Philadelphia Union postgame quotes

Jim Curtin

On Brian Brown’s first MLS goal of his career

I’m extremely happy for Brian. He’s a quiet, humble kid and for him to come in and give us a goal like that in a big spot was huge. He’s a kid that shows in training everyday that he only needs one look and tonight he proved our team right. It came and gave us a big boost. He’s great around the goal and anything that comes to him in the box—he’s pretty clinical.

On the challenges of playing in Kansas City

I would rather not come here to play, to be honest — with their fans and their team. For me, this is the top team in the MLS right now, and (they are) missing a lot of guys and missing a lot of talent. They don’t lose much of a beat when they plug in pieces to different holes. I was joking with one of the guys that come off the bench. It’s a handful — guys that will run at you and cause fits. Obviously missing (Matt) Besler and Seth (Sinovic) is big in the back for them. But we had some chances on the counter. We created enough to get a second goal. They had possession for sure; we’re not going to deny that. But I thought we were tough to play and we were organized. With a team coached by Peter Vermes, anytime you get a point against them is special.

On how his team reacted after Graham Zusi’s goal

Graham is obviously a special player. We had a missed clearance, but we were actually in a good spot to win it. Graham had a tough header, which he actually made up for it for setting up two goals. That kid’s got a big heart not to feel bad for himself. [Editor’s note: I believe the transcription here is incorrect and, based on the context, Curtin is saying “Gaddis” not “Graham.” We didn’t get the audio of the Union’s postgame comments to do our own transcription as we would normally do and so the quotes come from the quotesheet provided by Sporting Kansas City. Something like “Gaddis had a tough header, which he actually made up for setting up the second goal,” makes more sense but I can’t verify that at the time of this posting.] It changed a lot. Everybody has a plan until you get punched in the face. So when Graham scores that, things have to change. It changed quickly. We had to put on some fresher legs and try to put a little pressure in their half, a little more than pressure when we were just dropping to midfield and kind of conceding the pressure. The idea was to let their center backs have the ball and when they’re 65-yards from the goal, that’s fine. But what I don’t want is Zusi and Dwyer starting to find these little pockets where they are very good in. They are a tough team to handle.

Brian Carroll

On Philadelphia’s 1-1 draw against Sporting KC

It was a great atmosphere and we played a great side in Kansas City. They move the ball well, they make you defend and make you earn everything. We rolled up our sleeves, came in here and we battled. We fought hard, especially going down a goal to bring one back from Brian Brown. Guys showed some character. We had a couple other opportunities at the end to maybe steal one, but a point on the road in Kansas City is something we can take away in a decent place.

On Philadelphia’s adjustment after going down 1-0

We just kept our heads up and didn’t get too out of shape. Mistakes happen and you need to rebound from them. We did that as a group and pulled one back. We’re happy to get back into the ballgame and tie it up and at least leave here with a point.

On the team’s mindset going forward

Things are looking in a good direction. We need to stay together, stay unified as a group and support one another through thick and thin no matter who’s out there. When you’re number’s called, you need to be ready to step up and get the job done. We were able to pull out a point tonight and now we’re ready to go back home and get some more points.

Brian Brown

On coming off the bench in the second half to score the equalizing goal in the 71st minute

It was a great feeling for me to play in my second game and score a very important goal for my team. This will help me (going forward). I just have to keep working hard in training. Hopefully I will get more time and finish more through balls. To score a goal in my second game is the biggest step for me so far.

On running to the Philadelphia bench for his goal celebration

The first thing that came to mind was to go to the bench and salute my coach for believing in me and putting me out there. He had confidence in me to go out there and get something for the team, and that’s what I did.

On Philadelphia’s current run of form

We are on a good run, but we need to get some more wins. We want to finish in the top three by the end of the regular season. We need to get wins in our home games, and when we go on the road we need to get points like tonight. To get a point for us here is good, but we need to stick to what our coach has been telling us. We will continue to play hard, score goals, defend and hopefully get some wins.

Peter Vermes

On Sporting KC’s 1-1 draw against the Philadelphia Union

We had good possession in the game. I thought Philadelphia had two very solid lines; they were very organized and very good defensively. It wasn’t easy to break down — obviously we did; we scored. Unfortunately we gave up a soft goal there at the end. There was no reason why when it was cut back that that we shouldn’t have stepped out. They would have had four guys offside, but we stood in there. It’s a mental lapse on our part. We had some good chances, obviously when we scored and a couple minutes later Zusi gets another chance. We could have broken them right there and gone up two-nil. That doesn’t go in, but credit to them because they were organized and they were disciplined. We just had to finish some of the chances we had. That’s the game sometimes. We’re still in a good place and we’ve got to keep working.

On Sporting KC playing with a reshuffled lineup

We want to win. I don’t know what else to say — we want to win. We want to get the points. That’s why you see us go play the way we do on the road as well. We want to win. And we are disappointed with not being able to come out of that game with three points. Although I will say, when you make a lot of changes like we had to — we had Jake (Peterson) playing left back who actually did a darn good job — there was a lot of change in the team. And unfortunately, sometimes you lose that continuity and consistency. But I don’t think the team played bad. I don’t think they lacked work ethic. I think we had a good, solid game. We just have to give a little credit to Philadelphia. They were pretty good organizationally on the field. But again, we had some good chances.

On Sporting KC midfielder Jorge Claros’ debut performance

He did good. I thought he moved the ball well. There’s a couple things that he still needs to get adapted and adjusted to with us, but the bottom line is that he is a good player and a good addition to our team.

On Sporting KC defender Igor Juliao’s performance

I think he had it a little rough at times. He held the ball a little too much and got caught in the dribble. I think at times that hurt us as a team as well, because as he was losing the ball when we were up the field. And it makes us recover 60, 70, 80 yards to win the ball back. Over the course of 90 minutes, that’s a lot of wasted energy. We talked about it at halftime, but I don’t know if he took it as a challenge between him and the other player, but I think he got a little outside of himself tonight — especially because he lost the ball quite a bit more than he normally does.

On Sporting KC goalkeeper Andy Gruenebaum’s performance

The big (save) was the set piece in the first half. He made a great save, and not an easy one because you always think that the guy’s going over the wall. You don’t think he’s going around it, especially from there. So I thought he had a couple of key saves. There was another one in the second half where he got the flick header and caught it at the near post. He’s been very solid, as I said last game as well. He’s done a good job; he manages things and has good distribution in the back.

Andy Gruenebaum

On Sporting KC’s 1-1 draw against the Philadelphia Union

With the way we have been rolling, and playing at home with revenge on our minds, we definitely wanted to get three points. We wanted this in front of our home crowd to keep the momentum rolling. There are some positives we can take out of that, so we’ll move on.

On making several good saves throughout the match

We obviously had another new lineup, and despite that I thought we did a solid job defensively. They had some chances, but the guys in front of me made it pretty easy for me. The effort in front is always top-notch. As a team, I thought we were good in that regard.

On Philadelphia’s equalizing goal in the 71st minute

At the end of the day, it’s a fair result (because) we gave up a soft goal. Credit them for sticking to their game plan, which was very direct and very counter-oriented. I think we fell asleep a little bit on their goal, and they punished us. On one hand, we can create and finish more chances ourselves, but we need to limit their chances, too.

Graham Zusi

On Sporting KC’s 1-1 draw against the Philadelphia Union

We’re frustrated right now because we didn’t take all three points and we gave up a soft goal. We weren’t our best tonight, so maybe a draw is fair. But we’re still disappointed with this one, especially at home.

On scoring a goal in the 54 minute, his second in as many matches

It was a good buildup and Toni (Dovale) gave me a great ball. You always like to score but it’s better to win, and we didn’t do that tonight.

On playing defensive opponents at home

It’s always a little harder when the other team puts numbers behind the ball. But we’re used to that and we know how to play against that. We can’t use it as an excuse for not winning. We just weren’t quite good enough tonight. So that’s disappointing.

On manager Peter Vermes’ induction into Sporting Legend

He’s a great coach and a great motivator. His service to this club as a coach and player has been great. He’s won wherever he’s been, so he deserves this for sure.