CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 5, 2025

Andrew Gutman

Press Conference

Cincinnati 2, Chicago Fre 1

Q. Tough game tonight. What do you think made is so difficult in that first 45 minutes where you guys had the chances?

ANDREW GUTMAN: Yeah, I think Cincy came out with some good pressure, first 15 minutes they were all over us but I felt like we handled it well. Settled into the game. We started to really hurt them and just kind of missed that final touch, final ball. Sometimes it happens. I felt like we stuck in the game, hung in there and we kept pushing a lot in the second half.

Q. Two games against this team this year, what does this do as a litmus test for you moving forward understanding that Cincy is top of the conference where you want to be?

ANDREW GUTMAN: In both games, I feel like we hurt ourselves. In both games, I feel like we should have gotten more out of it, but the difference with Cincinnati being the top team is, if you do make mistakes, they will hurt you.

So that's something we've got to lean on, move forward, and I think a lot of the guys understand that we can compete with the top teams. We just have to clean up some little stuff.

Q. We spoke about this before, but I noticed throughout the 90 minutes, you were playing in midfield, moving much more forward and cutting inside. Tell me about the role you played today and how that's changed.

ANDREW GUTMAN: Yeah, it's something that Gregg spoke about in the week. He felt like me coming inside, I could pick up a good position to hurt them. I felt like in the first half, I started to play with them, come inside, come outside and I felt like we started to get good success with that.

Q. What do you feel about combining with the midfield where Guti was maybe -- I don't know how to describe it, very flexible?

ANDREW GUTMAN: Floating. The thing with Guti, I tell him all the time I try to get him the ball in good spots. With him, I feel like he kind of reads where I'm going and he knows where the space is and he pops out, sometimes he's outside, sometimes he's inside, and when I get the ball turn, I try to look for him or Joe to start the attack.

Q. One of the things about this week is it's a short turnaround. You guys are facing Minnesota United, and you play kind of a similar style a little bit to FC Cincinnati. What does it feel like with the turnaround, knowing that you played well but didn't get the result against FC Cincinnati, but knowing you need one to advance on Tuesday?

ANDREW GUTMAN: Yeah, I think it's a positive for us. We feel like we played well. Like I said, I feel like we made mistakes in the game that kind of killed us.

For me, I felt like we should have got more out of the game. So then going into a quick turnaround, the guys are super excited to play a game that could potentially get us into a semi final of a tournament. So we're going to rest and we're going to recover and we're going do be able to go again on Tuesday and hopefully get a win.

Q. Did you catch up with Roman at all?

ANDREW GUTMAN: No, usually I do, but this game, I couldn't find him. Yeah, he's an Indiana boy. All the guys that played at Indiana in the League have is a good connection. I'm happy to see him doing well with Cincinnati.