Orlando City SC Head Coach Oscar Pareja
Opening Statement
“I want to congratulate our players. The way they believed in the game the whole time. I thought we had a difficult start, but they had the willingness to change the game and to dominate the game and also to continue to the end was something that made us feel very optimistic. It was a great performance against a great team, and I really think we played well. We used our spaced very well and I saw a lot of personality from a majority of our players.”
On managing his 200th MLS game as the Head Coach of the Lions
“I am very proud. I am very grateful for the community, for the ownership, for the players, for the directors and all the people that work for us and our assistant coaches that are magnificent. I am very blessed to work with them. Today, I thought they had a fantastic game as well from the bench. I am proud, very proud to have that accomplishment, and I am very happy and proud of our Club.”
On growing into the match
“In the first part of the game, probably 15 or 20 minutes, we had troubles with managing the spaces. They were doing a great job in using their space and we had to make a couple modifications to get it to the way we wanted. At that point, the next probably 15 or 20 minutes, we just controlled much more in our half and started getting our sequences cleaner. Our team grew in that part. I thought in the first half we should have gotten the equalizer. They also had an opportunity and hit the post, so we reevaluated at half and promised ourselves that we wanted to be the protagonists of that half and as a consequence of it we were going to get the goals to come and that is exactly what happened. The personality of our players in the moments that we were fighting for that position and the consistency we had during the game allowed us to have those opportunities to score and get this big result for Orlando.”
Orlando City SC Midfielder Eduard Atuesta
Opening Statement
“We are very happy because we worked very hard to get the result here. It is not an easy place to come and win when you have to fly across the country. We are very happy because we worked for this result. We had the chances, and I wanted to score a goal, but I am happy because I earned the penalty.”
On what changed in the second half compared to the first half
“We played against a very good team, the last champion. They were at home in this game, so we had to work the game and be intelligent. They pushed in the first half; we were intelligent, and we knew how to get through those moments. We are growing in our football every day and every game. We knew that at some parts of the game we had to manage the game to win and get more chances. We worked the game intelligently. We played against a very good team and that is all. We worked the game; we worked for the result, and we got what we wanted to get.”
On earning the penalty
“I was in the area. He wanted to be a little too aggressive on the ball. He stepped on my feet so I felt the contact and it was a penalty, that is all.”
