CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 31, 2025

Phil Zinckernagel

Press Conference

Chicago 3, Orlando City 1

Q. To get that goal initially after the tough result last week, what do you think that did to reinvigorate this squad?

PHIL ZINCKERNAGEL: I mean, yeah, it was so important for us, pretty lucky. We'll take it. It gave us a boost. Yeah, that was a bad day for the keeper but good day for us.

Q. There's a rumor about a game ball being passed around. Why do you think -- were you the one who initially got it and why was Chris Brady the one you gave it to?

PHIL ZINCKERNAGEL: I just thought he was amazing today, and he had some really good saves, especially second half. Those saves are sometimes a bit underrated because they keep us in the game, and if he doesn't save those, it's easily 3-2 and it gets dangerous. In games where we are pushed back and we are defending for a while, it's important that he keeps making those amazing saves.

Q. A goal and two assists, four straight games with a goal for you. What exactly is going so right for you right now?

PHIL ZINCKERNAGEL: I don't know, good question. We have this little coffee club before road trips; me, Kellyn and Hugo where we bring each other coffees. I've been insisting that we can't stop because every time we do, it we have been scoring and winning almost, I guess, so I think that's the reason.

Q. You're coming from last playing in Norway, and now in central Florida where it's very hot and humid. What are your thoughts about that environment?

PHIL ZINCKERNAGEL: It was very warm and humid. I played if Greece for a while, which is similar. I've been place where is it was hot but this was nasty. Yeah, we dig deep, and I thought, yeah, coming off and being a little bit sick also, this week, it was pretty hard for me. I felt my body -- the goals and assists gives you energy and the way the team is defending, kind of you just keep going. So that was great.

Q. The first goal set the tempo, and it was a weird goal in a lot of ways. Can you walk me through how you saw that goal?

PHIL ZINCKERNAGEL: I didn't see much to be honest. I just turned and shoot and he was like -- I don't know what he was doing. But it was a goal, yeah. I'll take it. Just happy to get a goal and then like said it gave us a boost and yeah, we just kept going from there, so that was awesome.

Q. Every week I'm getting more and more impressed with you and your skills. Since you're so involved and I mentioned this to Gregg earlier on the Zoom, with assists and getting guys up and scoring goals, what do you get more joy out of? Do you enjoy giving those assists to Hugo and setting them up or more joy from getting that goal? What gives you more joy?

PHIL ZINCKERNAGEL: I don't know. Goals obviously gives you a lot of joy. Today I think the assist gave me more because the goal was kind of cheap.

I don't know, yeah, I guess it's a mix of both but just being involved is what gives me the most joy. I've got a couple of goals now and I'm just glad that I had a few assists. That's great.

Q. As a guy who likes to drift into those central spaces, what worked well having Romi come into that midfield group and having Sergio operating a little bit higher up the field than he normally does?

PHIL ZINCKERNAGEL: I guess having Romi coming a little bit deeper, Sergio a little bit higher, and me into the pocket probably gave us a little bit more options maybe. I think the way they defend, they kind of don't want to step into that space, and then get -- when you can find those pockets and turn and play forward. But to be honest, that's something that Guti normally is also very good at. So it probably could have been the same with him.

It worked very good today. I think Romi cutting on the side a little bit gives me some space more central, whereas sometimes with Sergio on my side, he's more central and I'm a little bit wider. So I don't know, today it worked well, and I guess that was kind of the game plan. Well done from the staff.

Q. It's about midway through the season. What does it mean that the team was able to hang on and get a result after going up early and seeing all the attempts from Orlando coming the other way?

PHIL ZINCKERNAGEL: It's massive. The atmosphere in the dressing room after the match is so good. The group is getting stronger and closer, and yeah, this was a solid performance, especially defending for a long time. Sometimes you have to suffer, and if you suffer together, you can make it and the game was a good example of it.

Yeah, it's just -- it kind of looks bad on the table because we are a few games behind the rest of the teams but getting these three points today is massive and hopefully we can keep going and get a good result in D.C.