Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
On tonight’s result:
Yeah look I thought we played very well today and I thought tactically they were sound, I thought they found it very difficult to play through us for the majority of the game you know. The second goal especially, I mean it was a miss kick by the guy and it wound up going to the same guy that has been scoring a lot of their goals, in the right place at the right time. Obviously it’s tough, I’m disappointed for the guys, I thought they did real well today, but you know credit to them they scored two goals and we scored one.
On the mentality of the team after their last game against New York:
I thought it was great. I thought we were locked into the game, like I said, I think the way we played it was very evident that they were finding it very difficult to play through us. I thought we countered really well quite a few times and you know obviously we caught them on the one, I thought we should have caught them on one or two others, we could’ve been a little more clinical, but I thought game plan, execution, and determination by the guys, work ethic, all that stuff was there. It was just a couple of chances you know that didn’t go our way.
On the physical first-half and why it was effective for his team and how the Red Bulls didn’t appear prepared for it
I didn’t think they would be. We play pretty high all the time against teams, but when you take all the different problems we have with the group and so many injuries and all the other things that it only made sense in how many games we played over a short period of time here leading up to this game and how many guys we had injured it just made sense to play a little differently and I think it would serve us well and I thought for a majority of the game it did. It was a shame we gave up the one – the first one – when we did, I thought were in a good position at that point, and I was feeling pretty good and I just threw a fresh guy on, but again, they found a way.
On the Red Bulls and if they can make a playoff run
I mean I think they have just as good a chance as anybody in this league. I’m a big believer that this league has a lot of parody and I truly believe that there are teams that can beat anybody on any day in this league, I just think that. I believe it, a lot of it has to do with confidence, a lot of it has to do with mentality, but it also has to do with whether or not the team’s willing to put in the work and fight for every ball, and I think both teams actually did that today, but they scored two and we had one.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Graham Zusi
Thoughts on the game:
I thought we played pretty well actually, we played exactly how we set up the game and I think it was obvious what our game plan was by the way we came out. We got our goal on the counter and I think kind of two unlucky instances on their goals and I mean it’s a tough one because we played the way we wanted to and their two goals were just two mistakes on our part.
On the game plan:
Well our game plan was obviously to sit back and allow them to make the game with their center backs and their backs and once they came into our half, we would put them under pressure and just be difficult to play against. It’s something that, where we maybe lacked the latter half of this season. It’s really our MO as a team is being tough to play against and not giving [our opponents] a lot of goals and for the most part we did that tonight.
On this year for him with SKC and the World Cup:
It’s been a long year, a very long year. Starting with January camp, which is pretty much a preseason in itself, having MLS preseason as well, and then pre-World Cup camp as well – that’s three preseasons right there so it’s been a long one, but I wish it could go longer.
Sporting KC defender Matt Besler
On what it’s like to exit the playoffs at this point:
Game-wise, I thought for 80 minutes we executed our game plan very well, we ran out of steam in the last 10 minutes, you have to give credit to New York they were able to capitalize on it and score two goals. As far as the season goes, for me it’s probably a little too early to be analyzing on the season. Obviously it’s disappointing to get knocked out like this, we have high expectations as a team, so any time we don’t win championships we’re disappointed.
On what he said to his team after Dom Dwyer’s goal:
Don’t stop. Don’t stop right now and I knew if we could get another I felt very comfortable. Again, we had a very specific game plan coming into this game and I just wanted to make it clear that no matter what the score was, we didn’t get away from that game plan.
On Bradley Wright-Phillips:
He’s a goal scorer. Simple as that. I mean he, did he touch the ball three times, three or four times tonight? He got two goals. He doesn’t need much, doesn’t need much space. He proved that he’s very dangerous.
New York Red Bulls head coach Mike Petke
On tonight’s game:
The guys showed resiliency and guts, which is perhaps something I’m more proud of than any goals, any tactics… Kansas City is a great team, they really are. Peter Vermes is someone that I admire, being older, having played against him in the league when he was going out of the league, and now seeing what he’s done with Kansas City… they’re a great team. They threw me for a loop, coming in and sitting the way they did, but it was effective. They did a great job with it, we really couldn’t break them down, as deep as they were. They’re a quality side, they got a goal and the guts that we showed, I’m very proud of. Now we’ve got what, three days, two and a half days left? Three days maximum to get ready for D.C. I’m proud of my guys.
On feelings during the game:
There was a point late in the second half where I was questioning if this team was scared of the playoffs. Over the last couple of years, I’ve been saying I don’t believe in any curses, or jinxes or anything like that, but I thought maybe we were just scared of the playoffs. But they proved that wrong, and now they’re happy in the locker room, exhausted, and now it’s on to D.C.
On Luyindula’s play and Bradley’s second goal:
I didn’t know Bradley scored two, to be honest with you, until I was just told. That’s how wrapped up I get in the game. I wasn’t sure if Oyongo scored, because he celebrated and came over to the bench…
Peggy, when he’s on, is able to control the ball, is able to do things with the ball that not many people can. Spreading the ball out, holding the ball for us when we’re giving it away too much… I thought he did well. I thought he stepped in to a difficult situation where we weren’t having success going through the middle. With him jumping into the middle spot I think there were times that he did well, held the ball up, linked up well with Thierry and Bradley… and Bradley, what can you say, two goals again tonight. Love him.
On team’s character:
This is one game. This is the play-in game. I’m not going to proclaim that we’re going to turn and around and going to go past D.C. Not at all. They showed an aggressive performance tonight, I’m proud of them. Our game plan kind of got reversed on us, we weren’t able to push tonight because of how K.C. played, but we found a way. You said Supporter’s Shield, that’s long gone now. Seattle has that. It’s not even in our heads. Like I said, three days, two and a half days to get these guys mentally and physically ready for a huge game on Sunday, it’s going to be difficult, but this is what the playoffs about in MLS, and we need to go do it.
On first playoff win at Red Bull Arena:
It’s amazing. For the moment. In ten minutes I’m going to forget about that feeling because we’re already preparing for D.C. But, it’s good. Especially because some of these guys are a little bit older, who knows who is going to be around here, who know if I’m going to be here? You never know. So, it’s good to get that one win. And now we have to get one more at home here, and then take it on the road and hopefully get another game back here.
On this group of players facing D.C.:
I think the toughest part about being a coach, and the part that keeps me up at night and gets my heart racing is the fact that no matter what you do for five days leading up to a game, it doesn’t matter when the whistle blows. It doesn’t matter. I knew this as a player, but I didn’t realize how difficult it was as a coach. Once the whistle blows, everything you said, everything you’ve done means nothing if they don’t do it. It comes down to the players. The responsibility and the losses fall on me, as they should, and the wins fall on them. That’s the most difficult thing. So if you’re asking me that question, that remains to be seen.
On the play of the back four:
Yeah, over the last month, month and a half it hasn’t been perfect, but it’s been a hell of a lot better than the first three quarters of the season. Having said that, they played a very deep line tonight with really one forward, and looked to beat us on the break. D.C. has some quality guys up front, they play two strikers so it’s going to be a different scenario and we need to show up on Sunday.
On game planning for KC:
We didn’t change much. My whole beginning thought process, and what I said to them before the game was I don’t care if this game is at Red Bull Arena, in Kansas City, or on the moon. This is how we’re going to get a result. It was very similar, not the same, but it was very similar to how we played in Kansas City. We’re not a team that can go out and press for 90 minutes. We have a lot of teams in this league that can do that for 90 minutes, they run up high and we don’t have that. That’s not us. The difficulty, in three days, is when they came in I expected them to come at us a little more. But, credit to them. They completely pulled a 180 on me and they were almost successful at it.
On significance of first playoff win at Red Bull Arena:
It feels great. We have a lot of guys here who are getting on in years, and not only that but next year there will be some changes. Whether it’s a little or a lot, but it’s good to get that first win in Red Bull Arena in the playoffs for a lot of these guys. I’m very happy for them.
On potentially Henry’s last game at Red Bull Arena:
I have to get it tattooed on my head. I have no clue what Thierry’s going to do. I’m not thinking about… No, I’m not thinking about that at all. I’ve said it enough already. Thierry, I think, could play for two more years, whether it be here, whether it be back in England, wherever he decides to play. His contract is up, but I don’t know what he’s going to do. Having said that, I guess if I looked deep down inside myself, in a quiet room in yoga class, and I meditate, and I say “wow, I guess this could be Thierry’s last game” then yes, I’m very happy for him.
New York Red Bulls forward Bradley Wright-Phillips
On second goal:
Initially the ball was quite high, wasn’t it? I thought I couldn’t get much of it, I just tried to get it on target.
On thoughts when down a goal:
At the time, obviously it makes your job harder, but I thought it worked in our favor. They sat back because they had the lead, what you normally do, and it gave us a bit more possession, and we took our time and we got our two goals.
On feeling after KC scored:
Yeah, at the time obviously I didn’t think ‘right, let’s go,’ but it just worked out. When I thought about it after the game… they sat back a bit and just wanted to see the game out, but obviously it worked in our favor.
On pressure of not having won playoff game at Red Bull Arena:
No, those kinds of things don’t come into a players mind, I don’t think. It surely doesn’t come in mine. You go out there are do what the manager says, you don’t really think about the history and so on.
On previous success against Kansas City:
No, because each game is different. That was the regular season, and that’s done. They obviously came here with a game plan and it worked, it worked for a long period of time. We had to deal with that, and we did, we showed great character and we got the win.
On the play of substitutes tonight:
Yeah, very well. We needed fresh legs, obviously, we played two games in a matter of five days, so it was a squad performance and you see that when they came on.
On Luyindula’s play:
That’s what Peguy does, you know. It’s just unfortunate that he could start in any team, he’s a quality player. To have someone like that on the bench for us does wonders.
On feelings after scoring second goal:
I was pretty excited. At first, I thought initially I was going to be caught. I don’t know why, but then I looked at the fans and they were going crazy so it made me go mad.
On second goal deflecting off defender:
Yeah, I knew it took a deflection, and I don’t care. I heard the announcer say Bradley Wright-Phillips.
On buildup to second goal:
[Henry], in the second half especially, he was quality. He rode down memory lane. He was a young man out there, he was taking on that guy for fun. I did have a feeling something would come from him, from the left, if it came from anywhere. He did was he does best.
On added intensity in playoff games:
I don’t know, it felt quite regular to me. Obviously you can hear the crowd’s a little bit louder, and it means a little bit more right now, but it wasn’t too much different in the pace for me. Just a lot more riding on it.
On comfort level in playoffs:
It doesn’t feel any different. It’s a normal match, I play it as a regular game. I try to score every game, I try to get shots on target, and it will be the same on D.C.
New York Red Bulls forward Thierry Henry
On the challenge of beating a good team two times in a row:
It was a task. I think it was one of the first MLS – playing in front of their box, they wanted to make it difficult. [Doing] Exactly what we did today, four days ago and it was difficult. As you saw, we created some chances. They were clear, but it’s not like we were dominating too much. We had the ball a lot, if I can say [audio unclear] they tried to hit us on the break. They had a plan, and it looked like it was going to work because they got to go back from the mistake from our side and hit us on the break and it looked like it was going to be one of those night’s where we’ve had a couple times – more than a couple of times. We never gave up, we came back into the game and won it.
On the difficulty of a short break before D.C. United on Sunday:
We did that during the season, sometimes you do Saturday [to] Saturday and sometimes you do Saturday [to] Wednesday [to] Saturday, and we did manage it – not that bad – during the season this year so hopefully we can do that, but it’s playoff time. [I’m] going to try to rest before playing D.C. on Sunday and you guys all know how difficult it is every time we play those guys, but we’re going to enjoy tonight and tomorrow is another day.
On if he was more comfortable as the game went on:
I thought we kept the ball well, that’s what they wanted and we created. We did it from the left or from the right and we could have scored before that and what was good tonight was we kept on going, we didn’t give up, and we got rewarded.
On if SKC or other teams harder to play in the playoffs:
It’s always difficult. Like I said to you, if I roll by the years, it looked like one of the games that we actually lost here. Houston, San Jose, I’m not going to name them all but we created chances in all of those games which should have been one or two-nil up and then you end up being one-nil down like tonight, but tonight we kept our composure, we didn’t lose our shape, something that we did against Columbus, we didn’t lose our shape, we kept our focus, although it looked like the game was going to finish one-nil, but we scored and obviously like I said so many times, when you have a guy like Bradley Wright-Phillips in the box and you can find him, then you can finish the job.
On if he got the sense that SKC aimed to win it 1-0 after the goal:
Well I mean as long as you have time you try to win the game right? But I think that’s what they wanted. They wanted to hit us on the break, looking for one of our mistakes and eat it up and they end up scoring that goal and the thing is, like I said just before, is we didn’t lose our shape. You know sometimes you get confused into the – you get a mixed feeling like ‘should we all go forward’ and then you get exposed so we did that tonight, we stayed in our position, we stayed wide, Lloyd [Sam] stayed wide, we stayed kind of in the same position and obviously when Peguy [Luyindula] came on and Tim [Cahill] went a bit lower, but we had the same shape and I thought that it was the key although it looked like time was running out.
On if it feels different to play these games getting toward the end of his contract:
No it doesn’t, same feeling. We knew that obviously if we didn’t win today that we were going on holiday and that’s not what we wanted to do. That’s all, that’s where we all are right now and now obviously focusing on D.C., like I said to you before it won’t be an easy one, but that’s why I said to you, and not in a bad way, when I said to you that we haven’t done anything. Still a long way to go it’s not because you beat Kansas City that you have done anything, that doesn’t give you nothing, we didn’t get anything at the end of the game, it’s just the right to advance and make sure that we can play D.C., that’s all.
Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles
On tonight’s game:
In the last fifteen minutes we showed the quality. Bradley stepped up big, Thierry stepped up big, and we did just enough to win. In the last two years that’s something that we haven’t been able to do in the playoffs. I know we have to turn around and play in about 72 hours, but the momentum is good. I wouldn’t have it any other way right now.
On momentum carrying into Sunday’s game.
I’m hoping. We knew that, after Sunday, when we played in Kansas City and we got a good result and we played well that it was going to be something that we bring into this game. I felt for the most part we did that, and even in the first 45 minutes I thought we were seeing vintage Kansas City, but, you know, Brad [Wright-Phillips] is having an incredible season and he saved us tonight again, and Thierry just continued to put him under. In a way, we were just saying in the locker room, it was almost a blessing that they scored, because they stopped pressing. At that moment we were able to take the game to them, and in a way they made their own bed.
On getting first playoff win at Red Bull Arena:
This is my fifth playoff game, I finally won a game. We talked yesterday just about the familiarity of our opponents. Last year, Houston we had their number, and we felt comfortable going into that series. We should do well. So, in the back of my mind, at least, there was this idea that this might be a repeat of last year. I’m glad it isn’t. I’m glad it isn’t, and the momentum is going to important for us when we play on Sunday.
