Orlando City Interim Head Coach Martín Perelman
On the result
“Of course, disappointed with the result after the effort to come back in the game. We concede a goal in the first half, but then we dominate the first half completely. Second half, we were able to continue dominating, find the goals, we could’ve scored maybe another one, and then at the end, the big effort we did, unfortunately, we end up with nothing. This is the game, but there were some good things. [Tyrese] Spicer came back, Justin [Ellis] scored his first goal, things for us to continue to growing and thinking now of the Open Cup.”
On recovering players from injury
“I’m happy Wilder [Cartagena] came back today. He’s an important player for us. As well, [Griffin] Dorsey was able to come back today and [Tyrese] Spicer who was sick last week. So, we recovered three players but still have five more injured players. It is what it is. Little by little, we are recovering players. We are rebuilding the team. We are becoming stronger. We are competing. Again, the season wasn’t easy from the beginning for us and I think recovering players and continuing to build and give identity and finding the way for this team, at the end of the day, sooner than later, it’s going to give us more consistency, not only in the performances but also in the results. But in the meantime, in that journey, we will find some games like today and it’s part of the journey.”
On Justin Ellis scoring his first MLS goal
“I think Justin [Ellis] is an amazing player. His teammates love him, everybody does that’s here. He has a lot of talent and he helps us a lot. I’m so happy for him to score, like Spicer, as well. I’m happy for the players when they score and they perform. Again, we need to continue. It’s hard today because we couldn’t win and we did a huge effort and Justin and everything would be perfect, scoring, winning, and we were about to, but sometimes this game is like this.”
Orlando City SC Forward Tyrese Spicer
On the result
“I think it’s a tough one. The boys gave their heart and soul all game. I just think there was a lack of concentration in key moments of the game and that cost us the game, honestly.”
On his goal
“It was just like in practice. We practice it all the time. I go and then come back for the ball, but this time, I was just like, ‘let me go in behind.’ I know Adrián [Marin] is a good player on the ball and he has good long balls and I just read that and got in behind. And I was just like, ‘you know what, I didn’t see Justin [Ellis] in the box, have a go at it’ because I know I have a good left foot and I just cracked it there and it went in. Pretty good goal, can’t lie.”
On moving on from conceding two goals in the final minutes of the game
“It’s a difficult moment. I think we just have to look at the film and correct those moments on the training ground. As I said before, it’s just lack of concentration. I think we know our abilities and we need to step up with that and play to get the three points because it’s valuable now. We need it as a club, we need the win to boost morale. We just have to keep working, keep pushing, keep grinding and training and come back to the next game. We just have toforget it and move on.”
