Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja
Opening statement
“It is mixed feelings right now. Obviously in this long run as we are about to finish the season with five games still to play, to clinch now is a tremendous achievement from our team and our Club and our fans. We would have loved to celebrate that with a victory today and a better result and a better performance, but we couldn't. We have no excuses. We are responsible for the good and the things we did not do good. The boys have a lot of respect for days like these on which we do not perform the best. We played against a good team. I think they had the best chances as we only had a few. We were not sharp in that end, but we were not sharp in our defensive side either. We will take the best out of this game and we will move on. We have games in front of us that can put us in a better position towards the playoffs. A lot of things to digest today. I still want to congratulate this group and the Club and our fans to clinch.”
On having to play a more compact style of play
“The size of the field doesn’t matter, we had lots of spaces, and we couldn’t find them. We still had the intention to use our style and play the way we do positionally and the play the way we have for the whole year. We couldn’t find those spaces. The players wouldn’t believe me if I said it was because of the field. They don’t want to hear that. We just couldn’t do it today.”
On the team’s performance
“I don’t think we had a spark today. I think we were a little more predictable, I thought we had more problems today dealing with the spaces and trying to put ourselves into the feel of the game. We have to be able to do it, but we couldn't do it. Sometimes we thought during the week that the field would facilitate our movements because we have the tendencies to approach short spaces and move the ball quick, but again New York [City FC] neutralized those things and condensed us with many numbers in behind. We tried to do the same, but we were not that effective because they created options and they looked dangerous. We looked dangerous in a few, but not many. It is one of those days, it just wasn’t our day. We will recover and try to get our energy and get a spark with the team that we need, but our players are good. Their mentality is intact, and we will prepare them for the next match.”
Orlando City SC Midfielder Dagur Dan Thórhallsson
Opening statement
“It is a little hard to be happy. They just told us right now that last year they got it [playoff spot] in the last game and we got it now with five games left. We can say it is sweet and sour emotions, but of course it is a little more sour because we lost the game.”
On the team having to adapt its style of play due to the field
“It was a little weird in the beginning. Otherwise, it is just a football pitch and it is basically 11 versus 11. They have the same thing, the only thing they have that we don’t is they do it every two weeks. We cannot complain about the pitch because we are playing on the same pitch. It was fine, once you get used to it.”
On clinching a playoff spot
“It is good to know that we have more games left and more than five. Hopefully we are going to go all the way. Clinching gives us confidence to just keep going. We have a game on Sunday against [Inter] Miami and our mentality is just to go beat them after we lost against them in Miami.”
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