Toronto FC 2 – Atlanta United FC 2
TORONTO FC (2) – ATLANTA UNITED FC (2) POST-MATCH SUMMARY
SCORING SUMMARY
ATL – Yamil Asad 31’ (PK)
TFC – Jozy Altidore 60’ (Drew Moor)
ATL – Josef Martinez 74’ (Hector Villalba, Miguel Almiron)
TFC – Sebastian Giovinco 84’
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
ATL – Jeff Larentowicz 52’ (caution)
TFC – Chris Mavinga 67’ (caution)
RECORDS
Toronto FC: 20-5-9 69 pts.
Atlanta United FC: 15-9-10 55 pts.
TORONTO FC – Alex Bono; Steven Beitashour, Drew Moor, Chris Mavinga, Justin Morrow; Marky Delgado, Michael Bradley ©, Victor Vazquez (Armando Cooper 79’), Jonathan Osorio (Raheem Edwards 86’); Jozy Altidore (Eriq Zavaleta 86’), Sebastian Giovinco
Substitutes Not Used: Clint Irwin, Nicolas Hasler, Benoit Cheyrou, Tosaint Ricketts
ATLANTA UNITED FC – Brad Guzan; Jeff Larentowicz, Chris McCann, Anton Walkes, Julian Gressel, Michael Parkhurst © (Bobby Boswell 83’); Kevin Kratz (Miguel Almiron 61’), Yamil Asad, Carlos Carmona, Hector Villalba; Josef Martinez
Substitutes Not Used: Mikey Ambrose, Tyrone Mears, Kyle Reamish, Jacob Peterson, Kenwyne Jones
Toronto FC has set the MLS all-time record for points in a single season with 69 points
The point total also sets a record for the highest point margin between the Supporters’ Shield winners and the second-place team in the regular season with a 12-point margin
Sebastian Giovinco’s direct free kick goal in the 84th minute was his sixth of the season, setting a new MLS single-season record (since records available in 2003)
Jozy Altidore’s goal marked the first time in club history Toronto FC has had two 15-goal scorers in a single season: Sebastian Giovinco (16) and Jozy Altidore (15)
Toronto FC is now unbeaten in 14 MLS matches (regular season and playoffs) when both Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore score in the same match (12 wins, 2 draws)
With tonight’s draw, Toronto FC has improved the club record for road points (27) in a season
GREG VANNEY – HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC
On earning the most points in a season in MLS history:
“We are proud of it. One of the things we said with this group is that we wanted to try to do something different, to try to be the best ever, maybe. You never really know how to define that until you just get going and you see how a season goes and you see what things you can accomplish. As far as the regular season goes, I think we’ve accomplished that. Now, obviously, we have a big task in front of us. Today was a great preparation match for what the playoffs are all about. It was a very good soccer match. Two good teams, very tactical in nature and it showed that they are a team if you give them a couple chances, they can make you pay and they certainly did. We hung in there. I thought we had some chances where we could get on top of them and we just weren’t able to get those and in the end, we had to stick with it, but I thought it was a good soccer game and I thought we played well.”
On Sebastian Giovinco’s free kick that tied the match:
“What a free kick. It is kind of fitting for him to polish off the regular season like that. It was phenomenal. I thought it was maybe a touch far for him to be able to beat Brad (Guzan), but if you pick out the upper corner like that
with that kind of heat then you are going to beat anybody. It was fantastic.”
On Jozy Altidore’s focus despite heckling from fans:
“I’m sure from Jozy’s perspective, he either blocked it out or it motivated him, one of the two. A motivated Jozy is a nightmare for any defender. Fans are allowed to be fans. I think it is nonsense if they truly believe that, but at the end of the day, they are here to ridicule and heckle and do everything that they can to the opposition to try and throw us off. I thought Jozy was fantastic tonight and a big reason that we were able to hold things up and play forward. I thought he was great.”
MICHAEL BRADLEY – MIDFIELDER, TORONTO FC
On setting the MLS record for most points in a single season:
“We’re excited. It is something to be proud of. You have heard us all say it we went after every game this season with everything we had. It would have been easy for us with the Supporters’ Shield in our back pocket already or
with home field advantage, already in our back pocket to keep guys at home or to come here and play in a casual way. We didn’t. We stepped on the field today against a good team in their stadium and tried to play, tried to win. In the end, over 34 games, we were the best team. We proved that time and time again and we are proud of that. Now, it all starts over. Everything. Everybody starts at zero. Nobody is going to give us anything because we had a good regular season. Now it’s all about this little mini tournament over the next six or seven weeks. We are going to use the week in a good way. We’ll watch these other games. We will prepare to play whoever and make sure when we get our chance when that whistle blows next, we are ready to go after it”.
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