Veljko Paunovic, Chicago Fire Head Coach
Thoughts on the game
“First, I think it was a great effort from our team, our guys did their best and I want to congratulate them on that. It’s very important for us to give that message to all our rivals that we’re going to do our best, even in a situation like today with ten men on the field. It’s a hard loss but we learn from our mistakes, we believe that the team, in the process of getting a championship, has to lose games like this. It happens to everyone. The only thing is we have to keep our approach like we’ve had in the past couple of months, especially the last couple of months, but also since we started working together. We will continue to work hard and believe in each other.”
If the red card influenced the outcome of the game
“How much do I think the red card influenced the game? Obviously a lot. I think that was obvious on the field, it affected our guys, our game plan, but I think the response was good after we were down 3-1, we were able to score the second goal, which gave us some hope for the second half. We played with three strikers, there’s no beauty in defending 3-2 when you’re losing. We were maybe too brave but that’s our message. We keep on working hard, we want to win all of our games. I’m going to say it again because I was misinterpreted last time. We, Chicago, want to win all our games.”
Razvan Cocis, Chicago Fire Midfielder
On his goal
“I found a spot in between the lines, I knew I was alone. Michael saw that, he gave me a good ball, I turned, made a few steps and I was able to put take a shot. Fortunately, it took a deflection and it went in.”
On regrouping and preparing for the next game
“We have to stay positive and we have to take the good things out of these past three games. This one is a tough one. The one at home against the Galaxy is hard to take because I think we had it and it was a good game. We were winning 2-1 and unfortunately, we tied that. This one, with a man down in the first half, it was tough. Also, this was the third game this week, so we had some pretty tired guys who played all of the games. Playing a man down for more than a half is tough.”
David Arshakyan, Chicago Fire Forward
On making his Fire debut
“It was a tough game, of course with the red card in the middle of the first half, so of course it’s difficult to play your style. It’s a hard debut but we’ll keep pounding, we have three games in a row at home so we’ve still got this in our hands. I’m happy to play for this team, I’m happy to make my debut no matter what the score.”
