"When You Want To Be A Good Team, You Have To Bring Your Best to Every Match" Steve Cherundolo, Carlos Vela and Kellyn Acosta's Pre-Match Press Conference

Carlos Vela

Steve Cherundolo: 

On Tigres: I think (Tigres) are a fantastic team, a fantastic organization. They’ve been successful for a long time now, this is a group that has been together for a while now. It’s a group that has loads of individual talent. If you let them play, if you let them get a rhythm, they will beat you. It’s also a team that knows how to manage games. They’re incredibly experienced, full of football talent and football I.Q. We’re going to have our hands full.”

On how the two teams compare: “It’s an interesting clash of style and a match which will be full of quality. For us, it’s always a challenge and we have to be at our best if we want a positive result. We really relish this sort of challenge, and that it will be one, because Tigres are a fantastic team.”

Carlos Vela:

On the match coming at this point in the season and close to the MLS Cup: “I think every chance you have to play for a title is a big moment. I think this is what we work for. All the work that we did in the past, last season, this season, trying to win titles is here now. We are in a good spot to have the chance to win, and getting a trophy is something that is really important. So, this is a chance to win a trophy and also gain confidence ahead of the final part of the season and the playoffs. Tomorrow is really important for us.”

On being the club captain in a big match: “We all know the importance of the match, and I tell the players that they have to be at their best, to bring everything they have to help the team. Some games are more important than others, but when you really want to be a good team, you have to play every single game as if it were a final. You have to give your best, even if the other team will sometimes beat you – that’s part of football.”

Kellyn Acosta:

On how this match fits into the scope of what the team is trying to achieve: “For us, football is a beautiful thing, but sometimes you don’t have the chance to play in finals. We are lucky to have the chance to lift a trophy here at home. We look at this as an opportunity to showcase what we can do, and at the end of the day, win some silverware, a title that we haven’t won before.”

On facing Tigres: “They’re a very experienced team, a team that knows how to win, on both sides of the ball. They’re hunters without the ball and then with the ball they have a lot of individual quality. For us to have a positive result against them, we need to have a complete game.”