Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the game…
I thought it was a great game for the fans. I thought the first half, we dominated. I thought maybe we should have scored more goals, we were all around the box. Credit to Joe Cannon, he made some very big saves to keep them in the game. Second half, they made a little adjustment that took us some time to get acquainted with. As I said, we’re playing Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday-Wednesday, at times we’re going to have to be in automatic situations. We got to a point where we actually pick and choose our moments where we could actually counter and I think if we could just get the final pass better, we could have put a third one in.
Defensively, we were very solid tonight besides falling asleep on the set piece. Outside of that, I commend the guys, being a goal down, coming back, putting two in and the level of work ethic. A guy like Roger (Espinoza), coming back from Honduras playing almost 120 minutes on Wednesday. I give the guys credit.
On Julio Cesar being a starter…
Julio’s made some entrances as a substitute when we’ve been on this streak, and what he’s done extremely well in those games is that he’s extremely smart. He’s been able to tactically play a role for us that would take away a strength in the other team and I thought tonight, for me, that he was close to being the best player on the field for us because of the way he played tactically. His decisions were excellent, he had great spacing in between the back line and the midfielders and he’s very calm.
On the mentality of the team…
The only things the guys have done since we’ve been on this winning streak is they’ve established a good foundation on defense and we’ve attacked really well from there, on counters and on good buildup.
On lineup decisions…
Sometimes it depends on the opponent, some of it depends on who’s logging major minutes and guys coming back from international duty. And also there’s partnerships that are starting to work real well. I think we have the ability to move some guys around. The great thing, I think, is we have great competition for position within our team and that’s how some of our decisions are made as well.
Sporting Kansas City striker Omar Bravo
Thoughts on the game…
At the beginning, the game was tough. But we got the penalty, I scored it and it was a good result for the team and end to the night.
On the penalty…
It’s good that they called the penalty, it was a penalty. I’m happy I made it and the good thing is that we won. I feel the team is in good form and now that we’re playing more often at home, hopefully we can get a good string of wins.
On the lineup and strategy…
I respect the coach and what the coach says goes. We do have to be aggressive at home and I like that.
On the team’s current attitude…
The change is obvious. The attitude with the players, the discipline has changed since early in the season. Things have been a lot more positive. Things are looking better, all in all with the team.
It’s difficult because I’ve never had an injury in general. Today, I felt better than I have recently and I expect to move forward and build on this and continue on.
On scoring goals…
I came to be a champion and I’m not going to stop until we get that final goal to be champions. Hopefully we can make the playoffs and move forward.
Sporting Kansas City defender Chance Myers
On the quick turnaround from Wednesday…
Mentality wise, we weren’t worried. We were focused coming home, we always have a little more energy. Obviously it was a tough game in Philadelphia, but we did a good job with what we needed to do there to come home and get a good result here.
On playing with energy at home…
I think we had a good game. We bounced back from giving up an early set-piece goal, and once we got that first one, we knew we could find a second.
Sporting Kansas City striker C.J. Sapong
On the Whitecaps FC defense…
It was a tough physical battle. Once I started to play with the other midfielders and try those one-twos, that’s where we found the most success. I played against somebody else last time, and I knew DeMerit was going to be a lot more physical. They didn’t really communicate that well with one another since they had one guy who was experienced and then a first year guy. I think we exploited that well.
Sporting Kansas City goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen
Overall thoughts on the game…
It was a solid performance. We had a great first half, probably our best of the season. We did well defending and offensively as well, we were creating some good opportunities. There was a good flow in our game. To go a goal down and then respond so quickly, it shows we have the momentum right now. We’ve got the defense, we’ve got the belief.
On giving up the goal…
He got a good header. It happens but we got organized afterward and I think we were pretty solid defending set pieces after that.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Manager Tom Soehn
Thoughts on the game…
In the first half, we wanted to get the early goal and force them to come out. What we didn’t do well was pressure them the right way. We let them get inside our house, didn’t make play predictable, and I thought that really accounted for putting us on our heels, putting our defenders in bad spots. In the second half I thought we did a better job by making play more predictable, but the damage was done already.
On Sporting Kansas City’s strategy…
Anytime you're at home, you’re going to have a lot of energy and you’re going to push the game and that’s what they did.
On the second half…
Eric (Hassli) had a really good look, and nine out of 10 times you see him finishing every week, he puts that away. In the end we didn’t create enough opportunities, and you do that by getting the ball high and pressuring them the right way and we didn’t do a good enough job of that today.
Any positives from the performance…
I always like to watch the video and analyze what we did. Obviously we’re disappointed. We came off a win and wanted to follow up with another one, so it’s back to work.
Thoughts on LIVESTRONG Sporting Park…
Fantastic. I’ve been in the League since the beginning as a player. And there’s small markets now that are coming up with these fantastic facilities, it’s a credit to the League. It’s really a spectacle for the fans. It’s an exciting time for the League, we continue to grow and I’m happy for Kansas City. They have a wonderful place to play.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC defender Jonathan Leathers
Thoughts on the game….
The game was definitely up and down for sure. We came out and we had a goal fast, that was awesome. I was so excited to do that, especially coming back home where I used to play so that was great. We hit a wall for a little bit. You have to give Kansas City credit. It was a hard-fought battle. The guys were pushing as much as they could.
Thoughts on LIVESTRONG Sporting Park…
The stadium is phenomenal. I was so excited to see the end product. Last year they were building it up so much, I saw construction mid-way so I was excited to see the final product now. It’s amazing. The players love playing here.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC defender Jay DeMerit
Thoughts on the game…
This game was hard to explain. I thought we started well, that was our goal going out. After that, we got a bit flat. The penalty changed the game. We’ll look at that and hopefully learn from these types of things, and how we can get back into games and continue our energy because we didn’t do that tonight. We have two important games coming up.
Thoughts on LIVESTRONG Sporting Park…
The stadium is great. The facilities here are top class. This is what we hope for more places in MLS. As the League continues to grow, it’s going to be facilities like this that keep the fans happy and keep the players happy and keep the League happy.
