Orlando City SC Head Coach Oscar Pareja
Opening statement
“It’s a great night for the Club and for the boys. They had a terrific effort on the field and that effort was rewarded. I think we had much more volume in the attack today and we had a lot of people in the match, many times in a lot of sequences, that had the personality to have a good start and at the end hold the result against a team who is well structured and has very good players too. It is a night to grow, it is a night to feel confident about what we’re doing here. I don’t get tired to say that this is very well deserved for the players who made a great effort on the field.”
On the adjustments made to minimize NYCFC’s attack
“It was normal that, just coming out of the half with a one goal [lead] after that great start that we had, it was going to be more pressure from them. In the second half we expected that they wanted to control the ball and we needed to know at that point that we would have that opposition and that they’d turn their model, play with two midfielders and start just getting more frequencies with the ball and made it more difficult for us to get the ball back. We spent a lot of energy, especially in the first half and I think it played out at the end, which gave us the opportunity to restructure the team at the last 10-15 minutes and hold the result and wait for the space as we did with Tesho [Akindele]’s goal and an opportunity to get in behind them. Certainly in the second half, they put a lot of pressure and then we controlled it, but they had a lot of volume too in our backs.”
On how he prepared the team against NYCFC
“They [NYCFC] are a team who changed our plans in the first half from how they played their last game. We thought that they would come to us but the truth is that our players trained a lot for the opportunities that gave them the chances to score a goal. We were able to find spaces where we wanted, even with their change in formation. I believe that they [NYCFC] found a team in the first half with a purpose and an initiative that had a lot of personality, which caused them some difficulties. We were very present in the box as well which is what I liked the most about our team today.
Orlando City SC Midfielder Júnior Urso
On how the midfield has controlled the games so far
“Firstly, I want to take this opportunity to say thank you to my Lord Jesus and to Oscar [Pareja] for this opportunity because I didn’t play well in the first game and he gave me all the support for me to play this second game again. I think we played well in the middle, we had a good control [of the game]. In the second half they played more than the first half so we had to try to keep the control but sometimes we missed it. I think we played well, we did a good job so let’s keep it like that for the next game.”
On how it’s important to be focused on the game
“Yeah, I think our mind is more than 50% in order to play well. We can’t lose control in the game, if we make some mistakes we have to keep our minds high to keep the control of the game. We have to be professional but we need our mental [side] high to play well. So it’s important for us to follow the concepts from our [coach] to play well.”
Orlando City SC Forward Chris Mueller
On the energy brought by the group tonight
“Yeah I think that we were looking forward to another opportunity to play a game. I think that we were excited to get out there. We knew what we wanted to do going into the game, we had a game plan that we wanted to come out with a lot of energy and try and catch them in the first 15 minutes and we did that. Credit to the players, credit to the guys for everyone coming in with a collective effort and putting in a shift tonight. It wasn’t an easy win by any means, but again like I said, it was a really, really great effort and another good win moving forward in the tournament.
On if he’s had more time to read lately and if a certain book has contributed to his success
“Yeah, I do like to read for sure. I think that in the quarantine it’s provided me with a little bit of extra time to do things that maybe could help my game a little bit more. My most recent big read to answer your question was ‘It Takes What It Takes,’ which is all about neutral thinking and it’s all about Russell Wilson and how he approaches his mindset and his game situation from a standpoint where he doesn’t let his emotions dictate his judgment on the next play. I thought that that’s been helpful for me, especially bringing a new mentality to my game and trying to adapt that mindset.”
On how Oscar has affected him and seeing the winning mentality take form
“Obviously I’ve enjoyed working with Oscar [Pareja] for sure. When a coach manages the players so well and gives you confidence to go out and play your own game and show some personality on the field, I think that that’s all you can ask for. I think that he’s done that really well, especially with me, I feel confident to go out and play my own game and just let the pieces kind of fall as they do and just focus on playing my game. If you look at the team, I think that our mentality is just different in the sense that we believe that we’re a winning team. We know that we have a lot of quality out there, we’re well-coached, the whole staff is so detail-oriented and they know what they want. Everybody has a clear role and I think that when you bring that together with a group of quality players who are focused and determined to win, it makes a good mix for a good squad and obviously a team who is looking to go deep and win the tournament here as well. We have all the components we need and I’m looking forward to seeing where we can go.”
On what he saw on his two goals
“I think that the first goal for sure was a great ball by João [Moutinho]. We kind of caught them sleeping a little bit on a set piece. On some days those shots go in the net and some days they don't, so I think we got the good side of it today. Dom [Dwyer] found me really nicely on the second goal as well and I brought it down and was able to find the back of the net again. Again, I think when you look at the overall importance of what we did in getting those six points moving forward in the tournament, it gives us a lot of confidence moving forward and I think that that’s the most important thing regardless of my two goals. Looking at the full performance, I think that I could have done much better and that there were a lot of other guys who played really well. When you look at the character that our backline showed clearing so many balls, defending so many set pieces so well, I think that I would like to pass a lot of credit to the guys who really worked so hard and covered a lot of ground and did what we had to do to make sure we got those three points.”
