Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja
Opening Statement
“I am very happy for our team and our fans in this moment of not emergency, but urgency. We have shared this with the players where we need to add points and try to ascent in the standings. We will still try to do it the best way possible because we want to play well and keep growing as a team. I saw a lot of positive areas today that made us feel like we have been playing a very serious and professional game against a rival that created in the first 15 minutes a few chances and complicated our game. The reaction from us was good. I thought we were precise in the way we finished. We have had games where we had more volume on the actions in their center backs, but today we were clean on being precise. At this point we need that lethal instinct from the players, and it was a good game in that part. The second half was a much more complete game. I liked the discipline from the group. This is the way we can add points in the league. Being disciplined will help us reach our goal and when we have the chances we need to put them in the back of the net. It is as simple as that.”
On getting two quick goals in the first half
“They were good goals. The first one came from our recovering we did. We put Nashville under pressure, we forced them to make a mistake and we opened up the game. In the moment that was needed because they were creating some options there. The first 15 minutes they came out with a lot of ideas and energy and created damage in our area. We survived well too. We have to do it in those moments. It is very difficult to have a game where you don’t concede any chance. At this point, I thought the way we reacted shows that we can absorb that pressure in that moment, and we scored two goals. I like that a lot. I thought our reaction was phenomenal from the players.”
On the adjustments the team made at halftime
“You used the word that we preached in the middle of the game and that was control. I said to the players, 'Okay, we are winning but we have no control of the game. If you want to close this game in the best way possible, and it could happen that we score more goals or not, but we need control and that we didn’t have in the first half. We had goals and we had action and we had good behaviors as a group, but we didn’t have control.’ It was a game that was back and forth. They had chances and they had corners, and they had free kicks. Our reaction under that pressure was very good and I value that from our players, but I would much rather have control in the games. The second half, that happened. We were a much better team.”
Orlando City SC Forward Facundo Torres
Opening Statement
“Very happy with win and most importantly for the team. We needed a game like that, we needed a result like that, especially the hits that we took last game. We talked during the week about how that game and the performance that we displayed wasn’t us and that’s not the team that we are. We talked about how we have to come out and show that energy and show that we are a whole new team compared to those last few games. Luckily, we got the result that we wanted to show out tonight.”
On breaking Nani’s MLS goal contributions record
“Obviously I feel great, we know the quality of a player that Nani is. A guy that has played at the highest levels of football and to be on the same level of him in terms of goal contributions for this Club is great. When I showed up to Orlando, I showed up with a lot of goals, expectations, and a lot of fear as well as I left Uruguay for the first time. Not knowing how it was going to go, I’m saying that I am enjoying it every single day, especially with the team and the staff that we have here, it feels like a family. We get together a lot off the field as well too, and to have that type of success here is really fantastic.”
On battling through the first couple minutes of the match
“After those early moments in the match, we could feel that our energy changed. We came into the game looking to change our energy after what happened in Kansas City. Nashville got the early chances in the beginning, but we continued to keep a strong mindset and mentality. We were able to keep pushing with that feeling of great energy and managed to pull out the win tonight. It was all about the energy at the beginning.”
Orlando City SC Midfielder Dagur Dan Thórhallsson
Opening Statement
“Just a very solid performance. I would say we talked about a little bit, the energy level of the team needed to be a little bit higher, which it was. I felt we were maybe struggling a little bit keeping the ball at sometimes, but overall, a very good performance.”
On his assist on the Facundo Torres goal
“He [Facundo] passed it, and, in my head, I was thinking it was a little bit too long for me. So, I was like, ‘oh, where's it going?’ And then I ran to it, and I saw him make a run inside, and I just took it out, put it into area where it's dangerous to get the ball, and the ball landed there, and he was sprinting, shot and scored. That's what I saw. So very nice and a good goal. I'm pretty happy with that assist.”
On getting control in the second half
“Like I said, we were talking about it in the direction that the energy level was good, but the quality on the ball, we were making a little bit too many mistakes. I felt one three were making the mistakes we were bringing them into the game, so they got a little bit more confidence. But in the second half, we kind of killed the game a little bit, and, and I felt that we did much better. So yeah, we controlled the game much more in the second half.”
