Frank Yallop, Chicago Fire Head Coach and Director of Scocer
Thoughts on the match
“I’m smiling, that is my opening statement. It was good to win.”
On the importance of the win
“Massive, I think I have said long enough to guys on the field that we are pretty good. I think that showed tonight, we had the difference makers out there. Obviously, Kennedy with his two goals, when he gets the service he can finish. David has world class sprinting speed along with great skills and was electric out there. I thought Shaun was excellent in the game too. He and David have not played much but Shaun wasn’t playing for five weeks, and to put that performance in, wonderful. I will say they are the three but the whole team was excellent tonight. I was really proud with the way we played and we kind of got guys out of position, Polster and people like that. I thought we thoroughly deserved to win the game, for sure. That was very pleasing.”
On how a performance such as tonight helps Kennedy gain momentum
“Yeah, I think any time you have a chance to get on the score sheet as a striker, that is the most important thing you are there for. You can play brilliant football and keep the ball and do other things but you are there to score. You are the focal point of the team and you are the striker, we need you to score goals. It was obviously a great finish off the post from David’s run and shouldn’t miss it but when confidence is not high you might do so. Good finish on the first run and the second one is a typical Kennedy goal, where he can do that and he can break away and finish things off. So that is very happy for him a good kid and he is trying hard and has not quite gone the way everyone has expected and wanted. But you scored four goals for us but I don’t know how many starts and any competition, that is still a MLS team we played there. I was very happy for him.”
On if he had spoken to Didier Drogba in recent days
“We will expect an answer in the next 48 hours, that is basically it and we can go over everything we talked about already, we are just waiting for a decision from their side and which way he wants to go. He has choices; he feels like we have put a good pitch in and is very happy with what we have done. But again it is up to the person to choose and we will see.”
On if having Matt Polster as a right back is a permanent move or a temporary fix
“I think Matt is the type of player who has been around the game for a long time and I think Matt is the sort of player who can play anywhere. Maybe not striker, but I think you could play him in a lot of positions and he will find a way to get it done. He is very athletic and he has good clean feet, he listens to the coaches and wants to learn any position he is in. I think that was a good position for him because he likes to get forward and he’s got pretty strong crossing and finishing when he gets the chance to get in there and he is very fit. That position needs it and I think it was good to have Joevin Jones back tonight as well. It was nice to have him back but he looked a little tired, but good to have him back with us and we can sort of start to build the team going into the second half of the season.”
On the play of Matthew Watson, whose performance flew under the radar
“Matt, I have been up and down with Matt and we go way back. Matt will give you everything he’s got if he is comfortable and knows his role and I think his role was that. He loves chasing the ball down, he likes to be physical, when he gets it, he likes to drive with it. We spoke for the game, I said, ‘just play your game,’ which I don’t want to give him too much information because it brings some guys down, and Matt is one of those guys. He just learns and gets on with it, he is pretty good and I thought he was great tonight. I thought he was good in Columbus but I thought he had an excellent performance. Trying to start the half off with Raz, Matty, and Shaun limited their chances. I think the first shot on goal was a goal, if I am not mistaken. They’re a good team, very proud with the way we defended and worked. They are going to have chances on their good side. I was happy with Matt, not only Matt, but the whole midfield there.”
On the decision to start Jon Busch in goal
“I wanted to play Jon, give him a game, not give him a game but play him. Jon was fine and I think he got an assist didn’t he? Not bad at all, he’s not supposed to get an assist but he did. It was good to get him a game and he did well. Sean had something wrong with his toe during the week, that wasn’t the reason I didn’t play him. But it gives him a chance to rest that and he should be fine.”
On the congested schedule around the semifinal match
“I haven’t even thought about it until it comes up, like I said to our guys. You just need to look for the next game and can’t look ahead because you will forget the game coming up. We have a game coming up this Saturday and a massive game next Sunday. Hopefully this win, although it was in the Open Cup, it was against a good contender and hope it lifts our spirits and have a great performance on the weekend and win. Lifts us all and go on a good run and make the playoffs. That is the plan to do very well in the Cup, I think we have done well to get to this stage and we have had a couple tricky ties at home, forget the opposition. If you look at the results in our league and in the Cup a lot of teams go through lower in league. We got through, big game tonight, and we got through and I thought we did well.”
On going through highs and lows this season
“Do you know why? Because certain players weren’t on the field, it is very difficult when you don’t have your team and try to explain why you aren’t very good.”
On preparing now for New England
“They will be a little fresher but I still think we will get the players’ bodies ready and their minds are fresh and strong. They want to play on the weekend obviously and I think we are looking forward to the game instead of dreading it now. We will be fine, and we’ll come in tomorrow and will get ready and pick a team for Saturday, hopefully we can perform pretty close to that and hopefully to win and that is what we are trying to do.”
Kennedy Igboananike, Chicago Fire Forward
On how speed factored into his two goals
I’m very happy we won the game and think it was a great energy to come in and make everybody happy.”
On his first goal, the game winner
”I didn’t even know if the ball was going to come, I just had to follow the rebound and keep believing that it would come to me. As soon as I saw it, I just had to put it in.”
On playing with David Accam again
“He’s like a brother to me. Everyone is like family here so for me, it doesn’t matter. We just have been a little bit unfortunate to not win games but I think we just have to keep going and keep believing that we can do it so that’s most important for now.”
On the up and down season and if this helps his confidence
“Absolutely. For me, the first season is always like this. You need to get things around you and know everything about yourself and the team. It’s been unfortunate for the team, things haven’t been going good for us but we just have to keep our head up because we’re professionals.”
If this performance will help him fight for a starting spot
“For me, absolutely. I have no strikes and the coach decides who to play. Everybody is a good player, so whenever you get the opportunity to play you just have to be ready to jump in and make a difference. I think everybody is ready to play.”
