Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
General thoughts on the match…
“The game wasn’t a 3-0 game. Look, obviously they finished a couple chances there at the end of the game. What I would say is that we actually played better when we were 11 versus 11, than when we went up a man. We got too direct, which I thought let [Portland] off the hook too many times. I would say all three goals come from major mistakes on our part. That’s the way I look at it. I don’t mean the final shot on goal or whatever. How the plays occurred, just because of poor decisions on our part. I think today our approach was good, our energy was good, I think all that was good, but I think there are two things: obviously you have to score. We had a ton of chances in and around their goal. I don’t know exactly the time, but it was probably 30 minutes in the second half, we were in and around the 18-yard box probably 25 yards in, we were all over them. We have to score, that’s obvious. The other piece is… it was our in-game decisions that were poor today. I think that’s what cost us the game.”
On road struggles...
“I think every team in MLS is similar in that regard. I think everybody tries to get road wins as much as they can. It’s not the easiest thing to do. It’s kind of the way the sport is, around the world especially. Soccer’s just like that. I don’t think it’s any one thing.”
On the red card on Soni Mustivar…
“It’s hard for me to say whether it was a red or it wasn’t. I’ve seen that call many times be just a maximum yellow. But I know how the referees have been refereeing from the beginning of the year. I think it was two guys going for the ball, one guy got there a little bit earlier, whatever. The point about is, regardless of whether it was or it wasn’t, at the end of the day, we put ourselves in that position again. That’s the problem.”
On adjustments after the red card…
“We got into the second half, we made a couple subs, we went to three at the back at one point. It’s one of the reasons I think we had so much pressure on them. They couldn’t really get out of their end. I thought we were really good. If we had scored a goal, it would have put them even more under pressure and it wouldn’t have given them the life that they got because we would have tied it up and kept going. Just a couple different players we brought in. I thought bringing on [Graham] Zusi brought us something.”
On the impact the red card has on the ability to analyze the game…
“Sometimes you have to play down a man. Sometimes you have to play up a man. So those are all good things you have to look at. It’s not something we don’t deal with. We do. When the game is being played in soccer, when you’re in that 45 minutes, whether it’s the first half or the second half, there’s not a lot you can change, if you will. You might be able to go to a 3-5-2 or whatever. You can change your formation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that that’s going to equate to something. The guys have to also recognize on the field what’s taking place and how to take advantage of what’s going on. That’s where I was saying our in-game decisions, especially when we were up a man in the first half, just wasn’t good enough. We really, really played into their hands. When you’re up a man, you gotta make the other team work and we didn’t do that. We just kept giving them the ball back by playing direct up the field.”
On whether it’s difficult to play a team home-and-away back-to-back…
“These back-to-back things, I’m not a big fan of them ever since they started with it. I think it’s a grueling, grinding season to begin with and to have these back-to-backs, especially at this time of the year, it’s very difficult for both teams. I really do. Scheduling is definitely not a friend for a lot of teams and I can tell you for us, it’s been a nightmare. We haven’t played on a Saturday night at 7:30-8 o’clock in a long, long time. Hopefully we’re going to do that soon, next Saturday.”
Sporting Kansas City forward Dom Dwyer
General thoughts on the match…
“It was a good battle. But credit to Portland. They played well and they put the game away at the end. I don’t think it’s a 3-0 game. At the end they put it away and deserved to win.”
On Kansas City controlling possession when they were up a man…
“We just needed a little more patience. I think we kept the ball well. We did try and force it and gave it away, but managed to get it back again. I think we need a little more patience when we’re playing. Just move the ball around a bit more and try to find some gaps.”
On whether he felt Kansas City was creating quality chances…
“We had the ball around their goal. Had a couple of chances we should have put away. We were okay. We’d like a bit more quality in the final third. We’d like to finish off our chances. We did okay. There’s positives to take from the game. The result is different from what I take from the game.”
On returning to Providence Park for the first time since the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs…
“It’s awesome. I love playing here. It’s always a cool atmosphere. If you can’t play here, you can’t play anywhere. It’s full up everytime. The atmosphere, the fans are buzzing. It’s fun for us as players. I love away fans giving you stick, shouting and booing. It’s compliments. It’s fun and obviously it’s a great place to play.”
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Benny Feilhaber
General thoughts on the match…
“We kind of gave them the points a little bit today. With the man up advantage and obviously they played two games: one against us and once in the midweek. We could tell they were tired. They wanted to play off the counter attack and we had a lot of possession in that first half. Regardless of whether [Soni] Mustivar’s challenge is a red or a yellow, I think it’s just silly for us to put the referee in that position when we’re up a man. We allowed them back in the game, 10 versus 10. They get a great goal from [Diego] Valeri. Can’t take anything away from that goal. We get opportunities and we aren’t able to capitalize, so I don’t think it was a 3-0 game. But obviously they took care of their chances and finished the game off.”
On if Kansas City was able to create quality chances with the amount of possession they had…
“I think we gave it away a little too cheaply maybe in the first half. Second half I thought we were even better with the ball, creating more quality opportunities when it was 10 versus 10. But having said that, if we keep the game 11 on 10 the whole time, especially with how tired their legs were from the midweek game, I have a hard time seeing them getting three points. At the very least we get a 0-0 draw and maybe sneak a goal and get three points. Very silly on our part to give the referee an opportunity to give us a red card there.”
On if Kansas City pushing for an equalizer allowed Portland to get two late goals…
“I think the last two goals are the least of our worries today. I think there’s plenty of other things that we did that we know we need to do better at. Having said that, obviously late in the game, when you’re pushing players up, you want to try and avoid big chances. I think that third one was pretty lucky with [Fanendo] Adi having a couple deflections that came back to him. The second one is a good play from [Darlington] Nagbe and a good finish from Jack [Jewsbury]. That’s not the biggest worry from today’s game.”
On returning to Providence Park for the first time since the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs…
“It’s always really fun playing here. The fans are good. They always make it tough on us. It’s fun playing here. Just, you know, not a good ending for us.”
