CHICAGO FIRE MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 31, 2026

Andre Franco

Press Conference

Chicago Fire FC 4, Colorado 2

Q. We talked yesterday about the recovery but what was your emotion today when you actually stepped on the field?

ANDRE FRANCO: I didn't remember. So it was fun. A lot of emotions. You know, everything passes into my head. It was good. At the same time, I was upset because I wanted to play more but this is how the football works. At the end of the day it was a very good day for me getting back on the field. Now it's getting the shape to be able to play more and more minutes.

Q. How comfortable were you feeling the first minutes back on the field?

ANDRE FRANCO: For me, before the game, I was a little bit not concerned with you anxious to see how the ball will react. It was really, really good. I felt that I could play more minutes. It's normal, the first minutes you get into the game, especially when you come from the bench, it's hard, the first minutes, to breathe, especially here in altitude. But I felt super okay, and I think I'm ready for more.

Q. You've been watching this team the entire year and not being able to contribute but what does it say about this group to be able to battle back from conceding first and end up getting a victory, especially this time of year when it's difficult opponents as the team looks to the playoffs?

ANDRE FRANCO: Yeah, so I think that's a main characteristic of our team. We never give up. We always try to win the game. Don't matter where we play or who we play. We always play to win. In those last two games, we start losing the game, and against Orlando, unfortunately, we couldn't win but today we gave a good response.

And yeah, the team -- I think the team is going to the playoffs in a good momentum. We still have the last game against Columbus to adjust something that we need but I think we are confident and we have confidence for the first round of the playoffs. We don't know yet who we are going to play. But as I told you, no matter what or no matter who we play, we are going to the first round to win.