New York City FC 3, Toronto FC 0
Q. Luka, maybe just get your reaction to obviously not a great result, just wanted to get your sort of take on the team's performance, especially if this was your first taste of MLS action.
LUKA GAVRAN: Yeah, tough one, as you said. Right away when you put yourself down in the first minute, it's not going to be easy. Especially the second goal coming the last minute, so we really put ourselves in a tough situation. But I really feel that our performances are just, I want to say, not blinded but like we don't see the good things that we do because of the poor things we do more often.
So I feel like in situation where is we defend our box and things where just some of the goals are unlucky going through our legs where we are screened, this, that. But as you said it was a tough situation, but I'm happy to be on the field with them, and I feel like I did my best and tried my best.
Q. When did you find out you were going to start? What was going through your mind when you found that out as well?
I feel like with the amount of games Thomas has had in recent weeks, he's with El Salvador, a lot of traveling, I guess it was just in the plans to give me a game ask really see, I guess, what I could bring, what I could do for the team. I feel like I did my best. Obviously there is instances in the game where I could manage better, whether I play short or whether I play long, and the older guys on the team are going to let me know and that's just going to come from experience.
So I had a few days to prepare mentally for the game, so obviously what happened last night with the game being postponed and stuff kind of threw some stuff off but that's no excuse.
Q. I just wanted to follow up on that. You worked hard and waited a long time to make this debut. That delay last night obviously was a spanner in the works. How did you sleep last night? Did it make it a little bit more difficult?
No, I wouldn't say that. But personally me, I don't really like day games. I'm more of a guy that likes to play at night, have the whole day to really get your mindset, get a good rest. But like I said, that's no excuse. You're going to have to play day games. You're going to have to play night games. Preference, I like night games. Mentally I was all there. The nerves are obviously going to be there the first game but I feel like after I really wanted to just get, you know, maybe ten, 15 minutes into the game, get my legs going, and obviously first goal came really quick. But having the PK really settled me down, connected a few passes and then it was -- then the game kind of flew by, I'm not going to lie. But I was prepared mentally and the nerves weren't that bad.
Q. You rallied and made some good saves. Friends and family, were they all back home watching?
Yes. Yeah, a lot of friends and family came to the Miami game last week. I feel like with the whole team, a lot of people came down. We were just there for a couple days, so it was a nice family trip. But there was a lot of people, I'm getting -- my phone is blowing up with messages and everyone is proud of me. I'm thankful for my family and friends that are supporting me. They make it much much more easier. I'm sure they are excited with the penalty save and hopefully I can do -- can give them a couple more good performances.
Q. Going down that early in the first half, in your opinion, what were the main factors that contributed to the early goal conceded by TFC?
I mean, I'm going to have to watch it back and see what exactly happened but we kind of -- I think we gave up a ball in the midfield and they played a ball out wide. It's hard defending our box. It was just not good enough. A guy came back post with no problem and he had a free header, so that's not going to help.
Like I said, I've got to watch it back and see what really happened but defending needs to be much better, maybe on my part, being in a better position maybe to come out on the cross initially, but like I said, we've got to watch it over.
Q. Can you take us through the penalty save? Did you have a sense that that's what Bakrar was going to do? Was it a last-minute read? Maybe you can give us some inside into the save.
Honestly, I think initially when Bakrar started, I had a really good feeling they were going to give a penalty because unfortunately with Shane -- it's tough on Shane obviously for what he did but I knew right away, it's going to touch his arm and he said it touched his arm. I was already meant to prepare; this is a moment where a lot of things can change like come up big for your team and my teammates, everyone is behind you.
Initially, like just you can -- as a goalie you can tell whether he's going to wait for you or maybe pick a side. So I watched his run up just a bit and I was going to fly to the one side and he kind of hit it low and luckily I got my foot there. I think maybe he might have meant to put down the middle but like I said, it all happens in a split second.
Q. Can you give us a sense of what this past month, six weeks has been since moving up to the first team? What have you been doing? How has the experience been?
It's been really good. I've made a lot of good relationships, especially with the older guys on the team who are, this past week especially, you have a lot of conversations and you learn a lot of things. Training, I've been doing well. Just trying to be a professional and keep -- really just push everyone, including my teammates in training, and really sticking with the team and what the ideas are.
So it's been good. I want to say it's been over a month now, so I'm hoping to really gain from this experience and hopefully get a few more games and really improve on myself.
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