CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 23, 2020

Alvaro Medran

Press Conference

Vancouver 2, Chicago 0

Q. How disappointing is this result, and how much progress has the team made since the beginning of the season?

ÁLVARO MEDRÁN: It's the worst type of game that you can lose where you're playing well and you're doing your job for the first 60 minutes, and then we have the stoppage.

And, well, after we came back from that after the stoppage, there were two mistakes that you just can't have, and so even after playing a good game and not letting them shoot on you and not letting them attack much, there's that stoppage, and then you come back and you struggle after that.

So having played well and then coming back from that and losing the game, well, there you have the result and it's just one of the worst feelings.

We came into the tournament -- we have been together and we came into the tournament with the new -- some new tactic that is we were trying to learn. It worked really well in the first game when we came together but now it didn't earn us a result in the following two games.

So we just have to keep going out there and keep getting better and keep working hard and working together so we can get better results.

Q. Could you elaborate, specifically what changed for the team after the weather delay? It seems like other than finishing, things were going well after that and for a brief time after that, everything seemed to change.

ÁLVARO MEDRÁN: I think it was attitude. There were a couple of plays that you can't allow in a soccer team, especially in a tournament. We went into it, there were some details that needed to be worked on and you need to work on them quickly and keep moving forward.

I think we were a little confident because we were playing well for the 60 minutes before that, and there are just details that we have to work on that we can't allow, but more than anything, it was just a question of that attitude going out there because those tiny details eliminate you from the tournament.

Q. What were your thoughts on C.J.'s disallowed goal? Do you think that it should have stood?

ÁLVARO MEDRÁN: I actually didn't see the play very well, but I think looking at it, going into it, both players were going in hard for it and it could have been a hand ball on either one of them. It would have been off of their body -- it could have been off of his body and it would have been a goal, but it's something, it could have been either player who handled ball.

And I also didn't see the penalty on C.J., I have to review, but I think it maybe was more -- than not. But those are the things that the league has it deal with and we just have to keep working hard and getting better.

Q. What's it like going forward with the uncertainty that you guys might be playing again in a few weeks but this might have also ended your season today. How do you deal with that emotionally and how do you keep yourself in shape when you don't know when your next game is?

ÁLVARO MEDRÁN: I haven't really thought about it much. I mean, we just lost. But now we are just going to go home and the coaching staff is going to tell us what to do next, what the next steps are. We might play against some of the teams that have already been eliminated. We might keep training the same way that we have been. They are going to put a plan together and let us know what the next steps are. We just going to keep going forward and keep preparing.