CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 15, 2022

Fabian Herbers

Press Conference

Q. You guys had a pretty rough run of results heading into this break, what's been the mood around the team as it's starting to ramp up for the return to action?

FABIAN HERBERS: Yeah, it was a long break. Obviously the results weren't there before the break. They gave us a couple days off primarily to shake off all the rust, and to get some breaks and get the mind free, get the head clear and things like that, and then coming back, I was actually in the health and safety protocol for a week, you know, when we started back training.

So this is my first week back in training at the moment. But overall, my sentiment is that the team is positive; that they are excited to get back out there. They are excited to, yeah, play at Soldier Field again, have a home game with supposedly nice weather and I think it should be a good crowd there. Yeah, just excitement to play again because when you don't play for three weeks, and just training, so it's a bit tough.

Q. Just curious about your thoughts on D.C., obviously a team you've seen already this season. What are you anticipating interest this Saturday's matchup?

FABIAN HERBERS: Yeah, I think they had a rough start in the beginning but then when the new DP came in, Fountas ^ I think they already started going and getting into some rhythm and creating many more chances is what I heard from Julian Gressel. They combined more and they were more, yeah, confident in creating chances.

So I think it's a dangerous team. I think usually they play with a five in the back and obviously Julian Gressel cross from that side, and I think it's a team that's just picked up rhythm and it's up to us to disrupt that rhythm now that they have and ourselves create some momentum going forward.

Q. With Julian in town this weekend, I figured I should ask about the Podcast. When you started it, two years ago now, did you think that it become as popular and well-followed and you'd still be doing it two years later?

FABIAN HERBERS: That's a question. We came in starting the project without any expectations, but I think it's gotten more fun over the time we did it, and I think it's about consistency. We aim to do it every week and I think the consistency is key in that part; that you grow your followership and sometimes you have some, yeah, real good topics that sometimes the media doesn't really get and we get some players on that sometimes the media doesn't get either, consistently.

So some topics, the Hernan (ph) situation, it's been a fun journey so far. It's growing and a good project that I have together with Jules.

Q. What was your reaction to the new MLS media deal? I don't know how much you've seen, but the vast majority of the games will be over Apple TV. What was your reaction to that?

FABIAN HERBERS: Yeah, I thought it's pretty cool. It's obviously a good partnership for MLS. Obviously Apple is a global grand and I think -- I personally thought about my dad. I think it's easier for him to watch the games when it's just one channel because sometimes it's on the zone and sometimes it's on ESPN+ and sometimes it's on a local challenge. Sometimes the v PM doesn't work, so he has to put his location into the United States so he can watch the game. So I was just happy personally for my dad, for my family, so it makes it easier overall globally to watch the games and I think for the MLS it's a huge step forward to get consistency in the games.

I also saw they are striving to do like a whip-around show for those Saturday games, and I think because the league is so big, there are so many teams, that's a really good, yeah, thing to do because I know from Germany, there's always a whip-around show with the Bundesliga games, so you never really get bored and there's always something happening and you always go to the next game when there is a goal, especially with the size of the league, I think it's gotten pretty, yeah, hard to re-follow singular teams or watch singular games. If you have a whip-around show, I think that's a fun experience for the fans.

Q. Just like watching red zone in the NFL. How much to players in general pay attention to the business side of this league? I know there's not really a labor situation as of right now but how much do you pay attention to TV deals and things like that?

FABIAN HERBERS: I don't think, honestly, like not all that much. If you would ask the people around our team, probably 80 percent would even care. Yeah, the other 20, maybe are sort of interested but they are not really too informed or too, yeah, invested in it. I think the main focus for the players is to stay on the field and perform there. Everybody has their own problems and things that he wants to work on so I think the main part for all the players is about the field, to perform there.

Q. With D.C. in town this weekend, you have this fresh start, a lot of time off. Are you looking just at this game or are you looking more at the big picture of what is it going to take to get back in the playoff race? We need six wins or seven wins or do you just focus on this game and take it from there?

FABIAN HERBERS: Yeah, I think so. I think as a soccer player, you always don't look too far ahead. Obviously we have to look at the task at hand, try to beat D.C. and then we go from there. We can't think about, yeah, things too far ahead in the future. I think the next game is always the most important one.

So I think, yeah, we watch game-to-game and we see what's after D.C. but right now it's important to get the points against D.C., we cannot think, oh, we might get some points against D.C. and look at the other games. We have to focus on this game and then we look ahead.