Orlando City head coach Oscar Pareja
Opening Statement
“We are trying to calm down from a game that brought us a lot of emotions and with the disappointment of not getting the result. It is hard for me to talk about who deserved to win the game and I don’t want to face that. I want to just accept that they [Minnesota] scored three goals, and we couldn’t score more than two. We lost the game that surely will create pain for us. We have to bounce back immediately because we have no time. Despite all the things that happened we have to stand up and face the next game because we have a short period to recover.”
On all the chances created on the night
“[Not being able to finish] will increase our disappointment of the result. I thought people saw a team that had a lot of aggressiveness and creativity and the volume that we had during the game, I thought we deserved much more than that. We were not fine in front of the goal and there were a lot of actions that we could have finished better. They came out with these goals that are hard to swallow for us, but that is the game. The story is that we need to be better in the end, we need to score goals and most importantly we need to be solid.”
On Minnesota United’s stoppage-time goal
“We did not match well on the first one, our coordination was incorrect. I understand that at that point, when you still have a few minutes and you feel the energy and you know that you can win the game, you still have to do your duty and we did not coordinate well. We lost the first [ball] and the ball got into our right back and center back in a way that, we have to have the tools to control that. That’s part of the big thing and problems we have right now.”
Orlando City SC Forward Duncan McGuire
Opening Statement
"It was definitely hard work paying off. During practice with the team we’ve been working on attacking all week and looking to find me in the box which worked out for the first goal. It's a play we are looking to add to our game and it worked out today so it's good to see that and its a positive showing that we have good attacking methods going forward so i feel like if we can can score more and play a little better as a unit in upcoming games we can get a win.”
On the team’s difficulty finishing in tonight’s match
“We definitely have a lot of quality players and we know that we can score those goals, I missed one and a few guys missed a few other chances, so we know that we can score those goals so we definitely take those into next game because we’re a confident group of players and we know that we can score those chances coming in and next game we will put them away.”
On what he saw on his second goal
“Yeah, it was a great change with Martin and I switching positions and he had his head up and put the ball right where I needed it. I saw the goalie cheating a little bit too hard to the near post so I saw the back post wide open and let it fly. Luckily it worked out.”
Orlando City SC Midfielder Martín Ojeda
Opening Statement
“Yeah, I think to start off the word that comes to mind is sadness, right? We did everything, we created a lot of chances at goal, we scored goals. But, at the end of the day, football is a game of details, right? And those details tonight were costly for us. But I think moving forward, this team will continue to get better and to focus on those details, so it doesn’t hurt us in the future.”
On the differing emotions of creating chances but having difficulty finishing
“It’s important in a loss like this to recognize that we did create those chances. We created them from all over. We were creating them from crosses, through the middle, out on the wings, but at the end of the day that doesn’t take away any of the sadness, but it’s important to know that we are creating those. I think moving forward we’ll be focusing on trying to improve in those last few meters that way we can finish off those plays better, and then during the week we’ll just continue to focus on that. We scored two goals, but we have to finish it off better so during the week we’ll continue to push and improve.”
On MLS teams historically struggling to start the MLS season while playing in Concacaf
“More than anything, it costs us physically. But that said, we’ve got a deep group where each person is able to play at any given time and that’s what you have to do. With all these tournaments that are coming up, Concacaf, league games, you have to be prepared each day and I think this group does that. We’ve got an important game coming up on Tuesday at Tigres, of course, so we’ll give everything with this group to go and fight for each tournament that we’re in. We dream of big things, we want to fight, we want to get to finals, we want to win those titles and make sure that the world knows of our club. In these next few days, those days are preparation, we’ll give everything to be ready if we’re selected for Tuesday, and that’s how we approach every game.”
