Sporting KC head coach Raphael Wicky
Thoughts on the match…
To be fair, I have not seen the stats and stats don’t help me in this moment, obviously. It is true that probably everything went their way. They're a good team. They're a strong team. They're very athletic. They have good players. We knew that before. And everything went their way. It was 4-0 when you have a moment and nothing goes your way, but it's more, for me, I felt like we went on the field with the mindset of not making a mistake or of not losing. And that's obviously me. We have to try to go and play to win, not to not make a mistake because we were dropping, dropping, dropping, dropping. I don't know if that's a sign of fear. It's okay to be sometimes in a low block, but you don't have to be so low. That energy of basically not finding the moments when to go with more courage, again, is something which I think we need to start trying to change. Obviously, that doesn't mean that you need to chase every single ball. Like in the second half, where we then see again when we chase - yes, we may recover a few - but there's a lot of risk in behind. So it's finding that middle balance, but doing things with the mindset of trying to win and not trying to not make a mistake. Because at the end of the day, we all make mistakes. I'd rather make mistakes when I have the courage than when I'm a little bit scared. That's something I just told the team as well and I think that’s something we hopefully can see on Wednesday.
On the return of Zorhan Bassong…
It is just unfortunate that he wasn't with us all season. I knew from the beginning that Zorhan is a player who is really important for us either in the center mid or as a fullback. He brings personality. He brings energy. He brings physicality. So he's a very, very interesting and good profile. But I need him healthy and healthy over the whole season. Hopefully this was the start, so that he can help us in the next games, but we have to be careful with minutes with him. Hopefully he can stay healthy and have a lot of games for us until the end of the season.
On getting more possession in the second half…
It's probably a little bit of both. Again, I can never control what the opposition does. When you're 4-0 up at halftime, it's possible that they're a little bit less aggressive. I think also in the first half, it wasn't easy when we had the ball, because we had no runs in behind. We had no threats in behind. We had in the second half -- with Calvin Harris, with Jayden (Reid), with Capita -- threats in behind. We need that. So it's probably a little bit both.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Zorhan Bassong
On entering at halftime…
It's never easy to go in in the second half when you're losing 4-0 already. The coach is just trying to motivate us and find some ways for us to stay in the game and to apply the game plan. Of course it's going to be different because we're down four goals, but I think that the objective is just to try to keep the momentum and just try to push harder. At the end of the day, we have nothing to lose when it's 4-0. We have just got to keep pushing, try to go forward as much as we can, and try to score a goal if we can. I remember Dejan (Joveljic’s) first opportunity to score in the second half. It can actually change the game, you know? Maybe it sounds naive, the way I say it like this, but if he scores that goal, maybe it's a different game. I feel like at this point of the game, the goal is just to keep pushing and hope for the best. At that point it is not about the tactics anymore. It's really about the mentality and the team spirit that we have to show when we're on the field.
On his return from injury…
Honestly, it feels good. I'm happy to be back with the team, for sure. Of course, it's not the way I was expecting to be back. A player naturally wants to be back and help his team win and I feel like, of course, today I was not able to contribute to the win of the team, but I'm happy to be back and be able to build some more volume. I'm just looking forward to having more minutes for the next coming games. We have already two games next week, so I just want to focus on these. I just want to play as much as I can and help the team the best I can as well.
On being out recently…
A soccer player just wants to be on the field. He doesn't want to be in the training room with all the trainers and all the physiotherapists and all that. I know I can help the team just by bringing some energy. We have a really young group as well so sometimes we just need some type of leadership and I think I can contribute that way to help the team. It's frustrating, but at the end of the day I just try to focus on myself and what I can control. The most important right now for me, personally, was just to heal as quick as possible and be back as soon as I can. Now I'm back and I just want to focus on what's going on right now. The past belongs to the past. Right now, I just want to focus on the next coming games.
