CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 28, 2021

Raphael Wicky

Press Conference

Chicago Fire 1, New York Red Bulls 0

Q. What does this victory mean to the guys, and what does it mean to you personally for this group to finally get a road victory?

RAPHAEL WICKY: Well, I think it's a big win. It's a big team win. I'm proud of the guys and proud of everyone who is here, of the way they approached this game. Guys starting, guys not starting, guys being on the bench, not playing a minute but pushing each other and helping each other. It was from the beginning to the end a team win.

And yeah, obviously it feels really good to have a win, yeah, one a and a half year almost, or so many games is a long time. We had for sure pretty good games on the road, and we had for sure games where we played much better football, where we created way more chances.

But this was just a great team fight and the team showed a great mentality and spirit and I think it was very hard to break down and that's why it's a deserved win.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Robert Beric. It wasn't the prettiest of goals but nonetheless it went in the back of the net. How important was it for Robert who compared to last season has struggled and not put the ball in the net as much. How important was it for Robert to see that ball go in there and have it be such a big goal for you guys?

RAPHAEL WICKY: Yeah, it's very, very important for him, of course. Look, we all know that strikers, they live and breathe from goals. Robert had not many goals this year, and so it's very important for him. But he's very happy for the team. He's very happy that we won, actually, and of course, then that we win with the goal he scored is for sure very, very good for him.

But look, we have spoken about that a lot. Robert has often chances. He had chances this year to score more goals. Somehow they didn't go in. Tonight there weren't many chances. It wasn't really pretty and yeah, I'm sure that he will have chances again in the following games, in the games coming. It's just very important that we all keep working hard and that he keeps working hard and believing. That's most important.

Q. Probably not a perfect answer, but how do you guys turn this into a consistent run mindful of a playoff push and how tight these places are? What do you think is crucial to make this now that wins that build on each other rather than stops and starts?

RAPHAEL WICKY: The most important thing is that we limit our mistakes. This league is so tight and anyone can beat anyone. You go into a game and you know you have a chance but you also know going into a game if you are not 100 percent and you do more mistakes and silly mistakes that you may lose this game. That doesn't happen in many leagues, back in Europe, for example. So this league is different.

For us, we had many good road games where we played decent football and where we create a lot of chances and where we were up games but at the end of the day it's about limiting mistakes, and I think that's going to be crucial for us. How good of a balance can we find of playing good football and attractive football with some risk, but then also in certain moments, saying it's not about being pretty, and I think that's going to be crucial in the future.

Q. Francisco Calvo was on the game day roster but didn't start or play. What's the situation there?

RAPHAEL WICKY: That was a tactical choice of mine. Nothing else. I choose tonight to go with some other players, and Francisco accepted that, was very positive and was a good captain in the locker room before the game, during the game, and yeah, nothing else. I just choose to go with some other players tonight.