CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 30, 2024

Frank Klopas

Press Conference

Seattle 2, Chicago 1

Q. Did that feel like a fair result, given the two penalties that seemed -- I thought they seemed like the right call, but other than that, you know, a strong first half but not so much in the second.

FRANK KLOPAS: I thought overall it was a good game for us. I don't disagree with you with the second half; that it was a poor game, or not as good as the first half. I don't agree with you on that.

Fair result, no. I think fair result would have been for us getting a point which we deserved out of this game.

Q. Digging deeper into that, on the second goal, it was difficult for us to see, some of the camera angles were cut, but did it look to you like Pineda slipped on what was eventually called the penalty?

FRANK KLOPAS: I haven't looked at. It my viewpoint was a lot -- probably more difficult than yours if they had a bad angle. I just know that, you know, we have the ball out on the side and now it's about making sure -- if there's no options, it's just looking to play forward, and I think that's a starting point. From there, I have to look at it again, how -- then the play from there, because then we lost the ball, and with one play, they went inside.

I didn't see the replay, and again sometimes the angle where I'm at, I'm blocked sometimes with players, and it's not easy to see. I will have to look at it again.

Q. So rephrasing a little bit, there were a couple times where it looked like some players slipped and fell. Do you think that the pitch was an issue tonight?

FRANK KLOPAS: No. I think it was an issue, I think both teams are playing on the same surface. It rained. It was drizzling. So obviously then it makes it on the artificial turf, everything is more slippery.

I really couldn't tell you. I know the players were out there. They had the proper shoes on. It's not like anyone was wearing any indoor shoes or something like that. I think the field conditions were for both teams, and I much prefer the rain, when it rains on artificial turf, because then the pitch is faster.

When it doesn't rain, then it dries up and the game becomes really slow and it's difficult to move the ball. There's also risk, more risk of injury that way.

Q. I'm just curious, the subs came a little bit later. Did that have anything though do with the tighter schedule this next week for the team?

FRANK KLOPAS: No. I think you just have to read the game. I felt the team was playing well. There's no need to change anything at the moment. Obviously I felt later on, guys got a little fatigued and tired, and we tried to bring fresh legs in.

Just because you have subs doesn't mean players on the side -- if guys are playing well, there's no need to try to change anything to freshen things up, to try to change tactically something.

I think we did it on the fly with the players that were there. We were having problems, I think a little bit out wide, and we flatten out. We brought Maren in a little deeper without the ball on the right side and with the four there, 5-4-1, but we didn't feel there was a need to change anything. The team was playing well.

So it had nothing to do with the schedule on Wednesday. We'll deal with Wednesday the next couple days. I think we made the changes at the moment because we felt at that time we needed to get some fresher legs. Guys were in recovering, and I felt it was the right moment.

Q. Acosta was out of the starting 11 for just the third time this year, and didn't come on until the 85th minute. Was that because of an injury concern or a decision based on other factors?

FRANK KLOPAS: There's no injury concern. Gastón obviously is a good player. The team, also, we had three games, we wanted to rotate some guys around. You can see Mauri was not in the starting team. So don't look if there's no -- there's nothing there. We have three games in one week. We need to rotate some guys.

Also, you've got to keep in mind that Kellyn is also a guy that missed preseason with us, so there's different times, you don't see players in training during the week.

We base, also, decisions, tactical decisions when we play opponents, but we have to take also in consideration the three games in a week, also, and try to rotate certain guys and keep them fresh. So there's nothing there.

There's nothing there. There's no issue. He was fine.