Sporting KC manager Peter Vermes
On Sporting KC’s 4-1 win over Toronto FC…
I think we started really well. The first 35 minutes, I thought we were fantastic. We moved very well off the ball in the attack. We were very good pressing the ball and turning them over in their half of the field to create chances for ourselves. Both penalties were very legitimate from my understanding, but it was all because of our aggressive mentality in the box. I’ll be honest-I was a little worried on the second (penalty kick) because sometimes after you take the first one, the goalkeeper figures you out. But Dom (Dwyer) was very cool and put them both away very well. We gave up a terrible goal going into halftime. I don’t know if we took our foot off the gas pedal or what for the last 10 minutes of the half. We just didn’t finish off the first half very well. But we came out in the second half and had a very good vibe about us from the opening whistle. Soony (Saad) loves (scoring) near post against this team. Every time we play them, he hits the ball to the near post. It was a great goal-great preparation, great finish. Then C.J. (Sapong) came off the bench to give us the fourth one, which was excellent. Through all that, I thought we were good with the ball tonight. This was not an easy game. Toronto is a much-improved team and probably one of the best counter-attacking teams in the league at the moment. It was a very difficult match for them, especially coming on the heels of our last performances against them.
On Jon Kempin’s one-on-one save against Gilberto in the 51st minute…
That save kept us in the game. If he doesn’t (make the save), it goes 2-2 and that really changes the momentum of the game. That was a huge save by him and he did very well. A few times he came out on some crosses and I was wondering where he was going. But he’s getting a feel for the game and he did excellent. You look at the different people who have played in our lineup throughout the season, and everyone’s contributed. He’s now a big contribution to that.
On Seth Sinovic’s defensive performance against winger Dominic Oduro…
Seth (Sinovic) just took it as a personal vendetta. (Oduro) ate him up the last game, and he knew it. Seth wanted to prove a point, and I think he did a good job. He’s always done well against him. The game at their place was just one time, and we still got the points up there. Today I thought his performance was much, much better against him. He kept him in check most of the game.
On Sporting KC traveling to Nicaragua for their first CONCACAF Champions League match against Real Esteli…
In this situation, normally I would say we have to use everyone on our roster. We have to make sure we’re good from that perspective. But we’ve been doing that every single game this season, so it’s really business as usual at this point. What’s really going to be the key is the turnaround over the next few days between regeneration tomorrow, travelling on Monday, and then getting focused for (Tuesday’s) game. This group of guys has been through it already, and we’ve already been to (Estadio Independencia in Esteli, Nicaragua). So there’s a lot of familiarity with that part of it. Now it’s just about going out there, playing the first 45 minutes, and deciding what to do from there (personnel-wise). Everywhere we go we want to get three (points). Obviously all competitions have different scenarios you’re going to be dealing with. The first key is we’re playing away from home, so we have to be smart there. We’ve got to be careful not to give goals away, and at the same time, we have to try and capitalize on the mistakes they make.
On Sporting KC responding positively after their 2-0 loss at Vancouver last Sunday…
If there’s one thing I can say about the group, it’s that this team has the mentality that we aren’t going to put that kind of performance in on a regular basis. That’s just not the mentality of the group. When we do what we did against Vancouver, everybody knows that it’s not our team. So we want to get back on it quickly, and that’s what I like about this group-they turn it around quickly and they all have a very good mentality.
Toronto FC manager Ryan Nelsen
On Toronto FC’s 4-1 loss to Sporting KC…
We got done on four set pieces. It was two penalties and two corners.
On what went wrong with the four goals conceded…
If you don’t defend set pieces, which is Kansas City’s strength and something we talked about and worked on…If you take them away and look at the actual chances in the game, we created the way better chances. We had three on the keeper and we still managed to miss it. We had a one-on-one and we missed that one. And that was probably a turning point in the game. If you put that in to make it 2-2, it would have given us a real momentum boost.
On Toronto’s four-game road trip coming to an end…
I think you would take six points from four away games, considering who you are playing. I think if someone offered me that, I would take it.
On potentially getting Steven Caldwell, Mark Bloom, Warren Creavalle and Jermain Defoe back for next Saturday…
Those are four guys that we have missed. We looked young at the back today and some of our decision-making wasn’t the best. But all those guys learn from it. They grow from it. As I said, the exciting thing about it is if we are lucky enough to come back and play these guys again, I am very confident in our team.
