TORONTO – Toronto FC’s Amway Canadian Championship campaign may be over for 2015, but a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Impact still provides the team with a silver lining as TFC celebrated a somewhat sombre win at BMO Field on Wednesday night.
TFC boss Greg Vanney says there is a silver lining in this match, despite the end result proving not quite enough to advance to the finals of the Canadian Championship, as the 3-3 aggregate score in the semifinal meant the Impact advanced on away goals following Dominic Oduro's late tally. Namely, it was in the combination play between his three Designated Players, which Vanney says he was very pleased with overall.
In the end, though, Vanney says it was all about one thing on the night.
“The task of the guys today was to win the game, to set an identity for ourselves at home, to find some urgency as the game progressed, and to position themselves to move forward,” Vanney told reporters after the match. “We did all of those things.
“I thought the performance overall was controlled, we had a lot more of the ball and we were one pass away from a lot more chances,” Vanney continued. “Sometimes, guys got grabbed when we were on breakaways. Sometimes we didn’t connect the final pass to the final run. But, for us, it was about identity and continuing to take steps together.”
Toronto FC did create plenty of chances, especially as the game rolled on and Sebastian Giovinco grew more comfortable up top. But, Vanney says he was "irritated" with the physical nature by which Montreal defended against the Atomic Ant.
“Worried, I’m not sure. Irritated? Highly,” Vanney said, when asked about Giovinco’s treatment on the field. “I think it’s the responsibility of the referees to protect him. He takes one from behind early in the game and his ankle is bleeding, but the ref says play on, as if he didn’t even get hit. He has probably grown up dealing with it all his life. But, I’m totally irritated of the fact that the referees don’t do a job and protect key guys on the field. This league has talked about it since day one and they’ve got to follow through with it.”
Despite that, Giovinco and Jozy Altidore still managed to shine on the night, as each player had a goal and the Italian added an assist and the American two assists. Vanney went into this game after a disappointing homecoming loss to Houston last weekend, after which he had asked his players for more aggression and energy when playing at home. In a 4-4-2 diamond, with Michael Bradley at the top, that’s exactly what he got from his players on the day, but Vanney says it’s wasn’t necessarily a matter of a new shape or new tactics; rather, it came down to some clearer roles in midfield.
“Benoit [Cheyrou] was a little bit deeper and his responsibility was to stay in front of the centerbacks, protect us from counterattacks and help build the game, which freed up Michael [Bradley] to play more advanced,” Vanney explained. “We asked him to play higher up the field and see if he could work with Sebastian and Jozy. He can do all the running that he does but then it’s not a matter of he and Benoit figuring out who can stay. It was ‘Benoit, you stay, and Michael has the freedom to advance when he can.’
“We won the game, created some good chances and controlled the majority of the possession,” Vanney added. “All in all, I was pleased with it.”
