Orlando City SC Head Coach Oscar Pareja
Opening Statement
“I thought we played a very good 70 minutes until the red card. [It’s] something we’re going to be loud about internally with the behavior of the referee. I’m going to leave it there, but we were very impressed with the way that was handled because it was a game well-played, we were doing the right things and that changed the whole thing. So, we’re obviously frustrated, but we’re going to follow our protocols as we always do with the league, and we’ll take care of that the best professional way possible.”
On the impact of the team’s schedule in May
“Right, it has not been easy, but this is not an excuse that we’re going to use. We have been prepared. I thought the boys played very well today, the game that they did until the red card. But again, the frustration doesn’t allow us to process it; the frustration we have with the way the game was handled by the referee. But again, the players did a fantastic 75 minutes. We were doing the things that we trained. We could have extended the score by two or three goals more. Atlanta had the ball more in the second half, in a long period, but we knew it and when we countered them, we created the best options until the game was changed, so it’s frustrating. We’re going to keep moving. We have two days to refresh and to cleanse ourselves and to keep moving on.”
On rebounding from tonight’s result
"Players have to think about what a good job they did until the 75th minute when the referee got involved with the red card and just bounce back on those positive things, as well, considering all those positives that we did because I thought we played very well until that happened. We cannot forget that, and we have two days to bring forward the message and keep doing what we’re doing and play against Chicago. We have a short period of time, but we’re not going to concentrate too much on the scenario that was presented in those minutes, that we felt we were affected by.”
Orlando City SC Defender Alex Freeman
Opening Statement
“Overall, I feel like we played a good game, in the first half we played really well and the way we wanted to play and most of the second half we did as well. Then the scuffle happened, and I didn’t really get to see much, but César [Araújo] ended up getting a red card. After that it was just us defending, and [Atlanta United] was able to get some goals back, but I feel like overall we did play well. Now we have to move on to Saturday against Chicago Fire.”
On the toll a congested schedule takes
“I think for me it’s just being able to stay focused. I think in moments like these you really have to be focused and dialed in because they're going to go at you and try to score. Especially when you’re a man down and you go into a low block. As defenders we have to be very alert because they’re going to go one-on-one, they’re going to put crosses in and it’s just trying to contain them and get the ball out. I think that’s something we needed to do and we didn’t do that in those moments.”
On his chance from Martín Ojeda
"When [Martín] Ojeda is in that position, he either hits it very hard across, or he’ll try to chip it back post. I didn’t want to anticipate it too much because if you put it hard across goal, I want to be able to just tap it in, but he chipped it right in front of me and then the bounce I kind of misjudged and it went by me. It was a beautiful move by the left side and by Ojeda, but I just wasn’t able to get it.”
