MLS IS BACK TOURNAMENT MEDIA DAY

July 7, 2020

Frank de Boer

Q. You have a game that's coming up on Saturday evening, a FOX Broadcast Network game, and you're going to be playing the New York Red Bulls. How are you preparing your team to play the match?

FRANK de BOER: Well, you know, like every other match, very seriously. Of course, analyzed the Red Bull a lot already. Of course, he's a quite familiar opponent that we've played the last couple of years.

But yeah, the only problem that we had, of course, that we didn't have really a normal preseason that you normally have where you start the season, or now the second part of the season.

For example, you cannot play scrimmages against other teams. We only play against each other, and then we had also some setbacks with two positive tests, so we have to take two steps back, with training with no contact. So until now, we didn't play 90 minutes.

We are physically not 100 percent, but from what I see from training the last couple of days, the last couple of weeks, the players are excited to start, ands, well, the quality is there. Hopefully, you know, we can deliver a good game against Red Bull.

Q. Because of everything that's gone on with other MLS teams, have there been any other positive tests among players or personnel, and has the withdrawal of Dallas and the postponement of games affected your level of comfort down there?

FRANK de BOER: No, we didn't have any positive cases. We are now the third time that we are here, we are getting tested. We were tested. I think in that way, you know, we really are feeling safe. You know, all the safety measures are here, you know, to feel us safe.

Of course, you know, when Dallas came, they probably were contaminated already in Dallas itself. So, yeah, that's different. I think when people get contaminated here, that's a different case I think.

I think people really feel safe right now. I think the MLS and the hotel, Disney, are doing everything in possibility for us to feel at home here, and especially safe, of course.

Yeah, all what I see from our players, yeah, they look not concerned, but I cannot look in their minds, of course. But it looks okay right now.

Q. As a player and as a coach, you've been to many World Cups, European championships, and I'm wondering just with the situation there in Orlando and the way everything is set up, if you can use any of that experience to kind of, I don't know, keep the players occupied, not just in training, but outside the training environment and what kind of things you're doing so that players aren't getting kind of bored and are active and not getting down about things, really?

FRANK de BOER: Well, it's different. Of course, this is more like what they call a little bit a World Cup tournament and that's how it is. You can be like one and a half months in a bubble, and normally in a World Cup, for example, with my experience, you can still leave your hotel and your other environment.

I think the MLS and the hotel where we are staying on, this he provided a lot of things, you know, to enjoy ourselves and of course we have the swimming pools and we have some beaches with volleyball nets. We have tag ball. We have all kind of things. We have playing rooms for players. They can, you know, enjoy their receives when they don't have a training session or something like that, but it's still 2349 bubble.

I don't know how all mentally it going to be for our players. You know, we are just three days on the road right now, and. Hopefully it's going to be okay, but of course good results always helps in that.

Q. Since this is a World Cup-type format, if you will, what are some of the things that you need to see your players execute and achieve from match one through the course of your stay at the tournament?

FRANK de BOER: Again? Can you repeat the last sentence?

Q. Yes, sir. Looking at this, not in a regular season-type view, but was in a World Cup-type format, from day one, what are the things that you guys need to execute and achieve?

FRANK de BOER: Achieve. Well, yeah, that's really fast the other games are coming up. Yeah, it's like the U.S. Open, every game can be decisive, especially afterward. We have to think like we are really playing a tournament.

It's different, of course. We know the first three games will count to the league points, so that's also important. But yeah, we want to reach as much as possible, of course.

Yeah, mentally, we have to prepare them that, you know, okay, this game is forgotten. Now we have to continue to the next game. Yeah, like it's a really tournament format, and that's a different approach than like a normal competition format.

Q. In this moment that with all the coronavirus exists, playing in this Cup is beneficial or not?

FRANK de BOER: You know, we never know. Afterward we can tell if it was beneficial or not.

I think everybody is excited that we are starting, you know, some kind of competition. We already have now been a long time out of really playing competition games, and so it's good that we started something, and I think that MLS provides everything to try to get ourselves safe.

Yeah, hopefully it's going to be a success. We have to analyze it afterwards if it was beneficial or not, but I have confidence that we can then make it work.

Q. I know Jurgen is not available yet, but I wanted to know your opinion about the signing and what he will bring to the team in terms of the competition, especially right now, and later on, and with Josef not available, recovering from injury. How will that look into the system?

FRANK de BOER: Well, I think Jurgen is a player who can really play good on both wings, has a good cross, and especially Josef -- like Jules did for us, of course last year, Jurgen can hopefully provide the same for Josef, and I think he is an experienced player. He has played already on the highest level, and of course he's a quality player.

It's always helpful to have quality players on the pitch. Yeah, I think he can strengthen our squad because it's a very long season, and, yeah, I think he can support our strikers really well with his individual actions, and then good crosses.

Q. You've been open about the need to rotate the squad, whether you're in this tournament or not; it's something you want to do. Have you begun to anticipate what your lineups may look like between game one and Game 3? Managers around the world, when the league started up have been talking about they knew who was going to play in the first game and who was going to play five games down the road. Is that something you've begun to anticipate?

FRANK de BOER: Yeah, of course, we are going to try to anticipate for that. Of course, I have already in my mind, for game one and two, and normally Game 3, you can start normally a little bit the guys from game one or something like that. But you have to see. Some people, you know, especially in positions that you cover a lot of ground with a lot of intensity, you really have to take care of players.

Of course, sometimes like a center back doesn't cover that much ground than, for example, a wingback. So you really have to take care of those players, and don't overload them. So, yeah, we need everybody who is here, and we are going to use them for sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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