CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 27, 2023

Raphael Czichos

Press Conference

Q. Are you recovering well?

RAFAEL CZICHOS: Yeah, I'm trying my best. I practiced with the team today. Right now, I'm losing my voice, I don't know why, but yeah, I'm going to be able to do this interview here.

Q. Awesome. So my question for you today is, looking at these last four games, fully, Red Bull, Miami, Charlotte and New York City, they are all against direct playoff rivals for those last two playoff spots maybe. How do you approach that mentally knowing that every single one of these games is essentially like an extra playoff game?

RAFAEL CZICHOS: Yeah, we talked already this week about it that every game from now on will be final and it starts on Saturday in New York. It's going to be a tough game against a very good team that always plays with a high intensity. We know that.

But yeah, like I said, it's going to be a final, and if we want to reach our goals, we have to win there. Everybody knows about this situation. We haven't won in a while. That's what we are working on right now.

Q. I have to ask you, I know last time you didn't love sitting in the skybox at Soldier Field. Curious how that experience was again on Saturday and what you saw from your guys other than the scary moment for Guti?

RAFAEL CZICHOS: Yeah, it's always not fun at all to sit up there and to watch the guys and not be able to be part of the game.

But yeah, I think we played a good game. The goals we conceded were too easy. We analyzed it this week, and we talked about it. But all in all, I think we would have deserved to win this game. Couldn't make it at the end, unfortunately.

But yeah, like I said, we had a meeting about it. We talked about it and also Guti's injury doesn't seem to be super bad. So that's definitely the good news about it.

Q. I wanted to ask about Wyatt. The last game he stepped in as a starter and he played the game before that. Even though he hasn't been playing that much this season so far, what's it like to have a guy like him that even though he's not been playing, he can be a useful option at center back next to you?

RAFAEL CZICHOS: I love to play with Wyatt next to me honestly, and Wyatt is one of the most professional teammates I've ever had.

Yeah, I think he did a great job at the weekend. The situation before the second goal I think was a little bit unfortunate, but all in all, it was a good game. That's not easy to step in and to play after such a long time, and yeah, like I said, I think he did a great job and that should give him a lot of confidence for the next weeks.

Q. I have to ask, you have Gastón playing in front of you. We've been talking about Frank's been preaching for him to attack more going forward. He finally scores last weekend. Both of the center backs -- seeing a defensive midfielder going forward, I'm curious how you encouraged him to do that while also staying back and ensuring that you guys can cover for him when he needs to go up front?

RAFAEL CZICHOS: Yeah, I think we saw how good Gastón is this year. He's a very important player for us, and especially the last week with his very, very nice goal. He showed everybody that he's able to score.

And yeah, the coach is right when he tells him to try it more often, and we as center backs, we try to have his back and to give him a good feeling to go more forward and to try to score more.

And I hope the goal gives him confidence to do it more in the future.