CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 30, 2023

Fabian Herbers

Press Conference

Chicago Fire FC 1, New York Red Bulls 0

Q. Congrats on the win, I wanted to ask if you think it's a big relief to finally get a win after two and a half months.

FABIAN HERBERS: Yeah, it's a relief, of course. I mean, if you don't win for a long time, you want to always step on the field to get three points since I think the win Leagues Cup. When was that, late July maybe?

It's good, because it's been a rough stretch after the Leagues Cup, getting started again and not getting the win, only two points out of the last six games, so yeah, finally the ball bounced our way. I think we were lucky today again at the end but on the other hand we could have also put the game away early 3-0 when we had those big chances.

Overall we're relieved and happy with the win and to see that we are very much in it, now with two home games coming up, I think it's exciting for us and it's exciting for the city and now we can really improve and make a playoff push.

Q. What was the message from coach at halftime and should have been up by multiple goals. Can you just talk on the message that Frank may have given to you guys and what it finally means to get the three points?

FABIAN HERBERS: I'm trying to remember what exactly he said at halftime but yeah, he gave some tactical adjustment on how to put more pressure on Red Bull.

I think, you know, that we did really well in the second half where, you know, that we may have put a little bit more pressure on them that, yeah, they cannot have those easy lofted balls into the box, and then offensively with the ball, he told us just to be better, to move for each other, to show up and to move the ball better. You know, to make Red Bull run a little bit more, and I think that seeing where we connected, and I played Johnny through and they need to follow him there, to get the second yellow card, that showed what Coach told us at halftime, as well.

That's kind of representative of that where we actually do move the ball and you know try to get into their offensive third, and you know, they need to make a foul and then they make a poor play and now all of a sudden we are a man up and we get a goal out of it.

So I think those adjustments were really good, and I forgot the second part of the question, sorry.

Q. Just what are the feelings getting three points in the League because I do know you picked up a win during Leagues Cup but to finally get those points in Major League Soccer, how does it feel?

FABIAN HERBERS: It feels good. Obviously getting the win always feels great. It's very hard to do. Wins don't come easy for us. We're not a team like Cincinnati, Nashville, Columbus, that beat teams like 4-1, 5-1 at times. We always have to put everything into it, every game, 90 minutes, we have to fight hard.

And even now, even today being a man up, we still have to fight to the very last second, so wins don't come that easy and we don't have that flow. But I think the guys really fought hard for it and we have to keep fighting for those wins because we know how hard we have to suffer and we have to fight tore it. So it feels even better when you do get that win and get on the other side of it.

Q. Really big game on Wednesday against Miami, a good team, really big crowd expected as well. How do you use the momentum from closing out the win tonight against the Red Bulls into that important game on Wednesday?

FABIAN HERBERS: Yeah, Miami, of course, since the arrival of Messi, they have gained a lot of momentum. You know, playing really well, but it's not only Messi, they have got like six guys n that are all high-quality players that know how to play that are really talented guys, obviously, and you know, they are really dangerous team now in the League.

You know, whereas they were just in last place before they all arrived. So they have momentum but I just hope that we can feed off that win that we just got now and hopefully we can just get that curve now in the final stretch of the season with the last three games, two of them being at home.

Hopefully, yeah, we just got away with a tough stretch at the right time and now getting that curve and you know making a 180 turn and picking up hopefully a few more points now with the next two home games and then we go into NYC FC for the very last game.