CHICAGO FIRE 2, KANSAS CITY WIZARDS 0
CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH JUAN CARLOS OSORIO
On the game:
In the first half I was very disappointed. We couldn't keep the ball, and we kept giving it away. We did a lot of unnecessary wrong and we worked very hard. I'd be honest to say we were lucky we were one-nil up at halftime. The second half was a remarkable comeback. We tightened things up. We made a few adjustments on the way we were playing and we made it as a play of game. I think that's the most pleasing thing after what I said at halftime the team completely turned around and played really well the second half.
On Blanco:
I think so far Blanco has been very good for us, and I think he has probably been the more effective superstar in this league so far for the time that he has put in on the pitch. The most remarkable thing about him is his attitude. He has been playing with that bad leg and every single time I ask him he wants to play and he doesn't want to stop. He wants to contribute as much as he can and he's been very, very good for us.
CHICAGO FIRE FORWARD CALEN CARR
On getting the win:
I think obviously everyone feels great. It's a huge win for us. We felt like we left some points on the field on Wednesday against this team. We wanted to come out tonight and right the ship, so to speak, and I think we did that. Blanco hit a beautiful free kick, so it was huge for us and I was glad I was able to help out and help seal the deal late.
On his goal:
It was off a corner kick to begin with and I'd been starting on the goalkeeper just to try and get in the way and they had a guy marking me most of the game, and on this specific play there was no one marking me and the ball got recycled out and I just curled my run around. Blanco swung it in and it was a perfect ball, I just tried to head it down and it went in.
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS HEAD COACH CURT ONOLFO
On the lack of offense in tonight's match:
"Tonight we were excellent in the first half. We created lots of chances, had majority of the possession, we had opportunities to score goals and we didn't. We gave up a goal in the end of the first half and all of a sudden that changes the nature of the game."
On not being able to come back from behind:
"Yes, when you get scored on and you play as well as you did in the first half, you put yourself in a hole. We didn't do a good job at trying to get back into the game. At the end we tried to take a little bit of a risk, we took out a defender and put in a forward, to switch it to a 3-4-3, to see if that could help, sometimes it does and other times it doesn't. Tonight it didn't."
On the Wizard's 1-13-1 record at Chicago:
"All I know is that I've been here twice and I don't worry about what's happened in the past. I don't believe in all of those statistics; at the end of the day we've somehow found a way not to win tonight that I believed we should have won."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS MIDFIELDER KERRY ZAVAGNIN
On tonight's result:
"It's been a trend for us lately that we've given up the first goal. A lot of games we've made it difficult on ourselves, put ourselves in a hole and when you do that on the road it makes it that much more difficult. We played a great half of soccer and nothing to show for it at halftime. Giving up another goal late in the half, coming in at halftime down 1-0, unlike the other night when we came out storming in the second half and scored those three goals. Tonight we just didn't do it. It was a collective effort in the first half, where we did very well, and the second half were we came up short. As we were talking about here, it's not about pointing fingers, it's about getting back and focusing on our next game."
KANSAS CITY WIZARDS DEFENDER RYAN RAYBOULD
General Assessment:
"I felt we did well in the first half. We were unfortunate to give away one there. I think we could have gotten ourselves on the scoreboard. Kudos to Chicago, they kept fighting and frustrated us. We had a lot of the ball but we didn't have a lot of real good chances, but at the same time we have to go forward and take the positive out of this game. We have to look at the fact that we played really well in the first 45 minutes, we did a good job keeping the ball and being dangerous in certain spots. We have to go to Salt Lake now and take away three points there and then take away three from Houston."
