CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

April 9, 2022

Ezra Hendrickson

Press Conference

Orlando City 1, Chicago Fire FC 0

Q. You were bound to lose one at some point, but how frustrating is it that it happened after a call like that?

EZRA HENDRICKSON: Yeah, you know, it's not the way we wanted to lose our first game. But you know, it happens. It's part of the game.

I thought the boys still fought, even for a long time, being down a man, I thought they still fought, you know what I mean, giving one away on a set piece.

So I just want to say that, you know, I told the guys, listen that, was a good fight, but the circumstances being, it was difficult. But they gave it their all and so I'm proud of that.

But a loss is a loss. We weren't going to go 34 games undefeated, you know, but we are happy with the effort the boys put in regardless.

Q. With Gutiérrez getting two yellow cards in about a 40-minute span, how much of a learning moment was that for him?

EZRA HENDRICKSON: A big learning moment. And what I told the guys after is, yes, it might have been a difficult call on the second yellow. But that first yellow is something that he has to learn from, and all the other players have to learn from. You know, that's a really poor yellow to get, you know, standing in front of the ball, trying to block the free kick like that. That's just not -- you know, that's inexcusable. So hoping he learns from that, you know, because that's what really did him in.

Q. You were in a difficult spot as a coach, missing four key players today. How do you think the guys who did get a chance to start stepped up? Obviously you didn't get the win you wanted but how do you think those guys did?

EZRA HENDRICKSON: I thought they did well. J.B., Espinoza, Guti, I thought they all came in and did well. Before that red card, I thought Guti was playing well. I thought he was moving the ball. He's a young kid. Hopefully he learns from this. I thought he was having a good game up until then. That really hurt us as a team.

But overall, I thought the guys did well. The guys who came on, they fought. Some guys were playing out of position, Offor and A.J., Reynolds, but they still gave it their all. You know, we still had chances, even with, you know, nine men.

But you know, this game is something we have to put behind us and just move on.