Orlando City Coach’s Show Recap: Adrian Heath Talks Charleston Battery and Montreal Impact, Looks Forward to Colorado Rapids

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The Long Road Trip

• “We try to prepare as best we can for the players in terms of traveling. Giving them more time to acclimatize to where they’re going, sleeping, etc. It is difficult.”

Charleston Battery

• “We needed to give some of the guys who played most of the minutes some rest. I said before the game, we’ve probably got six or seven players who are carrying knocks at this moment in time.”
• “We couldn’t afford the risk and had to give some of the younger guys a chance. I thought some of them handled themselves very well.”
• “It was a difficult game against a team that was super-motivated.”
• “All of their players want to play in the MLS so they have something to prove.”
• “We made hard work of it.”

Earl Edwards Jr.

• “We think over the next couple of years he’ll develop into a top-line goalkeeper.”
• “He didn’t surprise me. I think the kid’s going to have a really bright future.”

Carlos Rivas

• “He showed a lot of confidence to take the chances (on the penalties).”

Preparing for Shootout

• “When you’ve 90 minutes in about 100 degree heat, by the time you get to penalties, the team looks nothing like the one that started. And you’ve got people who’ve got cramps. You’ve got people who can feel their ankle’s blowing up so they don’t want to take one.”
• “It’s got nothing to do with ability. Eventually it’s all down to the mental strength that people have. On the night there’s about three or four of them that say, ‘No. I don’t want one.’ At the end you’re better asking people if they want a penalty rather than making people take a penalty.”
• “I could see their faces. They (the latter kickers) weren’t as confident.”

Conor Donovan

• “I think he’s got the ability to make a good MLS player. He’s strong. He’s aggressive. He wants to put his head on things. He wants to defend the box. His best days are ahead of him.”

On the Shooting at Charleston's Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church

• "It was a strange feeling. It was quite surreal. After the game we finished speaking about the game and then people starting telling us that there'd been an incident by the hotel. And obviously by the time we got on the coach, it's not an incident, there could be more and the killer's still on the run. And he's by the hotel. And by the time we get to the block where our hotel is, it's completely cordoned off. It was police cars everywhere. It was SWAT teams everywhere. It was quite surreal. When you start to watch the T.V. and watch everything unfold, then it really puts football into perspective a little bit because some people's mother or father or daughter had gone to the church and then (was) killed."

The Montreal Impact Match

• “I was just disappointed in our application during the game. We had five or six players who hadn’t played in Charleston. So there was no real excuse and as I’ve said to you and I say to everybody, the one thing we pride ourselves in is having a right good go every time we play and I didn’t think we did that. And as I said to the guys, I’m the judge of that.”
• “It was way below what we’re expecting.”
• “It wasn’t that we were losing, it was the way that we were losing.”
• “We played to the level of the game, not our own level.”

Halftime Talk

• “You probably don’t want to hear what I said at halftime.”
• “In the second half we didn’t get any better so it obviously fell on deaf ears.”

The Columbus Crew Match

• “I hope we can finish with 11 players on the field. That’d be nice.”
• “It looks like we’re starting to get a little bit chippy against Columbus.”
• “I’ll wait and see (who we’ll start against Columbus) after tomorrow night’s game.”

Training

• “The most important thing is that you don’t do too much on the field. Because obviously with the heat we’re dealing with now, we start at 9 o’clock and I think the other day it was nearly at 100 degrees again. So we’ve got players losing six, seven, eight, nine pounds a training session. So we have to be careful with what we do with them. So team shape and team work we’ve been doing more in the classroom, on video. And really on the grass we’ve just been ticking over and doing the odd set piece here and there and working on little bits of shape in certain areas.”

Brek Shea's Injury

• “When he came back from the last trip playing Holland and Germany, we had a medical report from the U.S. Soccer Federation. One thing they put on it is you’re going to have to be careful with his groin area because he’s got a problem there. He missed a few training sessions. So we rang them up after the game on the weekend and said, “Listen, we think he’s going to be a gamble for you to play. You know, a game every three days, this kid needs rest.’ So thankfully a bit of common sense prevailed.”
• “We have to get to the bottom of the injury and figure out if we shut him down for a period of time. Fortunately he’s not going to the Gold Cup. We’ll get an assessment. We’re going to see a specialist after the game tomorrow.”

What is Needed to Secure a Playoff Spot

• “We need to keep more players fit than the first half of the season. We’ve had too many injuries. We’ve had to change the team around too much. I’d like to bring in one maybe two more people in the window to maybe give us a little bit more depth in one or two areas.”

MLS Referee Treatment

• “I’m going to have to be careful with what I say. You got me in enough trouble a couple weeks ago. I’m still saving up to pay the fine.”
• “At the end of the day every referee is trying to do his best. They’re not homers. They’re not trying to influence the game in any way. I think the one thing that we ask for is consistency. It’s something I’ve said in the past, I think the game in the MLS is growing substantially and it’s really improving week by week that maybe the officials are just a little bit behind there and not catching up. I think it’s getting better but there’s still a long way to go.”

On an Article by "Dennis" Chin (Actually Written by OCSC PR Man Jhamie)

• “Somebody wrote it for him I think. Because he went to Rollins (College) for his education.”

When Rivas Will Score From Open Play

• “Good question. I wish knew the answer.”
• “He so desperate to score a goal. He’s rushing himself.”
• “I didn’t think all the three young ones would contribute all at once and some are doing better than we thought.”

Pedro Ribeiro and Cyle Larin

• “The way we play, we normally just play one through the middle and we try to get bodies joining them. We started with Cyle because Pedro had that injury for six weeks. The other thing is, we know that Cyle’s going away. He’s going to go away with the Gold Cup. So I’ve tried to use Pedro sparingly and we’re working him really hard behind the scenes so he’s ready for when the opportunity comes because we’re going to need him.”

European Clubs Having Interest in Orlando City Players

• “Yes.”

Kaká's Poor Play

• “Did he have his best game? No he didn’t. And that’s going to happen. I’ve been in football too long now to criticize players that have had the career he has when he has an off-game. When he doesn’t do as well as he normally does. But I’ll say it again, I think the second half of the season we’ll see the best of him.”

Colorado Rapids

• “A couple of things stick out really. They’ve conceded the least goals, they’ve got nine draws, so they don’t give an awful lot away.”
• “Our start is going to be important. That we get on top of them. That we can get a goal early and make them change the game plan.”

Rapids Often Score Late

• “Concentration levels are always really important. Especially when you’re playing at home and you’re generally in the ascendency most of the time and you maintain the ball and what happens is, people switch off. We’ve got done twice by Toronto. You’ve got to be careful about it because as you said, they score late on, don’t give much away, don’t concede many goals, but it’s a game we can win. It’s a game we have to win.”

Colorado's Dangerous Players

• “We liked him (Marcelo Sarvas). We had talks with him in preseason. He was one of the players that we were talking to and talking about to see if there was anything we could do but there was nothing we could do with a trade. Kevin Doyle’s come in. Played a lot of games for Ireland. And played a lot of games for QPR (Queens Park Rangers) and Wolves (Wolverhampton Wanderers) so they’ve got some good tools. They’ve got some weapons. And I don’t want anyone to be fooled by where they are in the standings.”