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As reported earlier today, the AFC Cleveland Royals opened up their regular season with a 3-3 draw last night at home against the visiting Dayton Dynamo. NEO Sports and other media outlets caught up with Head coach Mike Sesar who had these comments on a variety of subjects after the game.
Question – Your team started off pretty strong in the first half and then things tapered off a bit in the second. Did your guys do anything different in the second half or was it adjustments made by Dayton?
Answer – I think in the first half we were pushing the envelope and Vinny was able to get behind the defense on that one. You know, it was a very fast game tonight and in the second half we began to see some effects of the fatigue from Wednesday night’s game in Des Moines and the travel. We took a red eye in and it was a tough game pace.
They had that forward (Tate Robertson) who just kept coming at us. We didn’t stay as organized as I would like us to be. Wednesday, we did stay organized when we had a tough battle. We didn’t do that tonight, and that is something we addressed at halftime, but we did not heed to my words.
Question – (NEO Sports) Talk us through the decision to replace Vinny Bell after halftime after he had a great first half?
Answer – Looking back on it, I should have left him in a bit longer. He wasn’t in the shape I wanted him to be in when he came into camp however. We will work him in, right now we just wanted to manage our resources for the week. You can get a little comfortable with a 2-0 lead and we came out flat. A lot of these guys just came in this week and we haven’t had a chance to get everyone in camp yet and work out the kinks. But we will now, the college guys are back so we will.
Question – You had a lot of corner kicks and were able to put a lot of pressure on Dayton in the first half, why do you think that maybe didn’t carry over into the second half?
Answer – Like I said, I just think it was an energy thing. The travel is tough on people, especially coming off the red eye Thursday morning. We haven’t had a full team in training camp yet, and it is still early on in the year. So, I’m just looking for us to improve, get out legs and keep the tempo high. Dayton is a running team and kept the pressure on us. We needed to stay organized and compact and we put ourselves in positions that we didn’t need to be in.
Des Moines was a very similar team that ran at us hard and we dealt with it, we needed to do that tonight and didn’t.
Question (NEO Sports) – Can you talk about how much the loss of Derezic effected things tonight?
Answer – Having Derezic out of the lineup is huge. When I talk about balance, he was a key cog in our championship run last season, it effected our team balance in the middle. I’ve been fortunate to coach Derezic and Admir Suljevic since they have been eight years old and they work hard and our good kids. They have a cerebral understanding of each other which cannot be taught. They are beyond comprehension because they connect so well and suck the defense in the middle of the field and then attack from there. It is important connection for a head coach to have in the middle of the field for his team. Not having the two of them in the mid field tonight, I think you saw the effect of it tonight.
Question (NEO Sports) – What do you tell your team to keep them upbeat after surrendering a 2-0 lead to settle for the draw?
Answer – It was tough coming into tonight, with the travel and then weather change. I felt we did have plenty of pace. It feels like a loss, a tie at home isn’t the end of the world, but it felt like a loss kind of. It was a downer after being up 2-0. But good teams will stick together and fix these types of problems and work on the things we talk about. We talk about it as a team about what we did well and what we need to improve on.
We all have a part to play in our success and every season is different. Every team is different. Teams are gunning for us this year. So that is way we try to bring in the best talent we can and stick together. We’ll figure it out, we have a bunch of experienced guys and also some new young talent as well. Teams are gunning for us, everyone is giving us their best shot but we will find our success.
The Royals next play in the regular season May 20th, on the road against The Syracuse FC.
Final Stats
Total Shots – Cleveland Royals 17 Dayton Dynamo 7
On Goal – Cleveland Royals 6 Dayton Dynamo 5
Saves – Cleveland Royals 3 Dayton Dynamo 3
Corners – Cleveland Royals 8 Dayton Dynamo 2
Fouls – Cleveland 2 Dayton Dynamo 4
Offsides – 2 Dayton Dynamo 1
Goals
35th minute – Chris Cvecko
36th minute – Vinny Bell
52nd minute – Tristian Lyle
58th minute – Tate Robertson
71rst minute – Chris Cvecko
75th minute – Tate Robertson
Starting Lineups
Dayton Dynamo
Goalkeeper
Ryan Hulings
Defensemen
Baye Ali Kebe
Eric Hutton
Peyton Mowery
Austin Kinley
Midefielders & Forwards
Kristian Moore Lowell
Tate Robertson
Christopher Dupont
Jacob Purpero
Bradley Schluter
Tate Robertson
AFC Cleveland Royals
Goalkeeper
Marijo Musa
Defensemen
Ian Larson
Dellan McGivern
Chris Cvecko
David Jordan
Midfielders & Forwards
Admir Suljevic
Bobi Cancar
Tom Beck
Ryan Ware
Dan Koniarczyk
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