Chicago Fire 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur
Chicago Fire head coach and Director of Soccer Frank Yallop
On the timing of the game:
“I think it was welcomed because it was a tough few days after the last result we had, so it’s always nice to get back on our feet. Although we lost, I thought that we had a good account of ourselves tonight, and it was good to see our guys responding and playing a lot better than they did in the San Jose game. All in all, happy with both sets of players, and obviously, the result is not what you want, but getting ready for our game on Wednesday is the most important thing for us at the moment. But I think it’s great to have any top club in Europe – not just in England – in Europe come play against us here. So I think it was exciting for our players, and certainly exciting to coach against that caliber of the team we played against in Tottenham.”
On moving Jeff Larentowicz to center back
“I just wanted to look at Jeff there. Obviously, we got beat 5-1, so it’s different combinations I’m looking at and different things. So, you know, it’s my prerogative to look at stuff and try and work on stuff, and see what could be a different scene for us. But Jeff’s played there before, and I think he has the traits to play there. But again, I’ll evaluate the next little bit and pick a team that hopefully gets a good result Wednesday night, and that’s the most important thing. We’ve just got to let the result in San Jose go. It was a bit of a surprise, and I think it shocked me to be honest, and I think I’m just finally getting over it tonight with a decent performance against a very good team.”
On Razvan Cocis’ Chicago Fire debut
“I think he did well. He hasn’t played in – I think it’s 10 weeks in a regular season game, or anything 11 on 11. He knows the game. You don’t play that many times and have the pedigree without knowing the game. I think the more players we can get that have experience and that are savvy, I think that will help us. And I think he showed some stuff tonight that was simple, but good. Obviously, not being fit, so I gave him 30 minutes. I wanted to see how he was doing. I think he was doing fine. But I just didn’t want to push him too much to get him injured and not be available for the next sort of couple of weeks. So, we’ll see. Probably not available for Wednesday. I don’t know, I’ll talk to him. But we’ll see.”
On seeing the whole roster play in a competitive game
“Good. I mean, a lot of times you play a reserve game on a Sunday morning and both sets of players have either played a little bit in the game the night before or whatever it is, but this is a real, proper game against a good opponent. I think our guys rose to the occasion, I thought we played some good stuff. We were a little unlucky to not get on the score sheet, especially in the second half, only had a couple of chances to notch. But again, I was proud and happy about the way we went about ourselves tonight.”
On Brad Friedel’s reception at Toyota Park
“He deserves all the accolades you can give him, to be honest. Is he 43? Not bad. He’s in good shape, but I think one of the top, if not the top, goalkeepers we’ve seen from the states. I think he deserved everything he got tonight. I don’t know how much more he’s going to play, but he’s actually a real gentlemen, as well. I know him pretty well too, and he’s a terrific guy – and I think that’s the main thing I look at. He’s a terrific player, obviously, but I think being a really good person like he is, he deserves everything he gets.”
