CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 1, 2021

Francisco Calvo

Press Conference

Philadelphia Union 1, Chicago Fire FC 1

Philadelphia Union 1, Chicago Fire FC 1

Q. Just what can you say about your effort and the effort of your teammates after going down to ten men and being able to grind out a point the way you guys did?

FRANCISCO CALVO: It was a fantastic point. It was a fantastic point for us. I think we make a really, really great effort. We take the point and move forward. I think we need to hold Wyatt's back, and take the point and go home, sleep, and in two nights, we have another game.

Q. Second year in a row you guys come to Philly and there's a questionable red card. Last year it was you; it involved you and it was overturned. What did you see in the play involving Wyatt, and what can you tell us about that?

FRANCISCO CALVO: For me, it wasn't not even a foul on this guy, Burke. I mean, for me, the referee take not the best decision. But what are you going to say on the referee in that situation? They are always right, and we can't do anything.

But for me, it wasn't a foul -- I mean, it wasn't a red card.

Q. Obviously I thought you guys played really well up until the red card, obviously scoring the opening goal and had a crisp, concise attack, and then, of course, Wyatt is sent off. We discussed the red card and your views on it, but can you speak to some adjustments tactically and formations-wise that you guys made right after you went down to ten men?

FRANCISCO CALVO: Yeah, I mean, we keep the five in the back. I mean, we usually play more like three in the back but this time we changed to five in the back, 5-4-1; 5-4-1, that's the only thing we can do.

In the second half, I'm pretty sure you watched the game plan, we keep the ball, at some point, we keep the ball, we try to keep it, to slow down, try to rest with the ball. But yeah, we just changed to 5-4-1 and we tried to battle the whole game.

Q. To change the topic a little bit, you guys know that Rapha is going through a pretty difficult personal situation right now. What do you guys say to him and what do you do to support him through a pretty trying family situation some?

FRANCISCO CALVO: I mean, we are with him all the way and with his family. You know, they are having a really, really tough situation, really sad moment. But we are going to keep praying for him and his family and his dad, all right. So he deserve the point and he deserve more, and hopefully on Wednesday we give him a good win.

Q. I wanted to ask your opinion of Bobby. It seems like every match he's coming up with big save after big save. Speak to the importance of him, especially in terms of keeping you solid defensively and how important is it for you personally given that you play right in front of him?

FRANCISCO CALVO: Bobby is a fantastic goalkeeper. For me he is really, really underrated in this league. I have five years in this league, and four of them I played with him, and he has always been so underrated, I don't know why.

But I think he's always -- he gives us a lot of security in the back, you know, and that's what he's -- he is in there to make saves, and he usually make really, really brilliant saves for us. That's part of his job. We try to help him but that's how he help us.