CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

July 19, 2025

Philip Zinckernagel

Press Conference

Chicago Fire FC 2, Montréal 0

Q. What does it mean to get a clean sheet and win on the road?

PHILIP ZINCKERNAGEL: Obviously it's massive. We've had a little bit of a tough period, even though I think we've had some good performances, we just haven't had good luck on our side. Today we defended well and technical, not our best game.

Yeah, it was tough to play these sort of chaos games where they throw man all over the place. But luckily we stayed together and to zero.

Q. How do I say this nicely? They were kind of losing it towards the end. What does it say that you guys didn't get involved in that and worried about your own business?

PHILIP ZINCKERNAGEL: Like you say, they were kind of losing it and getting very frustrated and too emotional, and I think we stayed calm, just defended and focused on keeping the zero. I don't think we are an emotional team. Sometimes it's about for us. Today was good.

Q. Does this rile up the emotions for the All-Star Game this week?

PHILIP ZINCKERNAGEL: Right now, I'm pretty dead, I'm not going to lie. Tough three games this week.

But tomorrow I'll be looking forward to.

Q. So the stat of the day, you're the first play in the Chicago Fire to get ten goals and assists in a season. What does that stat mean to you?

PHILIP ZINCKERNAGEL: Well, yes, obviously something I'm proud of. Yeah, I think one of my aims for the season before was to get ten goals and ten assists maybe for the whole season or at least get a double digits on both. I mean, it's a good Marc and now just keep going.

Q. How does it feel to hit that mark when it's only the middle of July and there's still four months to play?

PHILIP ZINCKERNAGEL: Obviously good. It just makes me more hungry. I'm happy that today it contributed for a win which is in the end is most important. I mean, satisfied with the win.

Q. We know how important Jack Elliott is, he got his first goal you and had the assist. What was that moment like seeing him get that goal?

PHILIP ZINCKERNAGEL: It's awesome. Finally, finally, we've been waiting for that goal. I think he was one of the highest, like, expect the goals -- because he always wins the dual. I'm just happy he scored now and hopefully he can keep going on set pieces.

Q. It's typically called the All-Star Break but with the schedule it's just another midweek match for you but it's often treated as a time to look at the season, where it's been and going forward. Two-thirds of the way through the season, can you talk about what surprised you about the league and what was harder to adjust to than you thought maybe it would be?

PHILIP ZINCKERNAGEL: Yeah, first of all, I think I've been pretty impressed with facilities, stadiums, just in general, the state of all the clubs in MLS. I think they have been, yeah, it's amazing. You look how far the league have come in such a short period, it's incredible. Very positive. I didn't expect it to be that good.

Obviously the biggest challenge is the time difference and all the travel. I mean, we have had more success on the road, so I can't really complain. It's been great. I'm really happy here and MLS has been really fun. Very open and good for attackers. That's nice.

Q. Messi scored today and you're going to play with him this week. Looking forward to that?

PHILIP ZINCKERNAGEL: Yeah, it's an honor, to be able to play with the best player in the world, in the history of football, it's just incredible. Yeah, man, hopefully I can learn a thing or two.