COLUMBUS CREW SC SPORTING DIRECTOR AND HEAD COACH GREGG BERHALTER

Onwhether he thought fatigue affected today’s result

I did. I think I talked about at the press conference that these first couple games you lose a little bit of structure as the second half goes on and I think that was the case today. When we did Chicago [Fire] punished us. I think for the most part, defensively, we were very solid, very good team shape, and when that period hit us, we didn’t recover from that and we gave up the ball.

Onhis feelings about the second half

Yeah. It was. Because I felt like we should have been up by more than one goal, especially after the first half and then the beginning of the second half, and it was disappointing to see that spiral a little bit. As I mentioned, these games where players are trying to gain their fitness, they’re trying to get sharp, and you can see that we lacked that in that period.

On Zack Steffen’s debut

He did well. I think he did well. I think with his feet, he was good. He looked calm, he looked collected. I think that towards the end maybe on that one play when he came out, he could have stayed in his goal. I think he did fine.

Onhis team’s energy in the first half

I think that part was good. The start of the game was excellent. The first half was very good, very controlled on our part. Some of the movement could have been a little bit cleaner, but it was a good mindset and good intensity from the guys.

On his thoughts on today’s game overall

I think that I’m going to take the positives from the performance and I think that our defensive shape was one of the things. I’ll say that offensively I think we could have supported the man and the ball better, especially in that period in the second half when we lost control of the game. It was because we had too many players isolated. Overall, we’re disappointed to tie a game at home. Simple as that. That’s disappointing, but we move on to Houston [Dynamo] next week.

OnEthan Finlay’s goal

It was a good goal. I think he also set up Justin [Meram] early on in the game with a great cutback pass. He was very active and it’s great. This team needs Ethan Finlay firing on all cylinders, so it’s great to see that.

Onlate goals

What minute was it? 73? I wouldn’t categorize that as really late, but that’s a result, I think, of a strange play. A fluky play where it took a deflection, took a strange bounce, and these are the types of goals you see early in the season. We’re certainly not happy with it. I think the concentration from the guys was good, especially late in the game.

OnHarrison Afful’s injury

He has a laceration to his knee. Probably a pretty bad bruise. David Accam tried to back heel the ball and his studs went in to Harrison’s [Afful] knee. And no, it wasn’t malicious or anything.

Onhis team’s offensive chances

I think it was good, but I think we can create more. I really do, but I think it was pretty good. As we get into sync, we will start creating more chances. We’ll analyze how we could have been more effective and then look at that. But overall I would have liked to have had more goals than one today.

On Zack Steffen’s expectations

I think it’s just being smart in what we are asking him to do and he’ll be fine. You see he’s calm; he poised. We’re fine with that. We are going to keep developing him, keep training, to get him to the highest level possible.

Onhis thoughts on his team’s newest players

I think they did well, all of them. All of them did well. When I think about Jukka [Raitala], I think he was solid. Jonathan [Mensah] was solid. Mohammed [Abu] I thought was pretty good. I thought Artur came in and was okay. An then Zack [Steffen] did well.

Ontoday’s attendance

I thought it was great. The fans were fantastic today and one thing that I personally asked, was that they were loud and I think they brought it today. So that was good to see.

OnArtur’s performance

So, what we’ve seen from him was that he can collect the ball and drive with it. And I think he was a little bit hesitant. It’s difficult coming into a game that late. I think he was little bit hesitant to continue to drive and penetrate with the ball. You see that he’s a good player, a quick player, but as he gets into rhythm he’ll be fine.

COLUMBUS CREW SC MIDFIELDER JUSTIN MERAM

On his team’s offensive chances in the first half

I think it was excellent. I think I had a good chance that I could have put away. Great cross, great finish. I know we had some other chances in the first half. Put them away and we didn’t capitalize.

Onwhat has to change from last season

I said it at half. We need to go back to the mindset that it’s 0-0 . . . We need to go back to playing our style, no matter the run, no matter the score, if we're down 1-0 or up 1-0. I think we took the pace out of the ball a little and were a little complacent. And I want to see us move the ball a little bit better from side to side.

Onthe possibility of fatigue

I felt fresh. I can’t speak for everybody else.

COLUMBUS CREW SC GOALKEEPER ZACK STEFFEN

Ongetting comfortable in his debut

I definitely had nerves coming in to the locker room this afternoon. Usually once I step out onto the field, the nerves kind of go away. Once I touch the ball, I just focus more on the game and on the warmup and having a clean warmup. The nerves came back a little bit when we went to line up and walk on the field. Once the whistle blew and we got rolling. I just focused on the game and I didn’t have to do too much in the first half so it was nice.

On making a great save

Yeah. It definitely makes you feel good, making a save and helping out the team. Then again, we were still 1-1 and I wish I could have kept out the other goal.

On the Chicago goal

From my vantage point, it kind of just broke down and they came down. It was kind of like pinball between Nico [Naess] and Jon [Mensah] and their number 11 [David Accam]. Then he got a little touch, got a little space, and then took a step backwards and went back post.

Onthe opposition’s press

Yeah. The first half was pretty easy with playing out of the back and they didn’t press us that hard. Then in the second half we came out and they came out with more intensity and a lot more pressure and we were kind of shook a little bit. It kind of got a little shaky and hectic and kind of forced some turnovers and errors. We’ll get back and watch film and clear it up.

On being the starter for this game

For sure, but at the end of the day I still have to do everything in my power to keep it, to keep that position. It feels good, but it doesn’t stop me working hard and staying grounded and staying humble.

COLUMBUS CREW SC DEFENDER JONATHAN MENSAH

Onhis team’s 1-1 Draw with Chicago Fire

The result wasn’t what we wanted, but a lot of positive stuff and we will pick it up from there and look to the next game.

Onthe atmosphere at MAPFRE Stadium

It was good. This is my first time and I really liked it. I hope it’s going to continue like that.

Onhis MLS debut

It wasn’t bad. I did what I could do and I hope I improve game after game.

Onhis team’s defensive unit and maintaining shape

It was good collectively and we kept our calm. We started [playing the ball] from the back and it wasn’t bad. So, we keep progressing game after game as I said.

On David Accam’s Goal

I didn’t really see what happened before [David] Accam got the ball, but I think it deflected from one of our defenders. [Accam] got the ball and he shot really fast and it went in. We just need to work on that and improve.

CHICAGO FIRE HEAD COACH VELJKO PAUNOVIC

Onwhat it means to get the season started

I think we started very well. We didn’t have a good first half, but credit our players with a great reaction. We made some adjustments, and we had a very good game. In the second half we had very good opportunities, same as in the first half but we didn’t convert. David’s [Accam] goal gave us more confidence and then we started to play much better and created more opportunities. We were very close to scoring the second goal. In the end, I think it’s a good start to the season, it’s a good coming back from a negative result. This is a huge boost for our team, from now on Real Salt Lake we have to prepare and recover for that game.

Onswitching the formation

3o minutes of the first half, we switched to 4-3-3 and that helped us to spread a little bit more in the midfield line, so David [Accam] could be closer to Brandon [Vincent] and help him to cover [Harrison] Afful, because he was obviously very dangerous in the first half. And then, we also dropped Dax McCarty to [help out in the defense] and cover [Federico] Higuain better. And then a huge, huge commitment from the guys, it’s all up to them. Whatever we, the coaches imagined or whatever we want to do, whatever is the plan, it’s about the player so I think, fantastic reaction, I have pride in our players, and our comeback was great

Onhis team’s comebacks last season

Um, I think we had good, what I would also say that’s also [on the ] positive side of the game was we did have good comebacks but we weren’t capable of keeping the result and trying to keep being dangerous and score goals, and then, don’t lose that positive comeback, that we had today, in a game. So that means, in a lot of games, we tied a game or we won 5-0 in the last five minutes or dropped points, but that didn’t happen today, so that’s something very positive.

Onhow he’s feeling

Yeah, I feel as if we had a good start of the season, that’s something that is very positive for us. Obviously we had a very bad season last year. Good start, but it’s just the start and we gotta keep building.

On his strategical approach in the last minute of the game

It depends, it depends. Juninho is very important for us, he’s very good for us. You can count on him for the next games, so it’s very important that we have all our guys ready. And obviously with Juninho and [John] Goossens, all our player have a lot of possibilities. I think we have very good depth in our team and that’s very important for the long season.

CHICAGO FIRE FORWARD DAVID ACCAM

On the positive effect of switching from right to left

Yeah I think so. In the second half we controlled the game, we created so many chances. We assaulted their back four, 1v1 so that helped us a lot. We could have won the game in the second half, but we are happy.

Onhis goal in the Opening Match

It feels great. For me, my confidence is going higher and higher. I am happy to get on the score sheet in the first match of the season.

Onputting the pieces together this season

Yeah I think so. We have a good squad and for us this is the first game and first opportunity to do well and by the second half we really came out. And next week we have Juninho back.

Onplaying next week at home

That is our home opener and for me I think the fans expect us to win the game and I think we will give the fans a great show.

Onhis final thoughts 

I think one point in Columbus is not too bad, especially with how we started the game. So for now I am happy with it.

CHICAGO FIRE MIDFIELDER DAX MCCARTY

Onhis Chicago Fire Debut

Overall, really happy with the result. Obviously, any time you go on the road and get a point it’s a good thing, especially first game of the season. It’s a new team, lot of new players, against a really good team, Columbus, they are always very good at home very tough to pay against. We have got to be happy with the result, obviously, tale of two halves I thought. First half, I thought [Crew SC] outplayed us. Tactically we were a little bit off in terms of our pressure; we just let them play too easily and [Crew SC] broke us down numerous times and they rightfully had a one-zero lead. Second half, we changed up our formation a little bit, changed up our pressing and I thought we played really well. I thought we came out, made them uncomfortable and we pressed them really well in the second half we had a lot of possession, created a lot of chances and scored a great goal and probably it was anyone’s game at the end there. I thought [Luis] Solignac had a really good chance to finish the game off and [Crew SC] had a couple of half chances, but overall, really happy with a point.

Onhis team’s ceiling this season

Lot of potential. Lot of potential in this team. I still think we have a long way to go, for sure, we’re a project I would say still. Obviously we were missing a very important player in Juninho today, I thought John Goossens stepped in the middle of the field and played really well, had a couple of good chances, probably could’ve scored a goal. I thought for the most part we grew into the game. It was a tough first half, like I said, but the second half we showed more of our potential. We were dangerous, I think once guys play a little bit more together and get on the same page, our ceiling is as high as we want it to be. We certainly have the potential to do some damage in this league. The playoffs is always the goal, so we are going to try and make the playoffs and make a deep run in the Open Cup and we’ll see how we can do it.

Onhis thoughts on today’s game and his team’s next game

Yeah, obviously there are positives we can take out of [this] game. I think we are going to have to watch some video, see why we were not as good in the first half. But yeah, we made some in-game adjustments and I think the good thing about this team is we showed character. It could have been easy to come into the locker room with our heads down, frustrated with how we played in the first half and saying that Columbus was going to come out and do the same things to us in the second half, but they didn’t. I thought we flipped the script on them a little bit. We pressed them really well. Certainly gained more confidence in the second half as it wore on and thought we were actually the team on the front foot more in the second half. So, we can take a lot of positives from that. Obviously, looking forward to our first home game against [Real Salt Lake], have to win games at home if you want to be successful in this league. We have to get Toyota Park back to being a fortress. We have to make sure teams are scared to come play us there. So, for me what I’ll preach is that nothing less than three points is acceptable when we go home and it’s going to be a big challenge, but we hope our fans will push us on to win.

Onthe tactical change at halftime

Yeah, It was actually something we tried to tactically change in the thirtieth, thirty-fifth minute. Instead of being in a 4-4-2, we tried to drop Michael de Leeuw a little deeper and be more of a 4-3-3. I think their midfielders and their centerbacks had a little too much time and space to play the ball through our lines. They were finding Higuaín too easily. We were, to be honest, kind of chasing shadows in the first half and that’s really frustrating when you can’t get close to the ball. So, with Michael de Leeuw dropping a little deeper and John Goossens going a little higher and me being kind of the point man in the midfield there, we were able to get closer to their centermidfielders and I think [Federico] Higuaín had less of an influence in the second half and we forced them into some really bad turnovers in their defensive half and created some good chances through that. So, it was a good adjustment by the coaching staff and I think we executed really well.