Orlando City Interim Head Coach Martín Perelman
On the result
“Well, of course, sad. Defeats hurt even more at home, where we always want to win, so that is the first thing we have to say about the game. At home, we want to win, and that’s it. Other than that, I think everybody saw what happened in the game. I think there was almost one team on the field dominating. We couldn’t score, and they found that goal in transition, and that’s the game.”
On improving offensively
“I think we are working in general as a team, not only on the part you are highlighting, but in general. We have scored a lot of goals through the seasons with this team, and of course, we will come back to that. But there are moments and contexts, and again, we are rebuilding this team and coordinating it again. I think the team is competing, and I have no doubt that goals are going to come again, for sure.”
On moving forward despite the rough start
“Yes, what you are saying is true, and everybody sees that. Unfortunately, we are experiencing some difficulties in terms of injuries and important players not being able to play. But we trust our roster. We trust our players, all of them. For me, it’s only about working, playing with the players we have available, fighting and competing for this team, for this club, for our people, for our families and for us. This is the way we do it.”
Orlando City SC Defender Robin Jansson
On the result
“Super frustrating. I think we were playing quite a good game. We were playing with the ball more than we were at the beginning of the season. We were creating some chances and having some scoring opportunities, something similar to what they scored on. That strike was the only big chance they scored on. It is super frustrating and we are not happy with the loss.”
On early season injuries and struggles
“I think injuries for all teams are bad. We have had a lot of injuries. Unfortunately, we have not really gotten our stuff together, to be honest. It is not good enough. We are not here to make excuses or stuff like that. We are here to compete for Orlando City, and to be completely honest, it has not been good enough. We are working, we have guys coming back, and we are working hard every week. There has been a lot of stuff going on at the beginning of the season with turnovers and things like that, so we are trying our best to find ourselves. I think today was a step toward that. I think we played better with the ball. We created a little bit more than we have been doing in previous games. I think that is a step forward. But saying that, I am not happy at all with the result.”
On the result
“I think, as I said, today was a step in the right direction. We had more opportunities, and I think we have to convert them to put ourselves in a better spot toward the end of the game, where stuff like this can happen. Unfortunately, they scored a goal. If we take care of our chances, we can put the game in another direction. Today, we are finding this connection and playing in moments where we want to be more like that. I think if we convert one of the chances we had, like the one that hit the post, for example, this would have been a completely different game. But now we are sitting here with a loss instead, so I’m not happy at all.”
Orlando City Midfielder Braian Ojeda (Interpreted)
On the result
“In truth, I think we deserved to win the game tonight. I come here sad because I feel like the group did everything we needed to do to win. But at the end of the day, football is like that, and tonight it chose us to lose the game. We have to hold that and continue working because the season is long.”
On improvements needed going forward
“I think what we’ve been working on, we’ve been doing very well, so we have to continue working hard. Obviously, tonight the finishing wasn’t there. We created a lot of clear chances, but we weren’t able to finish them. But like I said, what we’ve been working on, we’ve been improving on. Defensively, we’ve been a lot better, but we have to continue working on the offensive side, finishing and making good decisions with the ball in the final third.”
On his message to the younger players during this run of form
“As you said, I’m young, but I’ve got a lot more experience than a lot of the other young guys. We just have to keep working. We’ve improved in the defensive phase. We have to continue working to improve in the attacking phase. And my message to the young guys is that this doesn’t end here. This is football. We can turn this around. We can make the playoffs and go and compete to be champions of this league. That’s my message to the young guys. We’ll continue working and keep pushing because this doesn’t end here.”
