Q. First game -- what did you think of the atmosphere and the win?
C.J. SAPONG: Yeah, surreal for me. It's been quite the whirlwind of a week but I knew for me the football, getting on the pitch was the thing I was looking most forward to and that's the environment that I feel I'm most comfortable, club, players, staff, everybody's been very welcoming and accommodating.
Stepping on to the pitch, I was just really wanting to relish an opportunity to provide an impact, and you know, credit to the group. We moved together. The communication was top. The passion was there as well. I just felt like at any moment we could score a goal. I felt like we were making big stops both sides of the ball.
So as a number nine, it's a really good feeling to come into a group that you just met this week and feel like there's comfort and passion around and things like that. Very surreal experience for me. I'll remember this one for a long time.
Q. You have a tradition of giving a good first impression, scoring on debuts. Do you have any explanation to your success right out of the gate?
C.J. SAPONG: Yeah, it's just an energetic thing, new environments and adversity is something that throughout my life I've learned to kind of just welcome. I've learned on the other side of those things, there's opportunities for growth and there's ebbs and flows in life.
So I ride the waves when they are at their peaks, and you know, knowing that there's going to be opposite moments but just soaking in the positive moments as much as possible.
Q. Can you take us through the goal, how did it develop? Did you expect that ball from Richie?
C.J. SAPONG: Well, you know, I think this is things that you guys might not see, but at halftime, I had me and Sigurd had spoken about, you know, being able to find me in that pocket and you try to play a ball in the first half, and he didn't see the guy, another player on the other team there but we were able to speak about it. Told him, just put enough on it so it could get to me. He started that play and he looked up, and again as a forward, so able to feel that connection with a center back and try to show for him, I was able to break it down and play Richie out wide and that was another thing we hit at halftime. Getting Richie in the space and letting him do his thing. Once I played that ball into him, I needed to just get in the box, and credit to him, the ball found me and the rest of the job was actually easy.
Q. You linked up with Lorenzo quite a bit in the first half. What did you see in connections with him?
C.J. SAPONG: He just attracts so much attention. He can create space at any moment. So that's something that I'm going to have to get used to, actually. I think a couple games under my belt, I'm understanding him wanting to play those dissecting balls and I'm more in a position to be able to control and get a good shot on target.
But you guys have seen what he can do. I feel, you know, personally, my characteristics could be a good complement to a player like him and Fede on the other side, as well.
So I'm still in the process of transitioning, learning from guys but I'm very excited moving forward for the opportunity.
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FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports