CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

February 26, 2022

Rafael Czichos

Press Conference

Inter Miami 0, Chicago Fire FC 0

Q. Rafa, thanks for make being time for us. What were your thoughts on the team's performance and when were you told that you were going to wear the armband and what does that mean to you?

RAFAEL CZICHOS: That means a lot to me. It's an honor for me to be captain of this team, of this association, and, yeah, the coach told me yesterday after our last practice that he wants me to be the captain and yeah, like I already said, it's an honor for me.

The game today, my first day in the MLS, I think we played a really good first half, and then we lost a little bit our shape, our formation the second half. We was too wild, too chaotic, and yeah, we should have made at least one goal in the first half and then the second half would have been much easier for us, but yeah, at the end, we take one point with us to Chicago, so we have to win next week at home against Orlando.

Q. You touched on it there at the end of that last answer but usually a point away from home was a good result, but was today frustrating because it seemed like you had this game in hand and couldn't finish at times.

RAFAEL CZICHOS: Yeah, it is frustrating. Normally we should be happy about the point but a little bit disappointed and yeah, I talked to a few players already and think were also disappointed. So we have to improve our game, especially our game the second half. We have to keep our formation for 90 minutes, not only for 45.

Yeah, that is what we are going to work on next week.

Q. Gaga was wearing the "no war in a Ukraine" shirt under his jersey. How much are you personally thinking about what's happening overseas right now, and just how do you guys block that out when there's something that big going on, and for a few players close to where they are from?

RAFAEL CZICHOS: Yeah, I think it's a really difficult situation. I don't want to talk about political stuff but I think in the year 2022, there shouldn't be any war, and yeah, especially for me, my wife is half-Russian, so of course it's a big subject at home. But yeah, it's a political thing, and I don't want to talk too much about. It.

Q. What was it like working with gab real slowly in your first official match with him. He's 17, but he strikes us as being much older than 17 in a lot of ways.

RAFAEL CZICHOS: He was amazing. He saved the game for us late, late in the game. Big save. Was difficult for him. I think with 17 years old, he's one of the biggest goalkeeper talents in the world, and he has a big career ahead.

Q. As your MLS debut, what were you expecting from the style of play in the MLS? Know it's just one game but what were your early impressions of how the game is played in this league?

RAFAEL CZICHOS: Yeah, I knew before that it's going to be physical and fast and, yeah, first half was actually similar to the Bundesliga because we controlled the game with a good ball position. But yeah, second half was like I said already, it was too chaotic and we should have kept the ball way better than we did. It was a little bit different to the European style.

Q. First road game on the books and now heading to Soldier Field. How excited are you to play in front of Fire fans next weekend?

RAFAEL CZICHOS: I am so excited. Today the atmosphere was great but we only had a few fans here, so I'm really excited to meet, or hopefully 30,000 people at Soldier Field next week. So every Fire fan, if you have time next week, come to Soldier Field. I think we are going to win. We are going to fight for the three points next week, and yeah, we have to improve on for sure to make this happen but we have one week to work hard and that's what we are going to do.