After the dramatic come from behind victory over Sporting Kansas City, Columbus Crew head coach Gregg Berhalter along with goal scorer Ethan Finlay and captain Michael Parkhurst spoke to the media about their thoughts on the game.
Gregg Berhalter:
- -On what made him believe a comeback would be possible: "You know, I think a large part was the fact that they believed they shouldn't have been down 2-1. Give Kansas City credit for a well executed counter attack. It kind of shook us a little bit, but the attitude, the spirit was there from the beginning. At least after the first five minutes. We were in the game. We were aggressive. We were putting together a solid game."
-On making a comeback without Kei Kamara: "Part of the message in the locker room to the guys was, we're in this together. And we need contributions from everyone, and it's not easy to get into the eighteen, it's not easy to get into the starting eleven, but their job is to just keep going and they've been doing a real great job with that really positive attitude, kept working hard, and then when guys get the opportunity to step up, it's really nice to see. I think our three reserves today did a fantastic job coming into the game."
-On the substitution Cedrick Mabwati for Kei Kamara: "What we wanted to do, we wanted to get speed wide. And then, the idea was to keep [Ethan] in, speed, and 1v1 ability. So, we had Ethan in on one side, Cedrick on the other, and you see the impact that they have; They draw attention, they draw two guys every single time. I felt it opened the field up and gave us more opportunities."
-On how the new signings adapted to the system: "Jack is a goal scorer. He is a forward. He pick up on it really quickly. Cedrick has been working really hard and we've been patient with him, and he's been patient with this whole process. I mean this kid, works, every single day. He works on some of the movements, and learn how he can fit into the system, and we've seen him progress daily. It's a pretty nice thing and we're not surprised he's making this impact right now.
-On killer instinct: "Whatever instinct it was, it was great, because the guys were powerful, they were going after everything, they were aggressive. We held Kansas City to 59% passing percentage. That's extremely low. They were fatigued of course with the rough schedule, but you still have to go out there and execute, and I think we did a really good job of getting after the ball, and pressuring the ball."
-On Federico Higuain: "It's funny. He was special tonight. In my eyes, he did it in so many different ways, that's why it was good. He was back in the buildup controlling the game, he was winning tackles, he was up in the box creating chances, he was shooting; It was a very complete performance by Federico and it was great to see.
-On emotions after the game: "I did, a little bit. I would say that the effort they put in on the field, to get rewarded for it, was, not a relief, but a joy. They put so much effort in it, on every single play, and that's what we talked about before the game, really commit to every single play, and they did that. You put that in, you get the result, and it's gratifying.
-On changes made to bring offense back: "We made some adjustments. I don't know if it makes sense to tell you what we did, but we made some adjustments that we felt would be more effective in the way they were defending."
-On trying to counter Sporting Kansas City: "Give Peter and his staff a lot of credit, they have been pushing hard with these guys and the guys have been responding. I think it was a case where they just ran out of gas. Once we increased the tempo, it became very hard for them to hang with it, and a lot of that is due to their schedule."
-On getting four points out of a double game week: "Did we want to make this place a fortress? We have a good home record this season there's nothing better when the stadium is filled and the people are loud, and the atmosphere is great; There's nothing better than playing here. It's fantastic, and I think tonight was a great example of that."
-On how strong the bench is: "I think that, before the game we're looking at the bench and saying that a lot of these guys can be starters in the league, and that's a good feeling. And there's one thing to talk about, and then the next step is to actually go out and perform, and they did that as well. We're really happy, and it wasn't just the guys on the bench. It was the guys who were doing fitness training at 12 o'clock this afternoon at Obetz; Pushing these guys because you need competition and we've been saying that, and it's healthy competition, no one is giving up, we're pushing and that's what creates the competitive environment."
-On comebacks: "We have experience doing it. Look at New York, New England, Colorado, we've done that before. I think the key is remaining calm and sticking to the game plan, and executing, and we certainly did that."
Ethan Finlay:
-On this certain victory separating themselves from other teams: "Absolutely, you look at some of the results from tonight in MLS and we have to keep pacing. Teams like Toronto FC, we still still believe we can get a first or second spot and get a first round bye, but if not it's possible."
-On Federico Higuain: "It was great. He was all over the place. Service tonight led to the game tying goal and it was fantastic stuff, he has to get back into his comfort zone, and when he does that we have success."
-On scoring goal with his chest: "I have scored a goal before with my chest. Probably not as hard as that one. It was worth it."
-On third sellout this season: "It was great. It's fun to look up at the top deck and see it full of people and it's great for our team. You go down like that [2-1] and you start looking around, not only at your teammates, but around the stadium and you try to feel the energy of it, and it was there tonight, it was incredible. I'm happy with the support and I hope it continues throughout the Fall."
-On connection while losing: "We found some great resilience for sure. It's our character, it's a part of our team. It's stuff you need come playoff time and this was a playoff game tonight. With every sense of it with the crowd, the tag team we played, and we stood up to a match."
-On killer instinct: "Yeah. I think Wednesday was more of a case where you're not putting a team away when we had our opportunities. Tonight, credit to Kansas City, they came out with their high press per usual, they did a good job and took it to us. Second half where we really started figuring out , and they knew it, and they didn't really change their style; Mike started playing some of those balls down the seams, looked like Peyton Manning out there throwing seams, but it was great stuff, we created a lot of chances off that. We found some of that success and we kept hammering away at it, and maybe it's what we didn't do Wednesday is find the success and continue to hammer away at it, and we did tonight."
-On challenges faced against Sporting KC: "Just the press right away, and when they do that, they have guys so far forward already that their counter attack is so deadly, and they only need a couple guys to be dangerous. You talk about guys like Dom Dwyer, and Graham Zusi and [Jacob] Peterson, and [Paulo] Nagamura , they get up the field quick, they get in the box quick, and they attack quickly; That was a challenge for us to figure out and their second goal came off of a counter. Disappointing for us, but that was a thread all night."