Head Coach Adrian Heath
On the importance of the win at Detroit City FC…
“It’s always important. It’s winning in advance or that’s another competition gone. I was pleased to go on the road and win in a really difficult, quite astute place. As I said after the game, I find it quite disrespectful to some of the USL teams when people think it’s a huge shock when you get knocked down. They’re professional people. They work hard at their job, and the players get paid to play. Congrats to the guys, they worked really, really hard, and we got from a difficult start. And there’s nothing like winning for a bit of confidence. Hopefully, that’ll give, maybe the goal scorers - Fraga [Franco Fragapane] got a goal, Luis [Amarilla] got a goal, [Emmanuel] Iwe got his first professional goal with the first team. There was a lot of positives to come out of the game the other night.”
On the players getting back on track after the match Tuesday night…
“There’s nothing like winning games. I can talk about the level of performance and speak to players and try and give them that confidence, but there’s nothing like quite winning games and for the front men scoring goals as well. So hopefully we’ll get a little bit of a boost from that, and then we’ll move on because it comes around four days later, and here we go again.”
On younger players getting minutes with the first team…
“Well Cam’s [Cameron Dunbar] had more games at LA [Galaxy], but for [Emmanuel] Iwe and Dev [Devin Padelford], it was quite a little, hostile environment, and they were playing down that left-hand side with all of the smoke bombs going off and everything, so they got plenty of stick as well. It’ll stand them in good stead down the road. Obviously, Manny [Emmanuel Iwe] was delighted, deflection or no deflection, he got his first goal, and he can be pleased about that. I think Devin will be better for the occasion. I thought, at times, he got caught up in it a little bit and was a little bit… I said to him ‘relax, so play your football. The reason you’re here is you can play,’ and I thought he got better as the game wore on. As I say, they’ll both benefit from being involved.”
On the team’s rebound against Detroit in the second half…
“I think the most important thing is you listen and try to take the emotion out of it and tell them, ‘hey, we need an extra pass in their half of the field, everything’s 100 miles an hour, don’t turn the ball over as cheaply, let’s move it side to side and hope things will come,’ and fortunately, that’s what happened. It sounds like you know what you’re doing when that happens. So, it was pleasing, a pleasing night.”
On getting a result at home on Sunday against FC Dallas…
“Let’s see if we can hear “Wonderwall” for the first time this weekend because that’ll be important for us. They’ve got a lot of weapons in forward areas. They spent a lot of money putting this group together, so it’s going to be tough, but we’ll be prepared. We’ll be ready.”
On more rotation with players given a busy schedule…
“Possibly. I think the most important thing is find out where we are Wednesday because traveling on a Wednesday, getting back in the early hours Thursday morning then traveling again to go to Kansas [Sporting Kansas City] it’ll present its own challenges. But let’s get the weekend out of the way and then we’ll look a what’s ahead of us.”
On being the final football event of the MLS weekend…
“Somebody must’ve made a mistake because it’s normally not us, but it’s a great opportunity for us to show what we’re about, show the stadium off, show our supporters off. We know they’re as good as anybody in the league, and it’s a great opportunity for us. We’re all looking forward to it.”
Defender Zarek Valentin
On the importance of a win at Detroit City FC…
“The [Lamar Hunt Open] Cup’s a big competition. Over the past ‘x’ amount of years, a lot of teams don’t give it as much merit as it deserves. It’s the oldest championship in the country and it’s meaningful. You see the teams get up for it, it’s fun places to play. It highlights a lot of the incredible communities around the country that have great atmospheres like Detroit and like other ones. So, it’s good. Obviously, it’s always good to win but especially in a tough place to play. They [Detroit City FC] had an upset last year, they beat Columbus [Crew], so to go in there and get a dub [win] was good. Also, in terms of the whole season, it’s been a little bit of a skid in terms of current results, but it’s nice to get back in the win column and hopefully, carry that onto Sunday.”
On bringing the momentum of an Open Cup win to league play against FC Dallas…
“It’s going to be a tough match. We’ve won there, the first game of the season, but [FC] Dallas is not an easy game. It never has been. It’s one of these things where we have to focus just as much and hopefully carry some of that momentum, some of the good vibes, onto the match and learn from the good things we’ve done and also learn from some of the bad things we haven’t done. It’s just a matter of enjoying the moment but also looking forward to Sunday.”
On the key to getting a result at home and breaking even on the series with Dallas…
“We’ll refresh ourselves with some of their tactics and some of their players. They’re very dynamic up front with Jesus Ferreira with the [U.S.] National Team, and their wingers, they have a lot of pace. So, being aware at all times with the ball, without the ball is something we’ll have to be cognizant of. They’re a good team. They’ve been in the playoffs pretty consistently the past few years. It’s a matter of understanding and being aware of what they bring, but also focusing on what we do. Because, we’ve shown that when we play our game, and we’re organized, and we handle the things we handle and execute our game plan, we’re a tough team to beat. We showed that away against Seattle [Sounders FC]. We lost, but it was a very tight game and it was tight margins. They didn’t really create much in a very, very difficult place to play. So, it’s a matter of, again, being cognizant of what they do, but also really focusing on ourselves. Ultimately, they’re going to have to come to Allianz [Field] which will be a fun atmosphere for us and for the fans, hopefully, as well.”
