CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 21, 2024

Frank Klopas

Press Conference

Montréal 2, Chicago Fire FC 0

Q. First of all, tough loss, 2-0, late push, not enough. Overall what are your performance over 90 minutes?

FRANK KLOPAS: I think it's a reflection of how the season has gone for us. You were here. You watched the game. Both goals that we gave up, one, I mean, obviously we don't drop our line. There's no pressure on the ball, just a simple ball that's played behind.

And then obviously the second goal, again, I mean, you see it yourself, I think we have enough players there. We play a long ball. We lose the second ball and then it's just a little movement from them, we keep them off-sides and we give up the second goal.

It's unfortunate because we created three or four opportunities that we should have scored, and that's just how things have gone, really close, and we just seem to give up that first goal. We pushed the game. We tried the best we could to just move guys around and push it in a way where it made sense, and we did.

But we just couldn't get that first goal, and given the second, obviously made it more difficult. The guys pushed all the way to the end. We had opportunities. Three, really, for me, clear, excellent chances to score. I expect the goals, when you see were much higher than theirs. It's just our ability to put those away, and on the other end, goals that, again, we should have done better as a team.

Q. So looking at the analytics at this point, three games left, six points out, four teams in front of you. So it's technically a less than 1 percent chance for the playoffs. How do you look at the last three games knowing that you're in a near-I am positive I think position?

FRANK KLOPAS: Yeah, I think we play and we give everything I have game to the end. We have two home matches. I think it's important to finish strong at home. I think we're professionals, and we've got to go out there and do our job, and come out next week and regroup.

I think that there were really good moments that we can take away from this game, and I think it's important to finish on a positive note. You know, give everything till the end. What that means right now, I don't know. We are still in it. I think we have to play. I think the door is closing, just like this one here, but we play all the way to the end. It's our job to show our fans that it's been a difficult, tough season, difficult, obviously, but I think we fight all the way to the end, and we try to win the two home matches and then anything can happen in Charlotte.

Q. I know we have not seen a lot of Arigoni in the last few weeks. Curious why he wasn't in the squad today?

FRANK KLOPAS: He was injured. He got injured yesterday. It was a shock for me, also, because he trained all week, and then really, kind of a light day yesterday, and he felt something in his ankle. You know, the guy couldn't travel. You know, again, just some injuries. Same thing with Carlos. Carlos trained and yesterday, he felt this side again, I don't know, and he's not able to travel.

Yeah, it's been difficult also with Gutman being out with his knee, and the minute you feel like you have some depth, because it would have been good to rotate some guys tonight, especially playing a midweek game, you know, we rotated four guys to keep some guys fresh.

You know, but it would have been good to have a couple of the other guys in the back. That didn't happen. That just happened before travel day. It was a little bit of a shock to all of us.

Q. Sorry about the loss. Looking for positives, though, this was Justin Reynolds fifth appearance this season coming on off bench. How has he looked for you since coming back from Lugano?

FRANK KLOPAS: Lugano, he's looked really well. I think this was a game that we all talked about maybe giving them that start, and then we felt, give them another opportunity, it was going to be a difficult game, and we didn't want to put them in a difficult spot. But you know, put them in a game, we knew that he was going to get minutes, and he came in again, really positive. Got forward. Got crosses in. He had a great chance, I felt, in that header to score the goal.

I think maybe, I don't know if he thought maybe there was going to be contact but I think that was a golden opportunity this for us. But he came in really positive, and you know, with these three games, I mean, he's knocking on the door. If he continues things like that, I have no problem throwing him in there.

He's proven to me that -- you know, we've given him the confidence that we believe in him in difficult spots. Maybe not to start, but he's come in; sometimes it's harder when you come in late in games, and he's been really positive. Really happy to see that for him, for Justin. It's just about maturing and coming in and he's done really well. I think that's a really positive spot for us. It's good to see that, and don't be surprised if he gets a start next game.

Q. And just before we head out, for you personally, this is your second trip back as a head coach since your time in Montreal. What does it feel when you're preparing for these games when you're back in the city and when you walk into the stadium?

FRANK KLOPAS: Yeah, I think that we had a lot of -- my time here, I think we made some really big history almost in two years. I was in three finals here. We won the Canadian Cup the one year, we lost the final the second year and we lost the Concacaf Cup final my second year here.

I think there's a lot of great memories that I had here. It's a great city. It's a great little stadium that you come to play. I think you see the atmosphere.

I still have friends that were involved with the team that are no longer involved with the team, the sporting director, Nick De Santis, and Marr Rubiello (ph) that's now with National Team of Canada, but also some administrators that are here.

And it's always great to come back. I really loved my time here in Montréal. I worked with really good people.

But there's nothing like the Fire, man. So it's good to come but it's even better knowing that I'm going to get on a flight and go back home to the city and to the team that I love.