Video: Daniel Gajdamowicz

John Hackworth’s postgame press conference

Locker room interviews with Amobi Okugo, Jack McInerney and Brian Carroll.

Philadelphia Union postgame quotes

John Hackworth

Opening statement…
“I would just start by saying that I hope everyone realizes what an effort the guys in that locker room put in today. We just played one of the best teams in the League. They may win the Supporters Shield, and if they do, congratulations Sporting KC. Our guys came out and played with everything they had, and they executed a good game in that first half. Giving up that goal early in the second half changes everything, so we had to do everything we could to get back in the game, and the hard part for us is that the draw doesn’t do us any good. Ultimately that left us very vulnerable in the back, and Sporting KC capitalized on that. Draw didn’t do us any good, loss didn’t do us any good, and we had to really go after it. The other factor for me, made it really difficult is the wind. The wind was hard for both teams, especially going in the direction of the River End. It was really kind of impossible to put the ball where you wanted it to without it rolling 5-10 yards on the ground.”

On the struggling offense in the second half of the season…
“I would say the expectation changed. We were playing well. We were probably exceeding people’s expectations and that probably gave everyone gave this idea that we were this high flying team with the ability to beat some of those teams, and we were. At the same time, it is not like we changed much. You go on runs as a team where it is tough to get goals and certainly have a bad stretch. For our credit, we recovered from that. We put in some performances at the end that we had to. Unfortunately it just wasn’t good enough in the last five games.”

On what has to change going forward…
“Well I think there are a lot of guys in the locker room who are going to be back here next year and are really going to have profited this year and the experiences that this team has had. It is hard for me to sit here and tell you guys that I think the future looks bright, but in fact, I really believe that it does. We have a couple of pieces that we need to change, and we have some tough decisions in the off season, just like any other team. But I would look at it very optimistically because there are a lot of guys in that locker room have great futures ahead of them. I think our team is one that is building. We are getting better and better. You look at it and you think there are a lot of pieces that are going to be good next year.”

On Antoine Hoppenot…
“I kind of said, look, we are going to go out in a 4-3-3; I think it suppressed Kansas City. And to give Antoine that opportunity, we really thought we could exploit his speed and have him stress the defense. There are some plays in there that Antoine makes and it just didn’t come off for him at times tonight. That was the thinking. Looking back on it, the first half, we got exactly what we wanted out of it. We thought we would be able to get two and if we didn’t give up the long throw in the second minute of the first half, bring on Jack McInerney, Sebastian Le Toux, we had a good bench today, especially in the attacking side.

On looking back at ‘what if’s’ of the season…
“It is hard because we know there are goals that we scored that were legitimate, people admit they were legit, and that is 6 points right there. We had two goals against us in some of the craziest injury time ever. So maybe it is a season of what-ifs. We have to take responsibility for that, I do believe you kind of get those balances back and forth, it doesn’t feel like we got them this time, but I cannot think about that much because we have to move on. We have guys in the locker room that have bright future’s and will be really good in this league and will put this club and this league in a position that can challenge for a championship someday.”

On Roger Torres and Kleberson…
“I think dealing with Jose…he scores a great goal against Toronto. We have had a couple of injuries that have really opened up a spot for him and he did well. But we did not do well enough as a team. Roger really started coming on and pushing hard and having really excellent training sessions in the last three weeks and deserved that chance. He gets an opportunity that maybe he wouldn’t have gotten before.”

Amobi Okugo

On the game…
“The last ten minutes we were down a goal and we can’t take the tie, all we can do is win. Jack did a good job to get the goal and we tried to get the second one. We were playing two in the back and Nielsen played a good ball out and the following play they scored.”

On not making the playoffs…
“Yeah, it’s tough. We had a chance all the way through. We had chances to put away teams behind us earlier in the season and we failed to do that and then it caught up with us.  Now we don’t have any games left.”

On the season and looking ahead…
“It all evens out in the end. There were games where we shouldn’t have won and either Jack or Conor saved us, so I feel like it all evens out. But the coaching staff did a great job, we just failed to come to play in certain situations and hopefully we can come back next year and learn from that.”

On what the team could have done better…
“Just be more accountable all across the positions from the back to the front line to the midfield. Just be more accountable, take blame on ourselves and everyone has to step up as a team.”

Ray Gaddis

On the team…
“We are a young team. We have a lot of positives coming out of this season and going into next season. If we take the positives from this season and apply it to next season we will be alright.”

On ending the season on a loss…
“It’s very disappointing. We were in the hunt all year and for us to lose like we did, it’s heartbreaking a little bit. But you live and you learn.”

On looking back at the season…
“We took it game by game but you are exactly right, there were so many games this season that if we would have just closed out the games actually probably wouldn’t have been in this predicament. But that’s neither here nor there. It’s a long season and you gotta learn from stuff like that.”

Jack McInerney

On the importance of scoring goals the last few games for his confidence…
“It is good for my confidence now but either way next season hopefully I can come back and do what I did at the start of this year. I don’t think it would have changed anything.”

On the season ending today…
“I mean it’s disappointing, obviously. I don’t think really anyone expected us to even be here but we knew we had the talent and a couple finishes or stops here or there and we are easily in the playoffs. We just have to grow upon it and fix these mistakes.”

On whether everyone in the locker room felt that they exceeded expectations…
“In the locker room I think we let ourselves down because obviously we wanted to win and we wanted to make it to the playoffs. That was the first goal. I think to other people we exceeded expectations and I think we kind of gave them hope at the beginning of the year because we were doing so well. I think overall we had a good year for what was expected.”

On whether it’s tough to come off the bench…
“It is but the first two years that’s what I did, so I have been in the situation before. Antoine tired the guys out a little bit so it’s kind of reverse roles and I think it paid off at the end.”

On using this disappointment towards next season…
“You could have said the same thing last season because we were awful. I think we just let ourselves down and we didn’t really learn from last year, although last year was much worse, we got better this year. But I think going forward we are good enough to be in the playoffs and we have to get results.”

Sporting Kansas City postgame quotes

Peter Vermes

Opening statement…
“Our whole idea was that we didn’t want to lose out on an opportunity. We had an opportunity today to try and come in here and put the pressure on the other teams. We’ve done our part and now it’s up to the rest of the guys but at the end I loved the way that we finished because it is a great start going into the playoffs having that mentality. We could have easily closed up shop after they tied us that late. But I also think fitness wise, it really showed at the end how much more we had in our gas tank to be able to finish it off.  Guys running full for the score and that determination is something that you need in the playoffs.”

About the defensive mentality after Philadelphia scored the tying goal…
“We truly didn’t, we didn’t. There was nothing we could do. At one time they had eight forwards up on the line. You have to be careful; you can’t take all the chances in the world. One of the things is that their goalkeeper was willing to bomb everything forward. It was more of the way that they started to play that we had to sort of adapt. I’ve been in those games as a player many times, and you have to be able to live through those moments and I think going into the playoffs, having to experience something like that this late in the season was excellent for us as we go through the playoffs.”

About getting two wins here in Philadelphia this season…
“Especially to start and end the season with the same team. It is a competitive disadvantage for us, on both sides. They get a chance to start off well and they get a chance to use the home field advantage again today to get the points that they wanted. From our perspective it was a very difficult one for our guys. I have to give them a lot of credit, the work ethic, the attention to detail and the tactical approach in this game and finally the determination at the end.”

About playing Philadelphia and the environment in a big game…
“When you experience this type of environment, the big thing that happens to you as a team is that you remember that this is the last game. You’re not going to forget what you just went through to make this happen so I think from a confidence point of view, it is a great stepping stone to the playoffs.”

About the competitiveness of the MLS…
“I say this all the time, everybody  thinks making the playoffs in this league is a lay-up, and there’s no chance. When you look at, over the course of a season, the parity and how close everyone is right now in both conferences, except for a few outliers. That parody gives you  the opportunity to beat anybody week in and week out. If you take the EPL and made the comparison and said Man U is going to play against Norwich this weekend, well it is not a question whether or not they’re going to win…it’s whether it’s by four or three goals. We don’t have that in this league and I think that is a great thing and the entertainment value for all of our fans.”

On Philadelphia Union…
“They’re a tough team, they’re an organized team, they are a team that likes to try to counter on you. They are aggressive and take risks going forward so it is definitely not an easy team to play against. At the same time, these battles are good because they help strengthen not only the league but also for us moving into the playoffs.”

About coming back and coaching so close to home…
“20 minutes over the bridge is where I’m from (Delran, NJ) so I see my family and everybody comes to the games. A group from my hometown is here today, so I’m going to go sign some autographs for them afterwards. It’s always better to go do that after you win, not when you lose though.”

Lawrence Olum

About the atmosphere in Philadelphia…
“It felt good. We definitely knew we were the away team because the crowd was rooting for the other team. To come out and get a win in a place like this is a great feeling.”

About coming back after the game was tied…
“We had so many chances before that to put the game away but they are a good team and they hang in there and score in the 88th minute. We were resilient and it was just the way it happened today.”

When asked about scoring the game winning goal…
“I think we worked the ball to the right and Jake (Peterson) crossed it to Teal (Bunbury) who took the ball and turned it around. Luckily enough I was just trailing and he laid it off perfectly for me.”

Matt Besler

About dealing with Philadelphia going all in and the game plan to handle the attack…
“It is something that we expected going in. I think we managed the situation well. I think the first half, due to the wind conditions, knowing that they were at home and they were going to start game off flying, I thought we managed it well, played it simple and safe. Once we got to the second half we knew things would open up a little bit and we would have some more opportunities to play and to get our movements in and we took advantage of it.”

About getting back up after giving up the tying goal…
“It was a tough one to give up, because we battled for the first 80 some minutes and not giving one up. The goal, the ball popped through and just ended up on McInerney’s foot and he finished. It was a tough one to give up but I think we all believed that we would get another chance to score one and I think that’s one of the reasons why we may have gotten one. We kept pushing and we kept making the runs and Olum had a great finish, finished strong.”

About the momentum that comes from winning going into the playoffs…
“This win is big for a number of reasons. It gives us a chance at the shield and it gives us no worse than second most points in the league so you’re looking at MLS cup and hosting that. It also just gives us confidence. We are team that believes in our system, we know what works and we are playing with confidence going into the playoffs.”