Sporting Kansas City head coach Raphael Wicky
Thoughts on the match…
Obviously, the red card changes everything. I believe that it was an even first half. Did we play our best football with the ball? No, probably not. But it was an even game. They don't have much, we don't have much. We're in the game at 0-0. Houston is a good team. We can see that they're where they are because they are a good team. I felt that we had our moments. We controlled the game pretty well. We didn't concede many chances. We can do better with the ball, of course. But again, that's football, right? It's football. We're 0-0 at halftime and we're in this game. We wanted, obviously, to then correct certain things and to give them a little bit more confidence with the ball to be more calm and to circulate the ball a little bit more from side to side to make them run. That was the plan to give the correction at halftime just before we get the red card. Then we get the red card and then obviously everything changes because you know that you're not going to have the ball that much. You know that you probably have to defend more. It obviously then hurts sitting here that we gave them the goals. Of course, we knew they would have possession. We knew we will be in a 4-4-1 or in a 5-3-1 and sitting a little bit deeper, but we defended that actually also quite okay. The two goals we gave are too easy. They didn't have to work hard for that and that's why we're sitting here now. It's not the first time this season.
On the red card…
I would have to see it again. I thought it was a hard tackle in that moment live. I have to see it again on TV. I have been in that position. I've played as a center midfielder. I've had yellow cards early in the games and then you have to try to be smart because you cannot allow much to happen. I think he was late in that tackle and that was the one too much. But I have to see again if he can be a bit smarter there or not. But we don't lose because of one player. We lose as a team and we win as a team. It's obviously frustrating that we got that red card in that moment of the game.
On adjusting to going a man down…
As a staff, we prepare for that. We prepare before the game different game plans: with the ball, against the ball, a man down, a man up. We do prepare that, but we don't give this information too much to the players before the game but, as a staff, we prepare.
On putting players in new roles down a man…
In that moment, obviously, I didn't want to make changes at halftime. I don't think it was necessary with the personnel. We just dropped Kwaku (Agyabeng) a little bit back and we still had a 4-4-1. We still wanted speed on the field, because you know that you're probably more going to maybe have a chance in counter-attacking and then you need that speed. But you also know that, probably one of the wingers at one point is probably more going to be a fifth guy than a fourth guy. That's just how it is. Knowing Capita (Capemba) now for a while, I know that he helps a lot. Even in 11v11, he helps our fullback a lot. He can play there, so that's why we did it. We wanted still to have attacking players on the field.
On Manu Garcia coming off the bench…
There were obviously thoughts into that decision, but I don't really want to talk about that. There's no problem between me and Manu, not at all. I just made a tactical decision. I spoke with him. He knows the points where I want him to improve and where we want to help him to improve. I just felt that in this game, we wanted Kwaku in that position. It's a tactical decision I took. But we know that Manu is very important for us and has been very important for us. He has done very well coming from the bench before the break. It's a tactical decision I took.
On the first start for Moises Mosquera…
I think Moises did really well. I think we can all see what he will add to our team. He will add lots of athleticism and pace. When he steps, he can cover ground. He's good in the air. He's actually pretty comfortable on the ball. But he's not yet there to play more than he played today. I knew he's on a minutes restriction. I knew I would have to sub him. If the game would have been a bit faster, I maybe would have had to sub him at halftime. He will help this team massively, together with the other guys. We could see, I think, defensively we were good today. We were good in the first half. We didn't concede much. We were pretty compact defending there. He will add that with Or (Blorian) and with Emir (Karic), but again we need to now build his fitness.
On what the team needs to improve…
We need to keep working hard. We need to keep building. We need to keep integrating these players. We're still building this roster. We're still building this team. Am I happy where we are? No. I'm not happy where we are. I'm not happy to lose this game again. Did I see progress in our defending and giving up less chances? Yes, I did. I think that is going to be the base if we want to win games. And we're not as a team there yet, because we make too many individual mistakes and give up easy goals. I think once you're good defensively, you will automatically also be better attacking-wise. But, no, I'm not happy where we are. It's part of the building process and I wish we could have finished this game 11v11. I really believe that being 0-0 at halftime, with some corrections, we would have had chances to win this game. Unfortunately, the story of this game turned around and is different.
Sporting Kansas City midfielder Zorhan Bassong
Thoughts on the match…
Honestly, I felt like the game was pretty well-balanced on both sides. They had some moments when they were able to circulate the ball and there were some moments when we were able to do it ourselves. I felt like toward the end of the first half, we had the momentum and we were able to be in their box a lot. The draw in the first half is well deserved. Both teams, I think, deserved the result in the first half. The second half was a bit harder being a man down. We have got to be more compact. We can not afford to make mistakes because it will cost us the game. Of course it was a different game in the second half but I don’t think this is an excuse of why we lost the game. Of course it can contribute to it but I think we have got to be more mature. We have got to be better with the way we handled the rest of the game.
On picking up guys on the team after mistakes…
Things happen, honestly. I’ve made mistakes myself in my career. At the end of the day, we’re still a team. We understand that those are things that can happen. The reaction is what we’ve got to see better. It was hard because we were a man down. We have got to be way more mature. We can not give up. For the fans, as well, they are showing up. They were here for us until the very end. Those mistakes can happen but, at the end of the day, they can happy to anyone on the team. We lose and we win as a team. For me, a mistake -- even if it’s one individual – it’s the team that makes the mistake.
On the red card…
We had the momentum. Maybe we let our emotions get control of us. We have got to stay calm, especially in the end of the first half. Those are crucial moments. The most important thing as a team, especially when there are two or three minutes to play at the end of the half, is to stay focused and compact. We do not want to concede a goal so we can go into the locker room and work on tactical adjustments with the coach. Because of this (red card), we had to completely readjust our game plan. Those are things that a team is not necessarily ready for. Of course, it’s frustrating, but again it’s part of the game. I think we live and learn. We have to be able to bounce back if this situation happens again.
