2021 MLS CUP: PORTLAND VS NEW YORK CITY

December 11, 2021

James Sands

New York City FC

Postgame Press Conference

New York City 1, Portland 1

4-2 Penalties

Q. Just talk about in the penalty shootout after the drama that happened at the end of the match, just talk about having a goalkeeper of Sean's quality and caliber back there, and just talk about how happy you are for him knowing how long he's been in the League and how much he's been waiting for this opportunity?

JAMES SANDS: Yeah, I think as his teammate, and our whole team just feels so confident going into shootouts when we have him that he's always going to make a play and make a big save, and in big moments, he's just clutch. I think we felt confident going into the penalties, and Sean is a big reason why we made it this far in the season. I'm happy to see him doing well, and in the national team, as well.

Q. When you got that tie a couple months back, you went on an unbeaten run. You talk sometimes about getting hot at the right time, and do you think that sort of had an impact on you guys winning the championship this year?

JAMES SANDS: Yeah, I think it certainly did. We are a team in form, and the team had a lot of momentum. I think we had confidence going into the final, and I thought we all believed we could get it done. I think if you look at the time during the season when we dropped out of the playoffs, the six games after that were all playoff games for us.

So we've been playing high-pressure, high-intensity games for two months now. I think it showed today; that we were able to stay calm and keep composed.

Q. Ronny talked about Sean Johnson as captain and how he took on a more assertive role as captain later in the season. Did you see him become more of a forceful captain late down the stretch? And how much did your experience help you in the game today?

JAMES SANDS: Sean did step up towards the end of the season. We had that bad stretch of games, and he's been in the League a long time, he was just telling us to keep calm, and we'd get through it if we just kept working together and work hard for each other.

Then I think the second part of your question, being in the Gold Cup Final definitely helped me for this. Finals are always different because of the intensity it and the pressure. And having been through it once during the summer, I think it really served me well today, and I was happy with the way I played for sure.

Q. At the start of this year, you were on the national team, you've won Gold Cup and now the MLS Cup. Can you talk about how 2021 has been for you?

JAMES SANDS: I really can't. I think at the start of the year, I never would have predicted it would go like this. I've had ups and downs, and despite the successes, I've tried to take it in stride and learn from it all. It's such an exciting moment for me and it's an exciting moment for the club, as well. It's hard to top a season like this, but I'm always going to try and I'm just so ecstatic right now.