Sporting Kansas 2-0 Columbus Crew
Sporting Kansas City Manager Peter Vermes
Thoughts on the match…
Start to finish, an excellent performance by us. I think it’s the best performance of the year for us. One of the most difficult things in the game today was the weather. We haven’t had a chance to play in this kind of weather. All you guys know that are around here, the weather has been pretty cold. And having to come out here with it going into the 80’s, it was very difficult. These guys left everything on the field.
On driving the game…
I thought our organization to press them and not allowing them to play, especially when we were high up the field, was excellent. And then we weathered the storm a little bit in the second half, maybe for about 10-15 minutes when they had a little bit of the ball. But we really didn’t give too much and we made sure we dropped our line well and cleared everything out of the box. Kronberg made a big save in the first half, which we need him to do and he does it. And we scored two goals. The only criticism I have is we should have scored two more, easily. Outside of that, we were big time today.
Columbus head coach Greg Berhalter
On Columbus’ improved performance in the second half…
I thought we came out with more aggressiveness in the second half. In all honesty, Kansas City is a better team right now. We’re not there yet. But I think it’s the way that we presented ourselves in the first half that I’m disappointed with. In the second half, we played how we know how to play, and it was a lot better. For that, I am proud of the guys. I think they worked hard in the second half and we had them on the ropes for a little bit. Unfortunately we didn’t get that tying goal.
On the current strength of his team…
At this stage, we’re looking at the performance. That’s what is most important to us. I think our performances have been (good) for the most part. We’re still developing our team. When I say Kansas City’s the better team-that’s right now. We expect to get there, so we’re going to keep working and keep developing the squad.
