Sporting Kansas City head coach Raphael Wicky
Thoughts on the match…
We were very unlucky to lose here in the 90th minute. Overall, I believe the team had another really good performance away from home, against a team who we all know has a lot of experience. On turf here in this stadium, it’s never easy. I believe that the team had a very good performance. We created a lot of attacking actions, played well, and defended together. It was very unlucky that we leave here away with zero points. That hurts of course, but I think our last four or five performances are going in the right direction. That's where we have to take the positives from.
On Seattle’s 90th minute goal…
Again, I think the performance was really good. It could have gone either way this game. They created things, we created things. Both teams wanted to win this game. We did not, even at the end of the game, sit and just go for a point. Of course, it's nicer not to lose and take a draw, but the team mentality was go when we can go, let's go for the win. I think that shows a lot of our character, and what we want to do. It’s just unlucky in that moment of the game. We were on top of their box and weren’t able to do certain things better. Create our own shot, our own chance. Then we ran into a counterattack, and the end of the counterattack was really, unlucky from Wyatt (Meyer). Again, overall, a lot of positives to take from this game. Also, after the goal we conceded, the team reacted really well.
On Sporting’s press throughout the game…
What we want to do is, whenever possible, we want to apply pressure, we want to put them under pressure together. It's not just one guy normally, it's a collective effort. There were many moments where we did that well. There are moments where Seattle and their players play out as well. But that was one of those moments, and that is important. Counter press is important. Now, in the 90th, our counter press was too short to win the ball with (Jacob) Bartlett, and Kwaku (Agyabeng). That's the little things with counter-press. We want to be a team who, when we lose the ball, recover the ball quickly again. We have really good moments of that. In the last action, unfortunately, they get out of there, and then they have the counter.
On the second half…
I don't think it's a trend with the second half. I think we had a very good first half. We wanted to keep playing, keep pushing. We showed a few clips on how we moved the ball well, and how we defended well. They also tried to change something. They put their fastest player up front and not on the wing, they played a little bit more direct, and we suffered.
Similar to when Dallas started playing a little bit more direct. We wanted to keep playing our game, and that has been the focus for many weeks and many months now. We want to keep playing our game, independent of what the opposition does.
On the injury troubles the team is facing…
It's a little bit a reflection of the whole year. It started like that in preseason, went through the first bit until the World Cup, and unfortunately, it has, continued now. My job is to try to look for solutions, and to work with the players who are available. It's unfortunate that we have so many important players injured. But we're all working together and we need to look for solutions. It's the same for the next weekend. Lasse (Berg Johnsen) came out of the game with a hamstring, so we will see how that develops. The mentality has to be, next man up. I think, and Jansen (Miller) and Wyatt (Meyer) have shown that. Orr (Blorian) and Moises (Mosquera) are not there, and I think they have done their job well. There will be another guy stepping in again for Lasse if that's something bad. Hopefully a few guys can recover in the next weeks as well.
Sporting Kansas City forward Stephen Afrifa
Thoughts on the match…
It was a tough goal to concede at the time we did. I felt like we deserved a lot more from this game. That’s kind of the sentiment throughout the locker room. We have to keep our heads up. We've been playing well the last couple weeks. We’re always going to have little moments like this. It's unfortunate, but it's part of the game. We just have to look forward and continue being us. We've been doing well, so we have to keep building on it.
On his recent run of form…
It’s just me trying to play my game. I've been asked to play a new role the last 5 games, and I’m learning a lot with it. It’s been putting me in good positions. I’m just trying to do my best to help the team. I've been put in good situations and had Andre (Luiz) at the back of a couple of those assists. Today was a little lucky, but I'll take it. I’m just trying to play my game and see what happens with the rest of the year. We're trying to push for our goal of the playoffs. We know there's still a chance, so we're going to fight till the end.
On Sporting’s press…
It's a part of Rafa’s system that he's been trying to implement with us. We've been working on it. And for me coming into a central role, it's a different type of pressure that I have to apply. It’s takes a bit of adjusting, but I feel like Taylor (Calheira) really helps me, Lasse behind me and Kwaku up top talking to me makes my job a lot easier. I’m just waiting to help the press, or just if I see big touches, I step onto the ball like I did today. I got lucky off of it, and Andre took the chance and converted it.
On the tactics against Seattle…
I would say it’s not necessarily a gut feeling, but we know how the Sounders play. They like to keep the ball. No matter what kind of pressure you give them, they want to play in small, tight spaces and try to move you. This is how they break down a lot of teams, and that’s the risk that comes with their style of play We talked about it all week. If we get the pressure, it's going be very beneficial to us. Just like Rafa have been saying all week, it paid off.
