CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 25, 2021

Raphael Wicky

Press Conference

Q. I was wondering if there's any update on when Federico Navarro will be joining the team and maybe when he can make his team debut.

RAPHAEL WICKY: As of my information, he will come to Chicago in the next two days I think and there is obviously some things to do. I think there is a little quarantine period, as well. So we hope that by the mid of next week he will be joining our team but the exact day, I don't have.

Q. Are you expecting once he's out of quarantine, he'll be ready to go and make an impact right away?

RAPHAEL WICKY: I think we have to give him some time. As you know, he probably didn't play any more in Argentina and I don't think he was training with the team since the transfer was official.

So I think he wasn't really training in a daily football environment for a few weeks. I don't know exactly how many days. So we are going to give him time to integrate on the team and see physically how he feels, how he is, and then based an all of those information, we will then decide how fast we will integrate him into the match day rosters.

Q. On the injury front, just wondering how Ignacio and Carlos are coming along? Carlos has been listed with the right thigh for a while, although he did play last week?

RAPHAEL WICKY: Carlos is fine. He played three games last week. He's fine. He's in training. Nacho is still not training with the team. He is training individually. We hope that obviously after the national team break, he could be back in the team.

Q. And Kenny Kronholm, how is his knee recovery coming along?

RAPHAEL WICKY: Yeah, that's had a little setback unfortunately again, so he's not training with the team. So it's day-by-day basis.

Q. How much of your evaluation right now is not just for guys for this year but to start figuring out who is going to figure into this team for next year.

RAPHAEL WICKY: Of course we have these talks. Of course we are looking a little bit ahead and we are planning a little bit ahead and we are obviously analyzing and seeing what do we need to make the next step, what does this team need to make the next step.

But we have talks about that and thoughts about that, of course. That's our job to do, as well. But mainly I'm focused on the right now. There are still quite a lot of games to play and those are very important games right now.

Yes, of course, we are planning ahead and we are having these talks.

Q. Is there a point in the season with the standings and the playoff probabilities where the focus turns even more to 2022 and starting to play the kids and younger players, as opposed to veterans, to see what they have for next season?

RAPHAEL WICKY: That's absolutely not right now in my mindset. So I can just assure you that I am focused on the next game, and want to win the next game. Our chances are still there. We know where we are at the table. We see the table. Our chances are still there intact, and so that's how I'm planning, and other thoughts I don't really have right now of how it would be in four, five, six weeks or whatever. I'm not thinking that far ahead.

Q. We're hitting the point in the season with so many of the games in the Eastern Conference where you've almost played everybody at this point and you know a lot about what to expect from the team. So as far as your preparation and planning goes, what can you do? Your players know what to expect from the Red Bulls and they will have to battle. What more do you have to tell them as far as getting prepared for the game?

RAPHAEL WICKY: You're right, obviously the players know almost every opponent because we have played them multiple times some of the teams, and some of the teams are not changing their style. So we know what to expect this Saturday.

Still, it's our job and we do that. We still prepare and we still show all these videos about the teams. They are short videos and a few clips on what you are going to face and this is what you can expect and this is where we can hurt them and this is where we want to hurt them. Those are still preparations we do like the beginning of the season and so we are continuing that.

On the field, obviously we are working on things we think right now maybe we have to work a little bit more or focus a little bit more, but also that doesn't change much over the course of the year.

Q. Stanislav has played in four or five games now. How would you say his integration into the side has been since he returned from injury?

RAPHAEL WICKY: I'm first of all happy that after such a long injury and unfortunate time he's back with the team and he feels well and he didn't have a physical setback and I'm happy about that. He shows always interesting moments in the games. But also, like I mentioned this weeks ago when he started coming back, I said, we have to give him time. The reality of his history of the line the next nine months is that he didn't play much from last November until August, so that's a long time.

Still, he is growing into the games. He still is working on his hundred percent fitness to come back, and yeah, like I said, I see some very interesting moments. He's still learning his teammates better and I think with more games to come, he will become better.