Press conferences with highly quotable Chivas USA manager Jose Luis Sanchez Sola will apparently be one part life lesson, one part esoteric reference, one part colorful tapestry of motivational truism … and then two or three parts soccer. Or something like that.
If that’s the recipe, bring it on! Because no matter what happens with his Goats as they wind through the long Major League Soccer season, his speechy press gatherings should be a real hoot.
Courtesy of Goal.com, here’s the text of his post-game news conference following Sunday’s 3-1 win over FC Dallas, the organization’s first win in the “Chelis” era.
And here’s a sample of the layered texture of it all (the explainers in brackets are supplied by Goal.com):I think that was the difference between last week and today. We’re battling, we’re committed. We are obligated to give our all, give our best effort. This team – not you, not I – all of us that are down there on the pitch playing, practicing, believe me that we all do it every single day. We do it very very well. ... Today, our obligation was giving our maximum effort. We can’t give any more than we have since day one.
[Chelis holds out his hands, one slightly higher than the other, then continues in English.] This is the possible and this is the impossible. Possible, impossible. [Grunts, pushing the ‘possible’ hand close to the ‘impossible’ one.] Today, [grunts again to indicate effort]. Like a cat scratching.
This is all well and good, by the way. But allow me to add just a wee bit more context here:
Sunday’s win came against an FC Dallas team that is a long, long way from finding itself. Schellas Hyndman’s team was nowhere near as tightly organized as Columbus, last week’s opposition at home for Chivas USA. (Chelis’ team lost that one, 3-0.)
Going forward, things will look different once the Goats play away from the Home Depot Center.
And they will look quite different this week, “Rivalry Week,” as the Goats bump heads with their HDC landlords, the LA Galaxy. Believe it: Bruce Arena’s team will not allow Sunday’s meeting with Chivas USA to devolve into the unorganized, messy, up-and-down track meet that Sunday’s win over FCD spiraled into.
(MORE: Highlights and context of Sunday’s win for Chivas USA)