Orlando City head coach Oscar Pareja
Opening Statement
“Very disappointed obviously with the game that certainly had the necessity for us to get three points, win at home and after these past four games you got that momentum going and the end of the game is very disappointing for us. And obviously the responsibilities taken. I thought in the second half we lost control of the ball, and we lost control of the game, and we couldn’t hold the result. That’s what we need to study during the week, to see how we can be better because really, after the good first half, in the second half we lost control.”
On different mentality when leading verses trailing late in games
“Well, we can read all those things the way we wanted. It seems like we were a team with a lot of courage in the last games when we bounced back, and then we find a result. And today was the opposite after we spoke during the week about just opening the game and be winning. That doesn’t tell us the game is complete, the game’s 90 minutes and you have to do the duty in the whole thing. It’s not who starts winning or not, we always want to be in an advantage, but today with that urgency we came up with in the first half, and just leading the result, well we end up losing it. At the end, I think it is more complex than that. I think we need to find answers to be a team that is solid, can conserve the result or can open it too. I don’t think it’s either one or the other. I think it’s both. We need to open the games and know how to close them and win the games.”
On how to maintain possessions late in games compared to last season
“Well, we love to be very specific and make a diagnosis right now that’ll make us feel helpful and that’s my job. I think we need to consider many things. Right? That’s the complexity as I say of the game. We see how come, we cannot in the last five minutes just close the game and just leave it there, that's it. There are many ideas that come into our head and say how can we really win the foul here and there, how can we get out of the press. I told the boys, try to do all of those things, and we didn’t do it. The ball was coming very often at the end, and we conceded those crosses and landed in the box and that’s something that we hand a good team, and we find we end up with this disappointment.”
Orlando City SC Forward Duncan McGuire
Opening Statement
“I thought it was going well in the first half, thought I got some chances, some good build-up play with my teammates. And then on the personal side, I think it went well. I had some plays I could’ve done better, but on the team side I think it’s definitely; we’re disappointed in ourselves. It’s hard to feel like you’re dominating a game for 85 minutes, and then let two goals in late it definitely rips your heart out, and yeah, I think we’re disappointed in ourselves and we demand better from ourselves."
On channeling emotion heading into the next game
“Yeah, I definitely think we felt we should’ve won, leading that long into the game and that late. We know we can score in late phases, just didn’t happen today, but I think as, how difficult this felt and this feels for us right now is going to push us and motivate us to train hard all week and get a win for the fans at home and get the job done.”
On his first-half goal
“Yeah, it was [Facundo Torres] and [Martín Ojeda] for both the plays, they can whip in a great ball with their left foot and they both got their heads up and on the first one, Facu played a beautiful ball and made my job really easy after a good build up play. I think it was a deflection in the end that got Facu in, but then a good counterattack from the guys, a lot of numbers forward. Martin played a good ball, and I couldn’t stay onsides and I mean it was a good ball by him, but I should’ve stayed onside.”
Orlando City SC Midfielder Nico Lodeiro
On his 200th MLS appearance
“I’m very happy for this achievement, it’s a good step for my career. What’s more important for me today is our result is no good. Thank you for the congratulations but we lost the game and this is more important for me. But thanks. I didn’t know that.”
On what shifted in the final five minutes of the game
“They [Toronto] came in with confidence in the second half, they had a good chance and we missed some of our chances. Then we started to play a bit differently, they started to feel better in the attacking third and found a goal and their confidence was very high. Unfortunately for us we couldn’t find the goal or the reaction we needed.”
On team’s struggles to keep possession
“We lost our confidence, I think. We couldn’t keep the ball or move the ball like we wanted. And as we start to lose the ball and make mistakes, we started to defend very deep and they [Toronto] started to feel more comfortable moving the ball and they found the space, and of course after the goal everything was different for us.”
