Sporting KC 3, Toronto FC 1
Q. Luka, a difficult evening, you made some spectacular saves. You didn't really seem to deserve what you got tonight but how would you describe the evening and how things turned in that second half?
LUKA GAVRAN: Yeah, games were kind of, I feel like we did give up a lot of chances first half but we created a lot. You know, games when you don't finish your chances when you're keeping the ball out of the net, it gets difficult. No we didn't come out as strong second half. They switched up some things and we just didn't adapt well enough, and that's what happens when you play a good, experienced team with a lot of experienced players.
Q. I don't expect you to throw your defenders under the bus, but on the three goals, could they have done a better job?
LUKA GAVRAN: Yeah, when you look back, obviously we talk about off side goalies -- let our goalie coach know how they are a team that likes to strike from distance and how they have a lot of quality guys that can hit the ball from distance as we saw today. In a game where it's back-and-forth, a lot of transition, it's hard on the guy, obviously, when they are running a lot. So you can nitpick and say, yeah, should have closed them down and the second one, you know, the first one is a great finish, full stretch, couldn't really get to it.
That second one, you know, he hit it pretty well with a knuckle. When it's moving a lot, it's tough. You need a really strong hand and I didn't get a strong hand today. Then it's tough when you're in a transition game like that, you get spread out a lot and you know, maybe closing down stuff is more difficult than expected.
Q. Is this the kind of game where a team --
LUKA GAVRAN: I don't think so. You know, when they got that first goal, like I said, they are an experienced team and I feel they have led games before away and they know how to manage a game when they are up 1-0 and I feel, like I said, we didn't adapt well enough. Once we gave up that many chances, eventually one is going to get through and unfortunately it did.
The way we played the first half, I did not think the one goal would define the game. It was unfortunate. The second goal came into the too fast after the first one but really killed us which is tough.
Q. In the five games this year, how few chances there have been -- on both sides. The first half -- why can that come about?
LUKA GAVRAN: From time to time, you know, every game is going to be different. So the way we prepared for this game, we prepared to really combine together and show that we can play some nice football as well. I feel that sometimes, it kind of hurt us sometimes, which we saw, like we were really from the first five games, four or five games we were a tight team playing for results and really grinding out a win. I feel like today we had to find a balance of that. Went to really slow the game down and get our structure. But when you look back at the first half, I feel like we did give up a lot of chances but we played some of the best football this year so far. A lot of guys were -- we had a lot of chances. We were combining nicely through the middle and it showed we were building out of everything. We were brave on the ball. So you need that but also you need to go back to what you're good at and that's our structure and to the letting a lot of chances.
Q. That's kind of what John said, that there was some good stuff but some bad stuff, too, and you have to find the middle?
LUKA GAVRAN: Games are going to happen like that. We felt first half we had the fans behind us. We were at home. You have to really put them under pressure and really continue that drive we have at home after coming back last week with a win. After being home, we felt we should have been up maybe 1-0 or 2-0 in the first half. Definitely it's a tough one.
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