New England Revolution head coach Jay Heaps
Opening Statement:

“You know again these are Eastern Conference matches, so the points are important, and that was the key tonight was that we went out and even though the game didn’t go our way early, we felt that there was a goal in this game for us and we pushed hard for it. I thought our reaction after halftime was really good.”

On the fluidity of the team:

“I think that’s part of who we are. When we’re at our best, we can really do it well. Teams can disrupt that at times so we have to find times when to do that and when not to and I think that’s where our challenges lie is when we can do our fluid play and interchange and one and two touch and really get the ball moving but other teams can stop that at times and really be physical with us so it’s a matter of hitting them with a long ball to open up space to now play underneath and we did that well tonight, I thought Jose (Goncalves) and Andrew Farrell hit perfect balls to open up the space to then allow us to play in their half.”

On the message at halftime:

“It was important. I think that we all made the statement that we don’t want to come back through that door without three points. We were pretty riled up as a group. It wasn’t me, it was the group. Everyone felt that we could be doing more and that there could be more urgency. Chicago did a nice job of limiting space and chances and they really were tight in their shape so we couldn’t really break through them. It was going to take our speed of play to really pick up and when it did, pockets opened up and that was how we were able to get our goals.”

On if Diego (Fagundez) plays better at home:

“I don’t want to say that’s just the case, but I do think he excels when there’s – when the lights are on that he really plays well here. I think on the road it’s not that we don’t play him, I think it is just a matter of the matchup sometimes as well. At home, we like him in this setting just because in a game like that where a team is going to come in and be a little bit tighter to break down and be in their blocks, Diego is really good getting through there. When he gets the ball moving, I remember one combination play in the first half where it was three or four one or two touch passes across the top of the box. Those are the plays that really open teams up and Diego does that with the best of them. We like him in those scenarios. When the game is a little bit tougher in terms of what we have to do defensively, we look at the matchup. Is he going to be able to break a team down or help us defensively? And he trained really well this week. The matchup was going to be good for him out there.

On if the team had more patience tonight:

“I think that we were hitting service at times and we were looking for early service in a couple games and then teams were dropping off. Now the early service doesn’t work because the team is dropped off and its balls for the center back to head out so we wanted to make sure we went east-west. The patience is when the cross isn’t on, get it back around, find little pockets and make sure we try to get it going east-west and when we do that and we extend our possessions in the other team’s half, that’s when players like Lee (Nguyen) and Diego can really play.”

On what effect the two quick goals had on the team’s psyche:

“I thought that we played with confidence after that. I wanted to get another one just because I thought we were pushing but at the same time I thought our two center backs and our entire backline was really good, Chris (Tierney) and London (Woodberry) as well. To me, this week our tone was set by Jose Goncalves and Andrew Farrell. They really put the work in this week, and it was important for us to get three points and that was the message. We needed to tighten the screws and not give anything up.”

On what allowed the team to control the match despite giving up leads in the recent past:

“That was one of the messages that we started even after the L.A (Galaxy) game was our mindset going into games. Once we score we seem to turn off for a little bit and we didn’t even hold the leads for that long. We were giving them up within 20 or 30 minutes of scoring the goal, so it was really important that not only did we score, that we continue to push for the second one and then once we got the second one that we were still really tight defensively and sharp and won those second balls because a lot of the goals we’ve given up have been second balls, bouncing balls, things that we can clear and we don’t and they punish us so we had to make sure we took care of all those types of situations. They did have one or two of them tonight that we have to be better at. That is a continuing process to get better.”

On how Andy Dorman is doing after his heavy challenge in the second half:

“He’s fine. I think for us, he was covering a lot of ground and Steve Neumann has been excellent in training for us the last four or five weeks and quite frankly I wanted to get him more minutes and he’s earned more minutes.”

On how important it was to come out and play well early in the second half:

“You want to set the tone. For us, point number one on our chalkboard was set the tempo and create the chances, put them under pressure and in the first half I think we had those moments but they did a good job of slowing it down and keeping us from getting too many quality chances but I think we wore them down. I really think that coming out in the second half we were a little bit fresher because we had had a little bit more of the ball and we were able to put them under pressure even more at the start of the second half.”

New England Revolution midfielder Diego Fagundez
On scoring with a right-footed volley from the edge of the area:

“I’ve scored tons of goals when I was a kid, but I don’t know as good as that.  I did a couple of bicycle kicks, scored a couple of those, but at this level scoring something like that is such a big deal.”

On his goal:

“It was one of those, it was a corner kick and I see Dorman making a hard run near post so I just said I’m going to stay back, top of the eighteen and once the ball lobbed up the first thing I said, I have to hit this towards goal and I think everyone was thinking, ‘No, no, no’ don’t shoot this, but in my head I said I need to make sure it’s on target and once I shot that it felt great and I saw that ball go in the back of the net.”

On his confidence:

“That’s exactly it, once your confidence I going up, you’re feeling good and sometimes nice things like that happen as a reward.”

On scoring the goal while also making his 100^th appearance: 

“I found out after the game which is pretty nice to have a hundredth appearance and end it with a goal on my hundredth so it’s something I can remember, take the jersey home now and give it as a gift to my mom.”

On helping set up Charlie Davies’ goal:

“On that one, was it Lee (Nguyen) that chipped it to me and I saw Teal (Bunbury) making a good run and all I had was to lay it off and Teal (Bunbury) shot and shot that and it landed on Charlie’s (Davies) head and that was the most important thing and Charlie (Davies) just finished it off.”

On the ups and downs of his game for the past years:

“It’s a rollercoaster, it goes up and down even though I just want it to go straight up, it doesn’t work that way. I just have to keep coming to practice, keep working hard and once you get that chance to go back in the game and start, you have to give it everything you have and that’s what I did today. I came out, did everything I could, scored a goal and tried to get an assist.”

On the message from Heaps at halftime:

“We were all in here and we said we’re not walking through that door without three points and that was the most important thing. I think everyone took that and as soon as we went out there you could see it. We wanted it more and we got two goals off it and we come with the three points inside this lock room”

On the Chicago Fire’s psyche after the two goals:

“It definitely created a lot more space. I think after those two goals the other team had a lot more space and probably could have had a couple more, but we’re all happy with the result and we just got three points and that’s the most important thing.”

On the differences between home and on the road:

“No, I think everyone, once you get that confidence to go in the game and start, it’s different than coming off the bench. Once you get any minute that you get either if it’s one, five, or a whole game, you just need to go out there and give it one hundred percent.”

On the support from the fans:

“It definitely helps especially when you’re at home, it’s like the twelfth player on the field. You can feel them in the stands and we’re just trying to do everything we can to give them something nice in a game and we got three points and I think they’ve been wanting that for a while, we just couldn’t get it, but it feels great today, we’re leaving with three points, we’re all happy, but we need to prepare for Wednesday now.”

New England Revolution defender Andrew Farrell
On delivering a shutout:

“It was huge.  It’s been six games, I think five which we’ve had the lead, and gave up the lead.  Five games that I think we should have won, or not necessarily won, but should’ve gotten a better result.  It was six games.  We’re tired of it, you know?  It’s time for all of us to step up.  Usually you have four or five guys step up and play really well pretty much.  And everybody else, I don’t know if they let us down, but not play to their best.  I think today, across the board everybody was great.  Subs, Bobby (Shuttleworth) came up huge for us.  Everybody is playing great.  It’s huge to get a shutout at home and then get guys scoring again and preserve that lead.”

On having a two goal lead and dealing with the pressure:

“Not really. We always feel pressure. You don’t want to give up the lead. Especially because the past six games, we’ve done that. I think we feel a little pressure. This game, Eastern Conference opponent, being at home, haven’t won in six, so we wanted to step up and play well and I think it showed. The coaching staff prepared us really well and it showed, I think, tonight.  Diego (Fagundez) gets a great goal. Charlie (Davies) off of Teal’s (Bunbury) cross-shot and then Bobby (Shuttleworth) comes up huge. Good teams find a way to dig out of slumps and I think we did that tonight.”

On the chemistry of the back line:

“I think it shows, well obviously the past six games wasn’t too pretty, but I think when we get it together, when we get everybody on the same page, we’re going to be a tough team to break down. And then when we’re scoring goals, it’s hard for teams to put the full attack against us, because they have to worry about our guys.  It felt good to be out there with the guys. I think it was a great result.”

Chicago Fire head coach Frank Yallop
On the result:

“It seems it’s the story of the season, where we play well enough to be in the game, do the right things, mainly. Getting chances and not taken them. Then having a spell of lax play when we’re soft and we’re off people and they are letting them play and then the team punishes us, it’s happen actually all season to be honest, more than a couple of games. It’s a real difficult one to put your finger on because it’s a whole team thing but we got to be a lot stronger and braver in both boxes, and that’s where the game is won and lost.” 

On the period right after halftime when New England scored:

“Halftime shouldn’t make a difference in the performance, we’re professional, they have been playing the game a long time, doesn’t make a difference, you got to be ready whatever they throw at you and you’ll be clued in and tuned in and we weren’t and when you give a team with the fire power like New England, obviously have good players, they are going to punish you and they did. It was a set play again, good finish, but we have guys running sort of away from the danger area when they shouldn’t be and leaving a guy like that at the edge of the box, pre-strike, he’s going to hit the target and he did, but we got to hand it to their finishers, pretty good what they did tonight and ours were poor.”

On his team playing to the end of the game despite being down two goals:

“The game was kind of, I wouldn’t say it was dead, if we would’ve scored one to get it back, pretty close to it. JJ had a couple of good chances, Jason Johnson. Guly had one I think. I think the one that was really good was Harry (Shipp) headed at the start of the game. If we score that, it makes a bit of a difference obviously, but still, we have not had a nil nil game this year. Forget scoring, we can’t defend. We have conceded I think seven or eight goals in three matches. I know the league is an attacking league but that doesn’t mean anything, so we got to figure that out for sure.”

On how his club will move forward:

“We get all our guys that are away back, still they are attacking guys they’re not defensive type players so it makes a difference to the other team. Again we just didn’t defend well at the right times and got punished.”  

Chicago Fire midfielder Jason Johnson
On his opportunities as a substitute:

“Pretty much unfortunate.  It’s never a good sign when you try, try and keeper made good saves or unfortunate to just—for the ball to just go outside the post. Dreaded for the loss but we got to stay focused, stick together and get ready for the next game, you know?”

On whether the bye week and upcoming U.S. Open Cup game may help the team regroup:

“I think the Open Cup game coming up is a good opportunity to get back the winning way cycle. That would be good to get the momentum going even in the bye week, for the guys to get ready for the next game.”

Chicago Fire midfielder Harry Shipp
On the result:

“It was a tough one I thought overall they did a better job than we did at controlling tempo.  I think a lot of the game was played in our own defensive half which eventually you’re going probably give up goals if that’s the case and we created a couple of chances, could have snuck away with a tie but all in all we were outplayed.” 

On missing some key players:

“It’s tough when you’re missing guys but we’re confident in the guys we have and that’s no excuse.  I think you expect, you’ve got a team of 26, 27 guys you expect whosever here to be able to step in and do the roles just as well as the guys who are gone so no it’s no excuse for us.”

On the team moving forward:

“It’s tough I think it’s three losses in a row now for us so it’s been tough, it’s a tough stretch, you know it’s a long season so you’re probably going to have a few stretches where you’re winless for a few games but it’s how you snap out of it and gain some confidence because right now we’re probably a little low on that.”