Sporting KC interim head coach Kerry Zavagnin
On Sporting’s changes to the lineup and the team’s performance …
Bringing Joaquin (Fernandez) into the mix and giving Logan (Ndenbe) a run—certainly the athleticism of Logan and his tenacity to get forward—really helped us tonight. With (Jacob) Bartlett and (Jake) Davis as our two midfielders, we felt a little light coming on the road. So we decided to shift the formation a little bit and bring on (Nemanja) Radoja, who has a bit more tenacity and ball winning to balance out Bartlett and Davis. In the first half, outside of their goal, I thought we handled the half in a decent way. To give up a goal five minutes before halftime was a little disheartening despite the fact that we didn’t create a lot on the first half. That’s one of the things you get when you play with a defensive-minded midfield. We knew that coming in—that we would have to defend well through the first half to leave it for the second half. We decided around the 55th minute that we were going to bring on Mason (Toye) and (Erik) Thommy to give us a little more firepower down 1-0. Joaquin needed a sub, so we made those three changes right after their (second) goal unfortunately. Those changes were going to be coming when the game was 1-0.
Once we started changing the group a little bit and Salt Lake maybe took their foot off the gas, to insert the quality that was did with Manu (Garcia)—it was great to see him again. It was great to see Thommy again, and then (Santi) Munoz and Mason. I thought we put them under significant pressure. The goal was well deserved on our part. At the end of the day, the result was a bit disheartening. I say that because once again, we saw a group of guys who went out and gave everything they had. They didn’t stop until the final whistle and came up a little bit short. All in all, I’d have to watch the game in full again, but there were limited chances from Salt Lake after the beginning of the second half. They had a header on the doorstep, and that was the way they were going to score tonight—through crosses and balls in behind. You could see that the way they started the game with those balls in behind. I think we were ready for them, and overall it was a good performance from us. It wasn’t the result we wanted, but the guys left it all out on the field and I’m proud of them for that.
On conceding a goal at the end of the first half…
For a good part of the half, we remained compact and brought our defensive line back to the top of the circle. I think we were difficult to play through, but in that moment when the ball went out of bounds, we turned off for a second and we started to drop off and we half-committed to the game. You can’t get away with that in games, and those are the moments in games—that lapse in concentration. If you’re going to high press the goal kick, you’re going to do it as a group. But I think it was a domino effect where we took a chance on the ball, stepped into the midfield and we didn’t win that ball. It’s a very little detail in the game with lack of concentration and they got in behind. We still could have delt with the action at the far post and we didn’t. Those are the things that have bit us this year, and certainly the timing of that goal coming into halftime impacted us in the second half.
On midfielders Manu Garcia and Erik Thommy returning to the team…
Of course you can see just in their limited minutes how the game changes. They’re difference makers within the group, and you could see the amount of pressure we were putting on Salt Lake. They were waiting for the game to end. I think another five minutes and maybe we score. We were that close. The ability to break down a low block and a compact defense was really noticeable with Manu being able to open the game and Thommy surging forward with his runs and his shots from distance. They were a welcome addition to our game. They had an attack-minded, forward-thinking mentality, which is what we’re looking for in the team with both of those guys back. Unfortunately those were probably the minutes they had available tonight, but we’re hopefully going to include them more as we finish the season down the stretch.
On the performance of center back substitute Alan Montes…
He had a lot of composure with the ball. The opponent was trying to press us. I know that they dropped off a little bit, but they brought on strikers that were fresh and able to put better pressure on us to force us back. Montes really kept his composure on the ball, was able to get out of some difficult situations and take advantage of certain moments in the game by finding Manu and Thommy the ball between lines. That’s something we’ve missed in the back for a good part of this year. I think he handled the game well with us pressing so high, as well as the athleticism of the opponent. That was something we were curious about, and I think he handled those moments extremely well.
Sporting Kansas City forward Daniel Salloi
On Sporting’s performance in the 2-1 loss…
It is a difficult place to play. They have a lot of really good individuals, and they can shine in different moments in the game. They just know how they want to break a team down, and they did it well. I thought we came back and had a little energy in the second half, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
On midfielders Manu Garcia and Erik Thommy returning to the team…
I’m happy for health. We need them. We need everyone. We were still missing some players. We need everyone, unfortunately. This has been a tough season. Erik is an unbelievable player who pushes the team in many different ways. Manu is the same. They’ve been struggling with annoying injuries, but they’ve been fighting really hard in these moments to get back. I’ve proud of them and hopefully they can contribute to some wins in the last games.
