CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 30, 2021

Alvaro Medran

Press Conference

Q. It's obviously been a difficult start to the season for the team. What is the confidence level like, especially coming off a draw against Philadelphia when you had a late 3-2 lead?

ÁLVARO MEDRÁN: First of all, let me thank everyone. I haven't done an interview like this in a while, so it's nice to see everyone and hear everyone again.

As far as the confidence within the team, after that game especially, it got away from us at the end there. You always stay with the thought of having dropped points at home. But we also take it as a positive, especially because with the change of formation, we didn't have a whole lot of time to work on it and practice on it.

But we worked together and it went really well for us, and that helped us a lot. So now we just have to keep moving forward and take the positive from it and keep learning.

Q. How would you rate your start to the season, and could the performance that you had against Philadelphia kind of kick-start you back to the level that you were at for most of last season?

ÁLVARO MEDRÁN: Yeah, I don't think that it's necessarily been about my performance or how I'm doing. I think it's a little bit on everyone. Everyone's had some ups and downs this season. Some days are better than others. Some days you play well; days you don't.

Me myself, I've had games where I've played well and games where I haven't done as well. It's always helpful when you obtain points when you're going and you're playing, and for me, dishing out assists is something good but it's not something I'm looking for. I just want the team to win.

As far as myself, this game, I think it does help as far as me, I keep taking care of myself, I keep working hard, I keep staying focused and I just have the maximum desire to do what's best for the team and help the club.

Q. I noticed on Saturday you changed shoes right before halftime. How hard was it to play on that field and how much of a difference did the shoes make because your assists came after the shoe change.

ÁLVARO MEDRÁN: Yeah, I changed them there in the first part because it was a little bit hard to play on that field. There were some spots that were really wet and so my shoes got wet, my socks got wet and this was one time, one kick especially, where I couldn't quite move the ball because everything was full of water. My shoes were full of water and my socks were full of water. So I thought that I should put on some dry boots and keep going and see what else I could do during the game.

It was the same boots, really, just a different color. But they were much dryer and I was able to help.

Q. I wanted to speak to something Rafa spoke to just a couple minutes before, the fight and the heart that you guys had when you guys were 2-1 down. Can you just speak to the character of you and your teammates in that situation and how important that was for you guys to get back into the game?

ÁLVARO MEDRÁN: I think that's a little bit of what's been going on all season. We are all talking about this when we are all together. We are all one. The players and the coaching staff, we all want the same thing, and we all have the same vision for the club. The day before, we changed the formation, and as we were out there in training, we weren't necessarily comfortable but we were happy with how things were going.

In the game it all came together and worked out well for us because we were all working together and working hard. With the 2-1 before break, we took a break to refresh, get a little bit of air, and go back out there with the desire to turn things around and I think that really worked out for us and maybe there at the end a little bit of the bad luck that's been with us all season, we had that one goal at the end.

But really we went out there and we fought hard and we were preparing ourselves. So I'm really proud of the team and we're all together in this going forward.

Q. Could you feel the support of the fans, coming out 7,000 strong in the rain, and especially with the way that they had been acting and cheering the game before? And how much do you miss someone like Giménez, especially on the defense, since he has been your right-hand man?

ÁLVARO MEDRÁN: We are grateful, more than anything we are really grateful to all the fans who came out, especially on a day like Saturday when it was really pouring, and I know that it's not easy particularly after the defeat to FC Cincinnati where things weren't going quite the way we wanted them to.

But we know that a big part of that in fans coming out, and we are grateful for their support but part of that is on us. We have to make fans want to come out to support us. We hope that we can do our part to have fans come out to the games, and then with their support, which we really feel we'll be able to get more victories, as well.

And yes, he is a player that helps us out a lot. He's someone who last season we played most of the games but side-by-side. He's missed but we know when he comes back he's going to help us a lot, so we can all get together and work toward the team's goal which is the same goal we all have, to do well and get victories and work hard for the club. When he gets back, we are going to keep working on the same thing we all want, which is to win.