CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 16, 2023

Carlos Teran

Press Conference

Q. Curious with Rafa out this week, how you anticipate taking a bigger leadership role on this squad against an Orlando team that didn't have any problems the first time against you guys.

CARLOS TERÁN: Yeah, I think together, we are truly a team. Everyone works together. Everyone goes out and trusts each other, does their job, and everyone that's on the team and is available has a high quality of play. And at all times, we go out there and we just do our job. We try on the defense, whoever is out there, is going to give their best. We always give the best of ourselves when we are on the field, so whoever is out there, we are going to support each other and we are going to give the best of ourselves because as I said, at the end of the day, were a team.

Rafa is our captain. He's a very important player for us. He's still going to be there supporting us. He helps us in training sessions. He supports us off the field, and he's a great leader. And when we are out there at the end of the day, every game we know is a different game, so this game isn't going to be an exception. We are going to go out there on the field and we are going to work hard no matter who plays.

Q. Without Open Cup and without Leagues Cup, already not any more distractions heading back into the regular season. Is this a benefit as you concentrate on making the playoffs and focus on the rest of the season?

CARLOS TERÁN: All of the tournaments that we play in, all of the competitions, are important. We love to compete and we want to be in every single tournament and competition in which we play.

So they are not a distraction. Each one is equally important. So now that we are in this position above the playoff line, we need to focus on this, focus on the objective at hand, and look forward to working hard and maintaining that position.

But all of the tournaments we take with the same seriousness and the same importance. Unfortunately we are not in the Open Cup and we are not in Leagues Cup anymore, so now we are betting on the objective at hand, which is to be in the playoffs at the end of the season.

Q. Before the pause for Leagues Cup, the Fire was doing well in the season, in the tournament. So how is the team doing? Is it motivated? What's the atmosphere like within the team?

CARLOS TERÁN: The atmosphere on the team is always very high, and we are always motivated. From the very first game, we had a very clear objective, which is to give everything that we have in every game we play in. So from the beginning of the season, that's been our goal and we have given everything that we have on the field, and we continue to work hard.

So it wasn't any type of distraction. We participated in the three tournaments, and we wanted all three tournaments to be one in which the Fire went far. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way, so now we have here to focus on league play to get to the playoffs. So we know that from us is the ability to get to the playoffs, and we are focusing on this short-term objective.

So the locker room is motivated. The atmosphere is very high. It did hurt us to be eliminated from the U.S. Open Cup and from Leagues Cup. But we are a team; we are players; we are a group that has a lot of personality. We are very motivated.

So with all the personality that we have on this team, we don't back down from any adversity.

Q. I just wanted to know, have you been watching the Leagues Cup? There are other teams that you're going to be facing like Orlando that have been playing the tournament. So I'm just wondering if you've been following along.

CARLOS TERÁN: That's part of our job, to analyze the other teams that we're going to be playing against, and it's something that we do with the inertia of going into the workweek. We analyze the players that we're going to play against. We analyze the game, and it's not just us that does it.

It's part of -- we do it as part of our weekly work schedule, and it's something that's the responsibility of each player to see what you're up against, to analyze your rivals and to analyze the players that you're going to be going up against and to analyze playing styles.

It's not something that we are the only ones that do it. They do it with us; we do it with them. Everyone does it with the other teams that they are going to be facing, so that you can analyze each situation that could possibly come up within the game, and put it into practice.