Photo & video: Daniel Gajdamowicz

John Hackworth’s postgame press conference

Postgame locker room interviews with Ray Gaddis, Leo Fernandes, Brian Carroll, Jack McInerney and Bakary Soumare

Postgame quote sheet

Philadelphia Union
Team Manager John Hackworth

On the game

Big win for our club tonight especially to win a 1-0 game here at home. Credit to Chicago, two weeks in a row where they played hard. It is extremely difficult to beat a team, especially a conference rival within eight days twice. Happy for our team, big performance.

On Zac MacMath’s performance

He showed some resilience, some character. I have full confidence in him so I don’t question those things at all. I just know that he is capable, I know the kind of person he is, the kind of athlete he is. He makes a couple big plays in there too, nothing perfect, some big plays and gets the well deserved shutout.

On the play of Jack McInerney

Thanks goodness he is only 20 years old still. I am think that is his eighth goal, which I am pretty sure that is leading the league right now. So fantastic work for him, three games in eight days and the quality he continues to show is pretty amazing.

On the playmaking ability of Le Toux

It is great for Sebastien. There were some questions weeks ago about what role Sebastien would play on our team and I knew at that point that Sebastien was going to be really important to this team and you saw that tonight, you saw that on Wednesday night. His versatility and his work rate, second to none and the fact that he can play different roles for us and provide those assists is great for him. I’m really happy for him.

On playing a complete game tonight

I think it’s really hard especially with Chicago. Credit to them, I think they are a much better team than their record shows and they certainly tried to come and put us under s ton of pressure. They were really actually good for the second week in a row and their ball movement, dangerous. So for us to deal with that for 90 plus minutes was really good.

On bringing Leo Fernandes into the game

Leo has been really good. Happy that he has his debut now, he earned it for sure. During that time on the bench, the coaching staff was talking about…was this a place for Roger to come in, but its just not the perfect fit. For Leo, he brings a little bit of size, his work ethic is very good, he can play multiple roles in the midfield. It was the right time for him and he was certainly somebody that, for a long time, deserved an opportunity.

On the play of the back line

We did it well against LA for a good portion of that game, we emphasized pushing from inside out, making sure we had good cover and balance across our back line. There was a time in the first where I wasn’t very happy with that, but we sorted it out at halftime and I thought we did a really good job with that.

Jack McInerney

On tracking back and adopting more of a midfielder’s role this evening…

Once we got off to a good start, if we get a zero in the back, we’re going to win the game. They had a couple of extra guys in the midfield, so either me or (Sebastien Le Toux) had to stay back, and lock out the (defensive midfield). If that happened, we could control the game.

On scoring off of service from Sebastien Le Toux for the second time vs. Chicago and if he has a preference as to which forward he plays with…

No…it’s just one of those things where he puts a good ball, and I’m lucky enough to be on the end of both of them.

On if he has a stronger rapport with Sebastien Le Toux due to the Frenchman’s first stint as a Union player…

Yeah, definitely. We just work off of each other, and read off of each other. We’ve both played forward, obviously, so we know what we look for. For him to put the ball in those places, that just shows that we have experience from the past.

On the difference between scoring an early goal vs. conceding an early goal (as in the Los Angeles match)…

Obviously, it changes the game, and we’re trying to control it. For us to get a goal off the start, it’s the best scenario, but maybe it hurt us in the long run, because we kind of sat back a little more. Obviously, we’ll take it, but we need to be better at controlling the game.

On playing more of a midfielder’s role tonight…

I don’t mind it. Everyone likes to play a different formation, and it was one of those things where if someone else made a run, I had to come back and track back.

On the difficulty of playing the same team twice in seven days…

To beat them both times is a pretty good accomplishment, especially since they’re an Eastern Conference rival. It’s one of those things where we already won the (season series) from them in one week, so it’s good for us.

On if he was worried about a letdown after playing so quickly after the Los Angeles game, and three games in eight days overall…

No, I don’t think so. I think that playing at home…what are the chances that we’re going to lose at home again? We had to come out and start off on fire like we did. It was really the only option that we had.

On if the game plan changes after scoring an early goal…

No…I mean, it changes a little, obviously. If we just hold a zero on the back, we’re going to win the game. Obviously, we wanted to keep scoring, and end the game a little quicker, but we’ll take a 1-0 result.

On getting the win at home…

Against an Eastern Conference rival, it’s a huge result, especially since we have two road games (coming up). We wanted at least seven points out of these last three games, and we didn’t do it, but we knew that if we wanted at least six we had to come out and win tonight.

On getting two wins in a week…

It feels good, but we feel like we should have at least gotten a point on Wednesday, and that it wasn’t really a 4-1 game. We’re still pretty disappointed about that, because we said that this week would really define our season. Two wins out of three isn’t bad, but we really should have gotten a result on Wednesday.

Zac MacMath

On if he put Wednesday’s match out of his mind prior to this match…

Yeah, I think that’s what goalkeepers have to do, and what our team had to do to get a result tonight. I don’t think that the guys, even on Thursday, were thinking about (Wednesday’s game). We knew we had to refocus and get ready for Chicago, and I think everybody looked great.

On if he felt more comfortable as the match progressed…

Definitely. In any game, especially (considering) the last game, giving up the goal early…getting through that first 10-15 minutes without giving up a goal, making a save here or there, your confidence just builds, and the team’s confidence builds.

On the Union scoring a goal early as opposed to conceding early as in Wednesday’s match…

It feels good. It was well executed by (Sebastien Le Toux) and (Jack McInerney), and I think that early goal really helps our team.

On the mental challenge of MLS and how much it helps to get a result tonight after Wednesday’s match…

It helps a lot—anytime you get a win, anytime you get a shutout, especially a 1-0 win that we kind of grinded out. We were up in the air for a little bit, but sometimes that makes the game harder. This was a big game that shows a lot of confidence for our team, and hopefully we can take it forward into next weekend.

On the difficulties of Wednesday’s game…

 Of course, giving up four goals, it’s tough on a goalkeeper. I rewatched it that night, and I knew that I was going to learn from it. I think I made a few plays tonight that I saw from Wednesday’s night that I didn’t make, and that’s the biggest difference in trying to learn, and take those experiences, and make good from them.

On the things he saw on tape from Wednesday…

 Little things. Being strong, coming off of your line, and being confident. Little plays, holding the ball, breathe a little bit, stuff like that.

Sheanon Williams

On the condensed schedule and the defenders logging so many minutes…

I luckily only had to play two of the games, and I don’t know how some of the other guys played three. I’m pretty sore right now. We’re going to take two days off here, recover, and come in on Tuesday and start to get ready for the game next weekend.

On the turning around the team’s record at home…

Obviously, at home, we want to make it a fortress here, and take as many points as we can in every game that we’re here. It’s a big advantage to play in front of a great crowd at (PPL Park). We weren’t worried at all; we knew that things would eventually turn around. We just need to play our game, and focus on what we do best.

Kléberson (through a translator)

 On what he sees in Jack McInerney…

 As a winner of the World Cup, I’ve played with a lot of really talented players, such as Ronaldo, and other players on the Brazilian national team—guys with a lot of technical ability. I think that Jack McInerney has a really great future in soccer. He’s a great player, and he is really impressive technically.

On recording two starts in a row…

 Waiting for a few weeks, I wanted to enter matches when (John Hackworth) was ready for me to do so. I’m not a young player, I’m a veteran, and I’m always going to give my best for this team.

On if it helps or hurts for him to play two games in such a short period of time…

 In Brazil, you always play in short periods of time like this. So, the difference is, in Brazil, there is a lot more movement. Here, it is very fast. Today, I was a little more tired, because of the short turnaround.

On the retirements of Sir Alex Ferguson and David Beckham and playing with them at Manchester United…

 I think that football lost two great people. They have very big names in soccer. A lot of people are going to miss those two guys. They are huge stars in England. They are idols in the fans’ eyes, and models for everyone over there. They will always be remembered.

Chicago Fire
Head Coach Frank Klopas

Thoughts on the game

It’s amazing cause I thought there were moments where we played well, we had some chances. We gave up a fast goal which is tough on the road to do. They had a set piece, the ball comes back out and we give up the fast goal and then we created chances. I think first half we dropped off a little bit too deep. I felt Jeff (Larentowicz) was dropping too deep where we could push up a little bit higher, especially putting a little more pressure on Carroll. Instead of having Chris (Rolfe) or Patrick (Nyarko) come deeper, so we addressed that. You come on the road and you have to take advantage of your chances and keep it tight, and don’t give up a goal. We gave up the early one but I felt the rest of the game we did well and obviously you played shorthanded and we tried whatever we could to push the game. We had some tired guys that worked hard, we tried different things , we tried to get the goal back but it didn’t work.

On adjustments made from last week to this week

Jeff (Larentowicz) coming back on the field and I think the thing we talked about was our ability to play more on the flanks because they do a pretty good job of inviting pressure in the middle where they keep numbers and then they are good on transition so our ability to look to switch the point of attack and look to see if we can attack more out on the flanks and be a little more direct and obviously we talked about not giving up any goals but it didn’t work out that way.

On the play of Sherjil MacDonald

I am going to talk as a team; I am not going to talk about any player right now. I think that we have to regroup; we’ve got another tough game ahead. Right now we feel bad but as the time goes by you’ve got to start thinking ahead… Right now it’s not a good feeling but I can guarantee you after an hour/ two hours as time goes by we can’t wait to get back on the field and start working and start thinking about the next opponent.

Sean Johnson

On the game

Philly was able to come out and jump on us pretty early, scoring in the first three minutes of the game. Obviously when a team scores it’s kind of deflating but you have got to forget about it quickly and the best thing about it is there is the rest of the game to play. I thought Philly did alright tonight and they were able to come out with the result. Obviously we were disappointed that we couldn’t get some points here but we will get back to work this week.

On the season thus far

It is just one of those periods of time where everyone needs to stick together and keep working hard and I think it will come. We got a great group of guys, we just got to do a little bit extra and that starts with me, with our back line going forward, everybody on the field has got to step up to another level. I think we are capable of doing that and it is something that we need to do next week.

On what they could have done differently on the goal

Obviously keep the ball out of the back of the net.  As a back line you want to be tight on guys and limit chances, but they were able to get free in the box and get their head on it.

Patrick Nyarko

On his team’s performance

Not a bad performance, the result doesn’t match our performance. I thought we came in here and tried to take the game to them. We gave up the early goal, which kind of pinned us back a little bit it allowed them to settle down and their game and they kept frustrating us. That was their game plan and it worked to perfection. Now we are not doing so well and we need a little bit from everyone and we just need to keep sticking together and keep moving on. But I didn’t think it was a bad performance today, just no results to match it.