Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match
The game wasn’t a 2-0 game by any means. I thought that we had very good run of play. I thought our possession was good away from home. I have to say I think the red card was extremely harsh. I don’t think it was a tackle on the field. There were a few other ones that could have been on both sides of the ball, but there was nothing in that tackle that I think warranted a red card. I think it changes the game a little bit, but I thought we managed the situation all the way up until the first goal. But definitely it’s not a 2-0 game, no doubt.
On the team's attack
I thought we were getting in behind their defense. I thought we were finding all their channels and getting behind them. I thought we had good possession playing away from home and I think the way we were playing was good. I thought we had some very good chances. They had one good chance in the first half. After that, I thought we had some very good chances in and around their box. Again, definitely not a 2-0 game.
On Dom Dwyer
(Dom Dwyer) was good. At times, he was a little bit on his own; tough to hold the ball up, but I thought he was good. He made it difficult for them, didn’t make it easy, for sure. We had a couple of really good counterattacks against them that we probably should have found the back of the net on. But I can’t say anything about our effort or our play. I thought it was good.
On Toni Dovale
(Toni Dovale) actually got sick. I thought he was good when he was in there. It was a game for us to see how he would start getting involved in the pace of a Major League Soccer game. I thought for some times that he was on the ball, he was very good. He found some good through balls and things like that, but it would have been nice to see him play for a little bit longer.
On overall team's performance
I thought we played very well. I think if you can go into someone else’s place and play the way we did and possess the ball the way we did, I think it’s a good performance. I thought we were ready for this game, no doubt.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Benny Feilhaber
On playing against his former club
It’s always exciting to play against your old buddies that you trained with. It was fun to be back. Unfortunately for us, we didn’t get the result that we wanted. But we’ll have a couple more chances against these guys throughout the year, so it’ll be fun.
On playing down a man
It’s always tough going down a man, maybe even more so away from home. They pressed us the last 15 minutes and were obviously able to get the couple of goals that earned them the three points. They did well. I thought we fought hard but in the end got a bit unlucky and didn’t get anything out of the game.
Thoughts on the match
I don’t know what the percentages were, but I felt like the game was pretty back and forth the whole way. I don’t know if the possession was too much of a difference until the red card. I thought in both the first half and the second half we had our moments and they had theirs. We both had chances. There were definitely chances in the first and second half before their goals. After the red card, they obviously had more chances than us and I think that was a big turning point in the game. I don’t know if they would have gotten as many chances as they did if we had been 11 vs 11.
On the red card
I didn’t see the foul at all – if it was studs up I think that it should have been a red card. If it wasn’t, then it probably should have been a yellow.
On playing a man down
You go down a man and that makes a big difference. Like I said, the possession after the red card was probably pretty lopsided. I had a great chance after the red card and if I had put that one away, maybe we would have taken the three points. But never the less, the red card makes a big difference.
