CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 6, 2022

Jonathan Bornstein

Press Conference

Q. Curious, what's the mood of the club right now? You had such a high moment with the win over Philly and then the low with San Jose. How is the group dealing with that and how is the group dealing with the ups and downs in the 2022 season, especially with a lot of new players in the club?

JONATHAN BORNSTEIN: Obviously you want to have some consistency within the group, especially in terms of winning games. But I think more importantly, we have been able to analyze the games that we have been playing and we truly feel that we have been in every game. It might just be we haven't been finishing our chances as the No. 1 result of us losing games.

I think in general terms, there's a positive is vibe within the group. We've had some injuries and a lot of little changes here and there in terms of the personnel on the field but I think everybody is doing a really good job training really hard, not trying to let the overall results of late affect us all entirely. So I think the overall attitude within the group is that we are right there and very close to being able to put all the pieces together and get some wins back-to-back-to-back. That's the mentality we need to take going forward.

Q. Going into these three games that are back-to-back, Columbus, Toronto and Seattle, what's the expectation for playing at home, have the fans cheer on you, and trying to get the most results on these three games?

JONATHAN BORNSTEIN: Yeah, obviously you know, to be able to be at home for some consecutive games, I think the overall goal or overall mentality of this team is that at home we want to make Soldier Field our fortress, so anyone who comes in can feel that we are going to defend our fortress to the very end. That also means we need to win at home and get the points every single time.

That's the expectation from the group and that's the expectation from each individual that steps out on the field and as a collective unit, the Fire need to win every game at home. That's the mentality we are taking into these next three games as well.

Q. How important is almost half of the season knowing you got a good start in the first seven games, and now almost half of the season is already gone and trying to get these points, what's the mentality going forward?

JONATHAN BORNSTEIN: Our goal is to make the playoffs. That's what we want to do. However, we've got to get there. That's the idea of getting better.

I think the mentality going forward is that we are conscious of the fact that we need points. These next three games come in ahead of us, we like to take them one at a time so got to steal points. I was just looking at the table and we are eight points out -- separated from where we are to fifth place.

So if we can put together some wins, get these next three games at home, at least, under our belt, nine points would be amazing, and you know, we would get ourselves right back in that picture of fighting for a playoff spot.

So that's the mentality that we have to be aware that we've got to dream big and got to win to get those points to get there as well.

Q. How do you help the team as a leader to prevent the young guys from putting their heads down when things get tough?

JONATHAN BORNSTEIN: I think you've got to lead by example. You've got to continue to show up every day and show everyone that you're there to get better. You're there to keep a positive attitude. The other thing is a lot of encouraging words to the group.

There's a feeling within the club that we are right there. You take the San Jose game, for example, and we do create a lot of chances. In our chances to score, we don't put them away. In a game, on the road, those are the moments that kind of hurt a team, if you're giving confidence to the other team by not finishing your opportunities.

These type of things, we've got to be encouraging to each other. We can't let negativity find its way into the group because we have been in every single game or we're very close to either tying or winning most games, and unfortunately I've been on the wrong end on or on the losing end of those games as well throughout the season. It can weigh but at the same time it's never too late for the group to find its flow and find its rhythm and I think we have enough games ahead of us still where we can get enough points to achieve our goals and to really achieve what we wanted to at the beginning of the season. That's what I do at the personal side. I just try to encourage the guys and hopefully that catches on, which is has, a lot of the young guys still have positive attitudes and going forward we're going to need that from everybody, and it's a team effort, and I think we're keeping that positive mentality that we'll get to where we want to get.

Q. I'm curious when it comes to finishing chances, there's a lot of things that go into that but for you what are improvements you can make in training or games that make those that where you're close to now coming goals?

JONATHAN BORNSTEIN: I never like to speak for the forwards and attackers. Growing up in my youth days I used to play a lot of forward. Any time I had kind of a slump or anything or was struggling to find the goal, I would just relax, try to think next play, next time I'm going to make it, I'm going to score; I'll get those opportunities.

Again, it goes back to being encouraging to your teammates. I think everyone who wants to score and maybe didn't in the moment, they know what they did either wrong or maybe the goalie made a really good save. So things out of our control can happen but what we can be in control of is that positive mindset and knowing that next play I'm going to finish it.

So I think it goes down to that, just being encouraging to our teammates, letting them know that, hey, we are going to get there, you're going to get another chance and then the next one you're going to finish. I think that's the only way you can kind of take a look at that one, and hopefully we do start scoring.

Also going alongside with, we need to continue to train those things, obviously in training, guys taking more shots, getting more -- attacking scoring opportunities within the exercises that we do, and all of that will help lead to more goals.

Q. The shooting at Highland Park, the players on the club, do you talk about that a lot in the locker room and obviously the impact of that knowing it is so close to home and where you play?

JONATHAN BORNSTEIN: Yeah, I mean, obviously we were all watching the news and we were all very distraught about what was happening. We were traveling that day and it was a very somber moment for us to know this was happening so close to where we play, where we live. And especially myself as a father with two little girls, you know, you always worry about if we were in a situation like that, how would that play out.

Obviously we would love for some better reform and things like that to happen. We do talk about it within the team. Just always worrying about things like that happening, if you're in a situation like that, what would you do. I think it's very sad to know that that happened and obviously as the Chicago Fire and all of us as players, we are here for the community, to be there and any way we can support the community, we're always here.

Just as a father, I wish there was something better that was happening in regards to that type of stuff.