St Louis 3, Houston 0
JOHN HACKWORTH: Thank you all, thank you guys for being so patient and waiting so long. I know we had a couple things we had to get done on the field from fireworks to bricks being handed out.
And winning's fun. So you have to have a fun locker room celebrating it. Joanna and Carolyn came down, and moments like this, and the crowd, last game of the season, where we're able to get a 3-0 victory and a shutout, it's a great night for all of us, great night for our community, for our club. So just happy to be a part of it.
Q. An emotional night out there, Jake's goal, the way the players were in general on the field?
JOHN HACKWORTH: Yeah, I mean, look, you could tell emotions were running high, right. I think that's indicative of the work that these men do and the pride that they have, and feeling like they didn't accomplish what they wanted to this year.
But in the last game at home, in the last two games at home, we've sent the fans home smiling and cheering and I really think that we laid the foundation for next season, and hopefully everybody has a lot of hope in their heart that we can come back and be a really good team next year.
Because you see this team right now and they are building towards next year. We are doing this all for the fact that we all want to be a team that we aspire to be and that's what you're seeing from this group right now.
Q. Brilliant coaching move on your part to put Becher in the lineup?
JOHN HACKWORTH: When a player makes the coach look good, yeah, you've got to love it. Simon, we talked about it yesterday, that he just he needed a chance and he deserved a chance. We had Ras. Ras had run as much as he could run the last two games. I didn't want to put him in the starting lineup and that just meant we had to be creative with how we were going to roll out.
What kind of stat you going to throw me?
Q. None.
JOHN HACKWORTH: None?
Q. It's a sad day. So figuratively speaking, City had nothing to lose tonight, playoffs out of the picture and kind of playing with less pressure, almost. I know you want to send the fans home, last game, send them home smiling but do you think the lack of pressure, almost, helped you guys play more freely in a way?
JOHN HACKWORTH: I don't think so. And I'll tell you why. Because I put a lot of pressure on those guys, and we put a lot of pressure on ourselves.
When I say that we're very proud of how we're currently playing and have been for the last couple months, there's no better way to show everybody that we're practicing what we preach.
And therefore, that whole room, and on the way back from L.A., like everybody was dialed in and super focused. Like you saw Roman and Edu have an emotional moment in the first half. Like that doesn't happen if you're just, you know, happily going through it.
We felt like we needed to go show this club, the fan base, everybody, what we were about and what they could expect in '25.
Q. Seemed like Houston were building into the game and it's kind of their mentality to play that style -- and you can see the growing frustrations with the referee. Talk about the response that you saw from the team.
JOHN HACKWORTH: Yeah, I mean, look, the way that -- you can never say a soccer game is going to go perfectly no matter what you prepare for.
So we talk about being good decision-makers in game, and understanding moments and the emotions, and whatever the official is going to do and the opposing team is going to do. Like you have to control as much as you can.
I thought we started great. We get a goal, I think it was the 14th minute, and it's a really good goal and it's a run that we had been dying for, near-post run. A little beautiful finish by Simon.
But then we tried to manage the match really well and I was really pleased, up until about halfway through the half where it just kind of started going a little crazy. But we dug in and we tried to stay really compact defensively. I think probably fans are not used to us defending as much as we did. But we knew what we had to do against a team like Houston who is very dangerous.
Q. Succeeding within Houston's play style --
JOHN HACKWORTH: That was part of it. I thought they tried to do some interesting things tonight against us. But credit to the guys, we dealt with all of those. In particular, Totland, they must have said hey we are going to get the ball to LIU and have him go 1v1, and I thought Tots stood up to that challenge all night long.
Q. On starting Becher, last time you started those guys up front was Minnesota, a very different result. What was the game plan and change you made with that four-man attacking front?
JOHN HACKWORTH: We were pressing very differently and that kept the four of them very close.
One reason I was happy about the first 20 minutes is you saw the four of them kind of interchanging where they started defensively and where they started attacking-wise.
When you get those guys, I talk about it, mobility, but understanding when they are playing in a different role, not a different position necessarily, but we wanted to get all four of them going in the attack and helping each other get into this game, and they certainly did that.
Q. There was a couple moments, just one of them was early when Totland, instead of jumping the man, just let him play into it. Was there a change in the aggressiveness specifically on the flanks tonight?
JOHN HACKWORTH: Houston, they tried to overload you like a lot of teams do, and Tots handled that situation really well because there was nobody to put pressure on the ball. And you know, previously, we've always gone. We've always gone. And we've been working on saying, look, if you have a numerical disadvantage, it's okay to just drop and take away the space that they are trying to attack, which is in general behind you and central.
And in that particular play, I thought he did a really good job of that. His job was to back line shift and jump it, but he had to have the whole back line with him and the back line wasn't with him in that moment.
Q. It's the last home match here at CITY PARK for the season. Just how important has all the support been this year from all the home fans?
JOHN HACKWORTH: Yeah, it's amazing. I said it yesterday. We live in the greatest soccer city in the country, and when -- what place are we in -- going into tonight? So we were not in a great position in the standings according to Gaspi.
But that building, you can't tell. Like our fans are crazy, and it's amazing, which is one of the reasons why we are all so -- putting the pressure on ourselves to go out and perform well because we want to repay all of this, you know. The Taylor family building this whole thing, amazing, right.
And now we get to practice our livelihoods in here. Like we are very fortunate people. But we also think that this is something that we can't take advantage of. You know, we have to make sure we show up and do the job and perform.
Q. Roman gets the shutout. Doesn't have a lot to do in the first half and then all of a sudden, he gets about four shots from close range.
JOHN HACKWORTH: Yeah, the one save he made was just absolutely ridiculous. He comes off -- I think he's diving this way, and it comes off the back of his knee, really, and goes out of bounds. Amazing save. Up until that point, I didn't think we were going to give anything up and I was on the sidelines thinking, Bürki deserves this shutout.
So he had a lot of work to do in the end, and thank goodness he is a goalkeeper that is world class and can make those kind of saves.
Q. Did Klauss not want to come out of the game?
JOHN HACKWORTH: No, Klauss was -- no, that's not it at all. Klauss was pretty tired. Klauss said, "Coach, I've played more as a six tonight than I've played as a nine. Do you want me to play as a six?"
I said, "No. You played awesome, Klauss, thank you."
He's a little frustrated. He's a goal scorer and he wants to score goals. But at the same time, we need to win games like this where somebody else is doing -- finding the back of the net, and he is contributing because he was doing so much more defensively.
Huge credit to him. I wouldn't say that he's going to come in my office tomorrow probably and say, hey, we've got to sort this out. I'm like, let's win 3-0 and talk to me later.
Q. The team had 20 different guys score goals this year, an MLS record. What does that say about the team?
JOHN HACKWORTH: Is that on Jake's goal?
Q. Yeah.
JOHN HACKWORTH: That's pretty awesome. That's pretty cool.
Look, we look so much different than the last time we played Houston, just personnel-wise. I talked about it a little bit yesterday. But we've come together in these last couple months, and that's really nice for everybody. I'm glad we set a record and hopefully that gives everybody a little bit of hope that we can come back and do it again next year.
Q. I wanted to ask you about Jake Goodrich-Reich. We talked about his defensive effort and tonight he comes in, to get that goal on the assist and also his first goal as a City player, how much does that mean to you as the coach and the team?
JOHN HACKWORTH: I'm super proud of Jake. It's fantastic that he ends the season on the field out of position at left back. But then to score the goal, I would give not only Chello credit for the cross, but Nökkvi jumped out of the sky and didn't touch it but that drew the attention of the two defenders.
I give Nökkvi a lot of credit on the goal as well.
Q. One of the things we got to see tonight that I'm sure you guys wanted to see as well for an extended period of time was Kessler and Nilsson together as a center back pairing. Without looking at the film, your immediate, instant reaction of their game tonight?
JOHN HACKWORTH: I like the partnership they are building and that is certainly something that is really important to us going into next year.
I thought Kess was outstanding tonight. And to see Joakim, we have planned minutes and Joakim was not supposed to be in the game that long. But with wanting to give Burki a shutout and a center back that was in good forms, he was on fumes in the last five minutes. I feel bad that I left him in as long as I did, but then I don't feel bad at all because I wanted him to do that, so really nice for us.
Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports