Chivas USA Head Coach Jose Luis Sanchez Sola “Chelis”

On the importance of getting a road victory: “We had a lot of luck. We won because we scored goals, it is as simple as that. I never thought I would have told you this but we won because we scored two goals. They played with a lot of bad luck, a lot of bad luck. They did a lot to try and score the first half and nothing. We had five opportunities, and scored on four. This is a group who has no blame of what happened, or they have all the blame of what happened. Because they shoot, because they go in, because they organize, and because they keep on shooting. It has nothing to do with the great effort that these players give. We are still moving forward and have yet to take a step backwards.”

Chivas USA defender Joaquin Velazquez

On the 4-1 result: “Furthermore than the final results, we came with the intentions of getting points. We wanted the win. Thank God it came to us, we gave a grand effort. It was a game that was very complicated.”

On his goal: “It was a fixed play that we practiced during the week. It doesn’t always pan out, it isn’t always exact. But today we were fortunate that it happened and it was useful for getting an advantage on the scoreboard.”

On effectiveness of the second half in relation to the first half: “We adjusted. In the first half we could never get the ball. When we would recuperate, we would lose the ball right away. So we adjusted at halftime, and fortunately, we bettered ourselves.”

Chivas USA forward Juan Agudelo

On the match: “We felt like we were able to get past the first half. We were not used to the wind. We thought the wind would work if we had the wind behind us, it would work in our favor. But actually it was the opposite tonight. I feel like Chicago had the better play in the first half but then when we were going against the wind, we felt like we played better. I just thought it was huge, that third goal, it gave us a lot of space to finish off the game.”

On the changes to the team dynamic in the second half:

“It felt like the long balls, the wind was holding the ball up and we were able to put pressure on their center backs. It gave us some extra time and possession because the balls we were playing the first half were going to the goalkeeper.”

On his goal: “I made a really long run from the midfield and I was exhausted and Larentowicz – he knew I was going toward the goal – we were fighting a little bit trying to get position. I just thought, it is a tough ball for him to bring down and if I just get my body in the way, then hopefully I can get the ball and I was able to slot it home and help my team.”

On the team’s offensive effort: “We really don’t train too much with finishing in practice. I guess it’s working the games and we are just able to put ourselves in good situations where we are able to finish off our chances.”

On moving in a positive direction as a team: “It feels awesome. We are getting more respect, it feels awesome.”

Chivas USA goalkeeper Dan Kennedy

On the match: “It was excellent. To come here in these conditions and get a result is phenomenal. We went up a goal, and then gave up a goal; sometimes when the home team gets backs into the game like that they take over. We just responded with three more. For a goalkeeper it was a really fun game. You get a chance to make some saves and the team puts four goals on the board, and it relieves a little pressure.”

On using this game as a building-block going into the rest of the season: “I said all preseason with this group, everyone is so new so it is important that we get off on the right foot and build team chemistry together on the field, and that’s what we are doing. I’m proud of all the guys. It’s not easy to come in this environment and win.”

On what the team needs to work on: “Their goal seemed to come out of a little bit of nothing. I kind of put that on the conditions – everything was a little bit hectic out there. So for me, I thought we did a really good job on set pieces. Offensively they didn’t get a sniff and then going forward, again, to score four goals, it’s a game changer. It makes other teams respect you and they have to be a little bit more defensive minded against us. So that’s important for us. Obviously last half of last season didn’t go the way we wanted it to go but fortunately, all the guys that are still here from that group have moved on and everyone else that is new didn’t experience that, so we’re looking to move forward with this and we know we still have a long way to go.”

Chicago Fire Head Coach Frank Klopas

Opening comments: “Obviously we started the game very well. We had chances in the first half. We got in good spots in the field and it’s a shame. Sometimes the game is not fair but what are you going to do? We had good looks and got in good spots. I thought we should have at least walked away with something to show for it, than we didn’t. I thought we started well in the second half. We just made some mistakes and gave up some silly goals. Other than that it’s a disappointing loss.”

On the number of injuries: “I don’t use that as an excuse. I thought we prepared well for the game. We were ready. If you look at the game, we dominated the first half. We had the better opportunities playing against the wind. Right now we do not seem to be getting a break. We are making some mistakes that are hurting us. You look at the guys, the game, the stats, everything you can say it’s not fair but it is what it is. When you don’t put the chances away, and we made some mistakes that hurt us, that’s it. You have a team; the injuries are part of it. You deal with it. The other guys have to step in and contribute. We talked about that and the depth we have. I felt that the guys we ready they stepped in. You could see from the game sometimes you are at a loss for words. Try to prepare for the next match.”

On Alex’s injury: “I don’t know. I haven’t really spoken with the medical staff yet to see how severe it is. In the moment I was focusing on the game. He was down and I needed to bring another player in quick. We did, I’ll evaluate it and see.”

Gonzalo Segares, Chicago Fire defender

On the result: “We’re not putting balls away, we’re giving away easy goals, and that’s a bad recipe. We just need to get past this by learning from our mistakes and bouncing back in the next game.”

On the team’s difficulty with set pieces: “We’re losing our guys and getting punished. We were pushing to come back after the first goal and gave up a quick goal on a set piece. We’re not putting away our chances and giving up easy goals, which is hurting us badly.”

On missed opportunities: “We should have had at least two or three goals, but we’re just not putting them away which is frustrating. I think it’s even more frustrating when we give away a goal and have to come back from being down 1-0 when we could have been up by two or three goals. Things are just not working and we need to bounce back from this and turn this season around.”

Paolo Tornaghi, Chicago Fire goalkeeper

On the goals scored from set pieces: “The first goal was scored from a ball advancing out of the box and Mejia had a very nice finish off a half-volley.”

On Agudelo’s goal: “The back line was pushing because we were down a goal. We needed to come away with at least a point, so we were pushing high with the back line, and Agudelo made a very good play with the goal. He put the ball just to my left, and we were pushing because we felt like we could get back into the game and he scored.”

Patrick Nyarko, Chicago Fire midfielder

On scoring the first goal of the season: “The only thing on my mind is us not getting the win. We’ve played in four games and we have no wins and it’s pretty disappointing today.”

On the result: “We thought we played well enough to get a result, especially in the first half. I think we got over excited by the fact we played well in the first half, even against the wind, and were going to go for it in the second half. Unfortunately, we left gaps behind and they capitalized brilliantly on them. They didn’t create much, but they capitalized on what they did. We created a fair amount of chances and couldn’t finish them. It put the pressure on us to have to push the game more because we didn’t want to lose at home. We can all look at ourselves and admit that these were pretty bad goals we conceded. The best thing is that we know we can only go up from here. All of the players know what we did wrong and it’s easily correctable.”

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