got to keep improving.
New York Red Bulls Manager Jesse Marsch
Thoughts on the match…
For us, it wasn’t a perfect game by any means but I thought overall to come into a tough place to play on opening night and come away with a draw, was all-in-all a pretty good result and a pretty good performance for us.
On the difficulties players had with footing…
Maybe a little of both [pitch condition and player’s boots]. Early in the year, the fields aren’t going to be perfect, that’s for sure. There’s going to be elements; we’ve been training in snow. I didn’t think it impacted the game too much.
On Sporting KC’s late push after Erik Palmer-Brown’s substitution into the match..
I actually thought that putting Palmer-Brown in was a little bit of a defensive move because then we put in an extra forward. In the end, it would have felt pretty awful if we had given up that last goal, if Dom would have been able to stick that one. A lot of little things to still work on and the way I look at this is we’re kind of shifting the way we’re playing and there’s a lot of new concepts going on the field and it’s about building layers. So we’re only starting with some of the initial layers and we have a lot more layers to go but overall, again, the mentality of the group to compete and play and press was really good tonight.
On Bradley Wright-Phillips’ performance…
We would like to get Bradley more involved, that’s for sure. He did have a couple advantages that didn’t come his way or the way that we would want them to. Not sure about some of the offside calls, I’ll have to take another look at that again but I continue to feel strongly that Bradley will find his chances and we have a good midfield behind him.
New York Red Bulls winger Lloyd Sam
On scoring the equalizer in the 54th minute…
I think Felipe turned and I dropped into midfield. I turned and had a run across the middle. I did a little chop and then whipped it into the corner. It felt great to score. This place is always difficult to play in, so to keep the crowd quiet and all that was very important.
New York Red Bulls midfielder Sacha Kljestan
Thoughts on the game…
It's 50-50 for me. I think if you had told me before the game that we would come away with one point in our opening game, at Kansas City, I think we would have taken it. After going through the game, I think we all came out disappointed and that's a good sign.
On the team's performance…
I think our mentality was good tonight. We could have been a little better on the ball and had more patience, but overall a good first step.
On the team's attack...
I think our confidence in the final third and the final pass let us down tonight. I think us attacking guys come away disappointed because we could have done better. We should have had a little more patience, especially when we were up a man.
On his first game with New York...
It was nice to play 90 minutes. It was nice to be on the field with my teammates, who I love. We fought for each other and had a great mentality, so all that felt good. Personally, i think I can do a lot better so I'm hopeful for the future.
New York Red Bulls midfielder Dax McCarty
Thoughts on the game...
I think before the game if you had asked us if we would have taken this result, coming into a new season with a new system, new coach and new players, we probably would have taken the result. If you ask me now, I'll tell you we are disappointed. I thought it was a pretty even game for the most part. I thought a lot of feeling out in the beginning and once we settled down, we were pretty good with the ball and had a little more of the game. But we went down 1-0. I thought our reaction was great. Obviously, Lloyd Sam scored a fantastic goal and the disappointment comes with not doing more when we were a man up. I thought the game was there for the taking for us. We weren't good enough. We weren't sharp enough and when we went a man up, we almost got too content. We thought it was going to be a walk in the park, but in reality it galvanized them and they started taking it to us a little more. I think the overall feeling is disappointment.
On the team's attack...
We had a lot of chances. We had a lot of opportunities to get the ball in the box from wide positions. When we did get in those positions, I don't think we picked out runners enough. When you put together a team with new coaches and a couple new players, the last thing to come is always the attacking part. It's always a little bit easier to defend and to stop goals, but it's very hard to create goals. We have really good attacking players, we have a great goalscorer and very dangerous attacking players, so I'm not worried about it. I think those connections will come with time. But you can see that all the guys were trying do the right things.
Takeaways from the match...
I think we did a lot of the things we had talked about. We did a lot of the things that will make us successful as a team. We want to press teams high and make them uncomfortable. Kansas City is a team that when you play them here at Sporting Park, they are always going to try and dictate the game. They always play on their terms and I thought for the most part we took them out of their comfort zone. I think we flipped the game on them a bit. That was a plan of ours going into the game. That being said, they are a good team and whenever you come here, if you can get out of here with a point it is always a positive. The disappointment is because we could have played better when we were a man up.
