CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 28, 2021

Przemyslaw Frankowski

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: All right. We'll get started.

Q. I wondered, it seems like since you've returned from the Euro your play has hit another level and you've been playing quite well. Why do you think that is?

PRZEMYSLAW FRANKOWSKI: I'm not sure, but it seems that our national team has so many good players that just by being with them, playing with them, that elevated my game.

Q. We just talked to Coach Wicky and obviously he's going through a personal situation right now. What do the players do to help him through it, because obviously he's helped you guys through things in the past? What do you guys do to help him and support him when he's going through something that's very difficult?

PRZEMYSLAW FRANKOWSKI: Well, it's really that I think every player I can say thinks constantly about his family situation, his dad situation, that he's facing. We really support him the best we can. We always try to be supportive. I wish we could also support him by winning our games. Unfortunately, this does not, this didn't happen. We certainly hope that his father's condition will improve day-to-day really, it will all be better. And also we really work very hard on winning these games so he can feel our support in the most tangible terms.

Q. Last game, going back to last game, you were able to create so many chances, however, you weren't able to capitalize on it. How difficult, how frustrating is it to see the opponent's goalkeeper to play the hero of the game?

PRZEMYSLAW FRANKOWSKI: Well, the frustration is tremendous. We tried and tried and finally we won, but we, it was really hard sitting in the locker room thinking the next day about the game, analyzing all these situations, thinking about what went wrong, why we didn't even have a draw. We should have won it, obviously. But this is football, we have, we did what we can. Our best chance is to play better at the next game and take revenge on them, so to speak. But the frustration was really, really palpable.

Q. Touching on the finishing issue, how does the team improve that, because to create that many chances you should win the game. How can the team improve that situation and be able to finish some of those chances going forward?

PRZEMYSLAW FRANKOWSKI: Well, the most important thing is training, obviously, shooting training where we try to convert every possibly situation from every possibly angle. The game against Toronto, we know that very important thinking in football is the mental state of the players. When you lose one, two, even more chances, you cannot give up, you have to keep going, you have to believe that it will eventually convert into goals. So it's really about keeping mental focus and that's a very important part of the game.

Q. Have you guys had any like internal discussions, players-only discussion? And the reason I am asking is because during the Euro after the game, after the loss to Slovakia you've held players-only meeting. Was that, was something like that considered here in Chicago?

PRZEMYSLAW FRANKOWSKI: Well, definitely, we always do. I mean, in the locker room, having dinner together, after the match, especially when the things do not go all that well. We have to kind of know what's going on, we have to discuss it amongst each other. We need to go in a certain direction, otherwise, even though the season is still quite long before in front of us, but we really have to focus on converting, making points and that's what we talk about when we see each other as players.