Oakland Roots Postgame Presser: Full Quotes From Jordan Ferrell Following 2-1 Win Over Sacramento Republic
The Roots improved its record to 9-7-11, now in fourth place with 34 points--two points ahead of LA Galaxy II and Republic. Los Dos plays Las Vegas Lights on Friday; a Lights win or draw keeps Oakland in fourth.
Technical director and interim head coach Jordan Ferrell was beaming after the win, a stark contrast to the Saturday night 2-2 draw with Vegas. Emrah Klimenta, who scored his first goal since 2017, also harped on the focus while up 2-1 against Sac.
Oakland looks ahead to a difficult match on the road in Phoenix this Saturday.
Here is a full transcript of Ferrell and Klimenta's postgame press conference:
Initial thoughts after the win?
Ferrell: "It's good to wrap up the series against them with a win. Obviously, every single game is a battle. I think the majority of our squad was healthy and available for the first time; it makes a big difference. We also showed better mentality tonight than we did on Saturday. That's the progress we want game-to-game, now we focus on Phoenix."
How'd you get them ready for tonight?
Ferrell: "I don't know if it's because everyone knew we were playing Sac. The crowd was amazing, it's one of the best Wednesday-night crowds in the league. Sacramento is easy to get up for and it was possibly tougher to do so against Vegas. As we talked about, the focus can't be on the next team we're playing, and I think there was a little complacency playing Vegas up 2-1.
"Tonight, we're up 2-1 at the end of the game and the conversation between the players on the field was very different. That's what we're looking for down the stretch."
What was the message to the team at halftime?
Ferrell: "I felt like they came out flat to start the second half, so maybe my message needs to change. But I do think that they knew what was at stake. We actually had a tough time consistently moving the ball, but we did a better job of not rushing out into wide positions to trap us. As long as we controlled the ball centrally, which we did for a lot of the second half, we were able to control their direct play when they started pushing numbers in the latter stages.
"They were direct the whole game. We subbed on Tarek [Morad], it was good to welcome him back from injury to be able to deal with their direct play."
On Lindo Mfeka:
Ferrell: "We like Lindo in the #9, I don't know what to say. It's an unconventional nine, but as you saw in the first goal, it leaves the center back with the situation where you don't have a physical player up against you. Like with Jeremy Bokila, there's a focal point. But with Lindo, there's no focal point. So if you're preparing for us, we can give you those different looks--which early on I said would be a key to our success.
"Tonight, Lindo did really, really well until he was asked to come off. It's more than just what he can do with the ball but how he manipulates spaces for others."
Regarding Emrah Klimenta's impact on the team:
Ferrell: "He scored a huge goal tonight, you can see it in his celebration, it means a lot. He's got some really good friends on this team and a lot of fans from Sac who love him, but we're happy he scored for us. That's a good reward for a lot of hard work. In the last game, he put us in a bad spot early, but the mentality, the response, and the progress game-to-game has been indicative of what we're asking for from the team."
How do you think the team handled the intensity of the game?
Ferrell: "I think we did a good job of focusing on the football, especially in the second half when all that stuff is happening. It's a Derby match, everybody heard the comments they made about our turf, and tonight they came here and we showed them what our home turf is. That's natural in a match like this. To finish the series off in a proper way is good progress for us."
On the importance of Wal Fall, Mati Fissore, and the return of Jose Hernandez:
Ferrell: "We missed Jose on Saturday, it's little things that people might not notice but his ability to pause the game is very different than Wal's, who pauses the game by using his length and swaying the defense, whereas Jose has that quick acceleration then can stop. That allows Mati to really balance the two of them and really diamond together as Lindo [Mfeka] comes back in the midfield in moments.
"That's going to be key to our success, and it already has been. We know that provides the rest of the team with a lot of stability. They can trust playing inside to those guys and can trust playing those guys under pressure. That's what we're all about."
What do you have to do to reach the playoffs?
Ferrell: "One game at a time. Maybe we were focused a little on Sac when we were playing Vegas, maybe that's the reason why at 2-1 the game was done. Tonight, we weren't focused at all on Phoenix, we were totally focused on Sacramento. When we focus that way, we can see these games out.
"We've got to make sure our focus now is what we need to do to be ready at Phoenix. We can't look at the table and think we've arrived; there are games on Saturday that can flip the table. These six-point games make a big difference, we have a few more of those in the run-in.
"With San Diego, we've proven we can knock them off. With OC, we still have yet to capitalize on our opportunities. And then Tacoma, with where they are at, we feel these are important six-point games. When it comes times, we'll give them everything that we've got."
At 2-1, were there nightmares from Saturday?
Klimenta: "It wasn't nightmares, no. If anything, it made us focus even more. The objective was to get a win and nothing less. When we went up 2-1, everyone was pointing to their heads and saying 'mentality, we're not giving it up anymore.' This was ours to win and that's exactly what happened. We dropped guys in, they pushed guys up, and we were there getting first to the ball and having each other's backs."
"We talk about mentality on this team a lot, we showed it tonight to close it out."
How did it feel to get the goal?
Klimenta: "We went up early in the game and I feel we were still dominating. They had one mis-hit that dropped to their forward and scored. We went into halftime with no doubt in our mind that we were going to win this game. When that first ball came in, it got recycled around and I always tell myself to get in a good spot and good things happen.
"Fisso played an unbelievable ball in and I got my head to it. It was my first goal of the season and my first goal since 2017, I want to say. The last goal I scored was when I played for Sacramento, to score against my former team, I couldn't have pictured it any better. A game-winning goal at that, at a crucial point of the season."
Were you proud of how the team handled the intensity?
Klimenta: "Of course. The referee, they don't look at the first interaction, it's always the retaliation. We're told take the.. [Max Ornstil charges in pouring an ice-cold bottle of water on his head]
"We're told to take the referee, take the BS out of play, and just play our game and focus on us. At the end of the day, the objective was to win and whatever we had to do so, we did. You saw them, they wanted to play the dirty game and get into our heads, but our mentality is a lot stronger than that.
"We knew our objective, and that's what we came out here and did. We had a good crowd on a Wednesday night and beautiful weather for football. We're moving up the table, it was a huge, huge game. We treated it as a Final with guys coming in clearing balls, putting their body on the line, and we got the dub."
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