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, goalkeeper Eldin Jakupović answered questions from media.
Jakupović was asked about his initial emotions after being the penalty kick hero, his pride in the group, what it means to be in the playoffs in front of Chattanooga and more.
Here's everything he had to say:
on his emotions after saving the penalty that clinched a home playoff spot for CFC:
"It's always big for a goalkeeper to save one more penalty than the other team and win for the team. Today was very special. It was a huge game for the city, for the fans, and for us, because the whole season we said that we wanted to be in the playoffs and hopefully start the playoffs with a home game. We wanted to give something back to the fans because they supported us the whole season. Today is, even for me, a very special day."
on his pride for the group and what gives him confidence that they can make a deep run in the postseason:
"It's simple: we are a unit. These are good guys, good lads, very down to earth... yes, we have to learn a lot, but no one can take our fighting spirit away from us. That's a big thing here. We've showed this over and over again throughout the whole season, and especially during this unbeaten run over the last eight games where we've kept five clean sheets, you can tell this team is ready to fight. We are difficult to break down."
on how special it was to celebrate with the fans after making the penalty save:
"That's a difficult part for me because when I celebrate I don't know what to do, so I just run to the fans. Then I saw all the players coming... like I said before, for myself, it's a very special day. I came out of my retirement to play for CFC, because I'm living here with my family, my kids are going to school here, so to give something back was very special. For me it was always important to do better than last year, and I think we've broke some records if you compare this year with last year, and this was big for me. From the first day of preseason until the last game of the season, we believed we can do something special here, and at the end of the day we did, but we are still not finished. We can't say we did something and we can now go home and relax until we play in two weeks. The focus is game by game, and hopefully we can extend our unbeaten streak some more."
on how important having a home playoff game is as opposed to having to travel:
"You said it. I don't want to travel! It's a lot, but I understand it's part of it, but if you can have at least one game at home, win the game and then hope something happens in the other games to have another one at home. It's on us now. I've heard that playoffs are crazy here, so I'm expecting a lot of fans—hopefully Red Wolves game numbers—it's going to be a good atmosphere and a good game. For us it's all about going out there and trying to win again."
on what the team has learned about themselves, throughout the ups and downs of the season, that they can apply and bring into the playoffs:
"I think there were more ups than downs. Yes, we had a run of nine or ten games that we didn't win and had a lot of draws. I always say that you need to earn your luck. At the start of the season we were top of the table for quite awhile and then came a ten-game stretch where we struggled to win, and that was on us and we have learned from it. We also had a lot of luck not fall our way during that run with some of the goals we conceded with deflections. Our team spirit and fighting mentality helped turn the luck in a positive direction and the last eight games since Orlando away we are unbeaten. It's looking good. We have to believe in ourselves and in what we're doing and go from there step by step. We will prepare during these two weeks, we'll learn who our opponent is and go from there, and hopefully we are sitting here again and talking about the next round."
on the defense in front of him, particularly Tate Robertson, Milo Garvanian, Nathan Koehler and Farid Sar-Sar, and how much reassurance they give him throughout the season:
"I've always said that defense wins the game. You could see in the last eight games with five clean sheets, defense wins games. If I have a good defense in front of me, I love it. We are good friends as well and we talk all the time about all kinds of scenarios. It's a big thing for me to have four, five guys in front of me that I can trust. I can trust that they are going to give everything. Everyone makes mistakes. I don't care about that. But everyone can fight and they've done it over and over again the whole season and I'm very proud to be a part of the defense."
on what keeps him motivated having played on some of world soccer's biggest stages:
"Family. I know they like to come and watch the games. After the games or training sessions, I can go home and I know someone is waiting. I didn't have that in L.A. or in my last two years in England because the family was here during Covid. Also, I still have the fire inside me; it's still burning. Until that's gone, I'll keep going. And I feel good and I can motivate myself. I just hope we can play every three days, I don't like the training sessions! (laughs) There's nothing special outside of that. My family is good to me. That is pushing me still, and I feel good. Hopefully four more games to go and then we can sit down and speak about whatever we need to."
