After our 1-1 draw and 5-4 shootout win over Atlanta United 2 that saw CFC clinch a home playoff spot and extend its unbeaten streak to eight matches, Head Coach Chris Nugent answered questions from media.
Nugent was asked about his initial emotions, Elidn Jakupović's performance, what it means to be in the playoffs in front of Chattanooga and more.
Here's everything he had to say:
on his initial emotions after clinching a home playoff spot:
"I'm drained but excited and pleased for the guys. It's been a long season with a lot of ups and downs. We've needed a lot of resilience and adaptability and we saw that today. We went behind early, and the game kind of summed the season up—it was an emotional rollercoaster. I thought we played well, created some chances, hit the post once and there were one or two more times when, maybe with a bit more fortune or cleaner finishing, we would've found another. Overall we are excited to have a home playoff game and to be the Southeast Division champions as well; that's big for the guys."
on Eldin’s performance in the shootout, effectively clinching the home playoff spot:
"Big players take care of themselves in big moments as well, right? So he made the big play. We saw it from guys all throughout the season. People can step up, and Eldin’s consistently done it again. He’s been huge for us, as we’ve seen in good times and bad times throughout the year. So, to see him turn it around again in penalties was huge."
on conceding a goal to Atlanta early in the first half:
"Something we spoke about was defending the midfield better and defending the central areas better, and the pass kind of split us a bit. It was tough just trying to adapt to how they were playing, and I think we just got a little too tight in the box and it was good skill from the forward."
on how Atlanta approached Sunday’s match:
"We knew they were going to be aggressive, we knew there would be numbers forward and we tried to take advantage of them on the counterattack. There was space in the wider areas on the transition. I don’t think we were quite clean enough at times doing it, but we knew they were going to be aggressive. It may have been a little less than on Thursday in the mini game, but we knew that they were going to get numbers forward. That’s how they’ve been playing since the new coach has taken over, as we expected. We’ve got good players around the box. We knew they were going to try and put a lot of pressure on us early, and we saw that right up to the end as well."
on what it means to be able to play a home playoff match in front of the Chattanooga community:
"Obviously, I mean, Chattanooga loves playoffs. We’ve seen that through the men and women’s teams all the way throughout the years and the history of this club. To be able to go from not making playoffs last year to now having a home playoff game is huge. I’m excited for it, the turnout of the crowd, the buzz around the city, and it’s great for the club to be on that big stage at Finley."
on how proud he is of the group as they’ve grown together this season:
"Yeah, it’s huge. We’ve never started doubting on the inside. I know sometimes the outside can be a little negative, and I think the ‘summer slump,’ if you want to call it that, when some bad luck happens, it would have been easy for the guys to fall a part and turn on each other and they didn’t. They stayed together, the captains take huge credit for holding the guys accountable and for high support as well. We kept believing. We know we can compete with any team in the league, and even when moments are tough, we’re going to find ways to come back around it. We’ve seen that not just today but in the schedule these last few weeks when we’ve been on the road, games so close together, having to finish a game five days after it started. All of those things were big, and then with the pressure of the teams around us, we knew that we had to perform today."
on how the ups and downs of this season have prepared the team for playoffs:
"I think resiliency is huge for playoff soccer. Being adaptable is huge, and we’ve shown we can do that. I think fighting to the end, we’ve seen that multiple times. And being difficult to beat. All of those are factors we’ve been tested at, so now it’s going to be about executing all of those at this time because there are no more redos from next weekend. We’ve always been able to adjust it and go again next week. Now it’s win or go home, and I’m confident that the guys will be able to do that."
