CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 24, 2024

Tobias Salquist

Press Conference

New York City FC 2, Chicago Fire FC 2

Q. Tobi, congrats on the comeback. Curious, you played 45 minutes, and you came out at halftime for Carlos, and I think you steadied things pretty well. What did you see in the second half that was different to what you saw from the sideline the first half?

TOBIAS SALQUIST: For me, it felt more like second half we didn't play with any fear. We didn't have anything to lose. We went for it, and yeah, luck or no luck, we got a point and we should be really happy about that because it was not a pretty game. But sometimes you have to take these ugly points and move on.

Q. Curious what your perspective was on the field, the stadium, everything, playing in a baseball stadium. Would have been your first time in that kind of environment. What was that like for you on the field?

TOBIAS SALQUIST: It was a great experience. Like you say, it was the first time I played in a baseball stadium. But it's a football game, and it's the same for both teams. So yeah, it was fine.

Q. Curious, first assist in MLS. Can you talk me through how you saw that kind of work out because it seemed like a gorgeous goal from our angle from Hugo.

TOBIAS SALQUIST: Yeah, first of all, it was a great goal by Hugo. But yeah, I know he passed the ball and I was like, it was not meant to go to me but I took it and I saw he scored a good goal. Nothing more in that.

Q. Just seeing this side fight the way they did tonight, are you encouraged by the way this team fought? It's been a tough year. Getting this kind of result seems great.

TOBIAS SALQUIST: Like I said before, it was a great point because if you looked. Through the whole game we probably didn't deserve the point but we took it. And we never gave up. And sometimes you need to take these points, and we did that today. It was good but yeah, we have to do better. We have a big game coming up. So we have to go home and keep working.

Q. You know NYC FC likes to have a lot of the ball and create a lot of chances. What changed in the second half that you were able to contain them and make that comeback?

TOBIAS SALQUIST: For me, it felt more like people played with no fear; that we said, okay, we don't have anything to lose. We have to chase the goal, and we did.

Again, they still have some chances but we avoid them to score and we scored two goals. It was great. But still, there are a lot of things to work and we all know that; that it was not good enough tonight.

Q. Some of the changes that were made in the second half, do you think the change of formation also contributed to the comeback?

TOBIAS SALQUIST: That's hard to say because you never know. But we did obviously-bit more offensively in the way we pressed. So that often comes with no fear that people just go when everyone goes at the aim times.

So yeah, it's hard to say. It was a team effort. I don't feel like nobody -- but the way we played, we got a point and that's a really, really good point and we have to take that.