Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja
Overall thoughts on the game
“Very good game in front of our fans. That is the most important note of the night, obviously the three points, but doing it in front of our fans means a lot for the group. The boys expressed themselves very well in the first 25-30 minutes. I wish we had scored a couple of goals, but we maintained our concentration and we were patient with the game, controlling it, creating sequences, creating options to score. We were patient, the goals came, the reaction from Chicago in a spell of about 15 minutes was hard and then the other goals came. We’re good, we’re pleased, I think the team is playing much better. We’re scoring goals, a lot of positive things. Those three points will give us a lot of confidence too and we’re happy for our fans.”
On being successful at home
“I think we have symptoms of being that team we want to see. Obviously, consistency and some other aspects need to be better. I think we're producing offensively much more now, where we’re scoring and creating options to score. So all these things keep us optimistic about what is coming and the second part of the league. When we are at home it is an incredible feeling, that feeling of just being connected with the fans and producing is what helps us a lot. Hopefully we can do the same on Tuesday it is a tough match but we're grinding.”
On the mindset from the last three home games and securing the win with a third goal
“It's one of the things that has been a challenge for us especially those three games that we had at home. That dark memory of that last call in the last minute of the game. When the game became tight today the reaction was much better. I thought we had options, scoring the third goal and creating it before their player got ejected. We looked forward to scoring that third goal and that was different. It’s confidence for the team and it seemed like our game. We know that we need to be much better in many other areas, but seeing the boys put the ball in the back of the net more frequently is just better.”
Orlando City Defender Kyle Smith
On what’s been working for the team
“I think our confidence, it's been good. We've been gelling and I think defensively we've been playing well, especially at home. We’ve been scoring goals which always helps us win."
On the team scoring the insurance goal late
“It helped a lot. It gave us confidence and it was a great goal by Ramiro [Enrique] coming in with fresh legs. I'm happy for him, it brought us together.”
On the game plan entering the match
“Just to try to control the tempo, it's hot out there, so just controlling the midfield. Making sure that they [Chicago] didn't have time on the ball so that they couldn't control the tempo and then just finding the spaces in the attack so we could create chances and score goals.”
Orlando City Forward Facundo Torres
On his current form
“Thankfully, with a bit of luck things, have been going well. I've got that renewed motivation. I think the [Uruguay] national team really helped re-spark that because when you're called into the national team and you can score, you've got that feeling of happiness and I was able to bring some of that motivation back from the national team into here. We're playing really well right now and things are just starting to click.”
On scoring off a header
“I was just trying to bring the ball a little bit further inside and then get into position in case it worked its way in there for me and then I saw the ball kind of swing out wide and entered into the area and [I was] just trying to be in a good spot. It's not my usual goal, but I'll take whatever way I can score.”
On his perspective on not getting the penalty before halftime
“The referee told me that I was looking for the contact and looking for the foul when I was dribbling. I was off balance a little bit, but I didn't think I was falling and then the [Chicago Fire] defender hit me and then I fell, but the referee told me that I was falling beforehand, and I was trying to look for the contact.”
