Orlando City SC 0-1 Vancouver Whitecaps:
First Major League Soccer (MLS) defeat, conceding a late goal when Raul Octavio Rivero slotted home Pedro Morales’ cross in the 96th minute of play – reactions:
Orlando City SC – Head Coach Adrian Heath
On the game:
“When you make stupid mistakes at important times, they’re going to cost you. We cost ourselves this evening. Two or three opportunities we’ve had during the evening have all been self-inflicted. And general play when we’ve got people in good shape we don’t concede many chances.
We can’t keep doing it. We’ve gotten away with it a few times before tonight. And tonight we’ve made silly mistakes and they come back and haunt you.
Do I think we should have won the game? Probably not, I think a draw would have been a fair result for the chances we’ve had the first half. We certainly didn’t deserve to lose it. As I say, make school-boy errors, that’s what happens.”
On feelings about chances toward the end of game:
“I feel that if there was anyone who was going to win it today, it was going to be us.
If I’m being perfectly honest, I think we had too many “nearlys” all night. It was nearly good play. It was nearly a good ball. It was nearly a good cross. It was nearly a good setup. And unfortunately, at this level nearly is not going to cut it— that’s what I’ve just explained to the guys. Nearly is not going be enough over the course of the season.”
On timing of ball and foul toward end of the game:
“Don’t give a stupid foul away? When his guy’s got his back to the game? Maybe that’ll help.
Obviously you’re frustrated at the fouls, to give a foul away in the dying minutes you’re asking for trouble. I’ve got one of the best attackers of the ball in the MLS, and the kid lost it.
He’s heading everything else to their box, and we’re giving silly free kicks away in dangerous areas.
Kaká – Midfielder, Orlando City SC
On the Club having a lot of possession
We have created a lot. It is surely a very tough way to lose. To suffer a goal at the end of the game is very complicated, but we have to considerate this loss, what we can improve, what we have done right, and look at how the team can respond to this. This will be a part of the process of building a strong team.
On the last moments of the game
It was one of the worst ways to lose a game the way that we lost tonight, but for me we have to take advantage of this opportunity. Even with a loss we had a lot of good things in this game, we have to improve a lot of things, we have to get better, to work some movements, most of our forwards, because we create a lot of opportunities but we couldn’t score tonight. We have a lot of things to get better and we have advantage of this situation to improve.
On the team’s focus in the final instants of the match
I don’t think we lost the focus. We were concentrating on the game. You can win in the end of the game, we can draw, and we can lose, so this is one thing that we can take serious because sometimes these things happen, but as I said, it is a great opportunity and it is part of the process to build a strong team.
On this week and the response of the team after the loss
This week will be very so important for us. To understand how the team is going to take this loss. I think it’s going to be so important, we have to keep working and keep trying, and for sure we will have a lot of good games and bad games but we have to make less mistakes.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC – Head Coach Carl Robinson
On the match:
That was a great game to watch. I enjoyed watching the game. The best player in the world is out on the pitch. As a group of players and a coach you want to test yourself. My young group of players tested themselves against a very good team. Orlando showed how good they are, especially in the second half. Their pass and their movement were excellent. They were a very good team.
On the team’s ability to focus and adjust to Kaká:
It helped us react to Kaká tactically. Our game plan in the first half worked. They tactically adjusted his position in the second half by drifting him over to the left. Give the credit to the team and players. You are going to stop the top players from getting the ball. When he got the ball he made things happen. We made sure that we played our game when we had the ball. We did it excellently in the first half. In the second half it was a bit difficult for us but you get your rewards if you put your work in and in the end we were the better team.
On his gameplan coming into the match:
Last year we had the youngest squad in the MLS. I want to give these young players an opportunity. Being a young player a young player once I wanted an opportunity and I got one. Will they make mistakes? Yes they will but it is important to grow together as a group of players. We recovered great at the end of last year. I sat down with them and told them what our goal was moving forward. If we are going to be competitive with LA and Seattle we need to grow as team. And they were on board with that. They will be inconsistent at times but they will be good at times.
