Toronto FC faced Philadelphia Union
Toronto FC traveled to city of Brotherly Love to take on the Philadelphia Union on Saturday. Greg Vanney Head coach talks to press after draw 2-2.
On whether or not he’s happy coming away with a point… Yes and no. No because in the second half we got the lead, and at that point we have to be mature enough to lock the game down. At least long enough to give ourselves a chance. But to concede within two minutes of scoring a goal is just something we have to be much better at. I’ve seen the play, so I have strong opinions about the play, but it should’ve never happened, and in that way I’m disappointed because we fought to get ourselves back and get on top and we’ve got to be more mature than we were in that moment to get the results. The guys put a lot into it. Like you said, it was a difficult game. You know, the two halves, the wind plays a factor. We pushed the tempo of the game in the second half. Losing Sebastian is always a tough thing. But I thought Tosaint (Ricketts) came in and gave us a little bit of size sometimes when we had to play balls a little bit deeper and he came in and gave us a great effort and, you know, the rest of the group worked hard.
On whether or not the wind was a determining factor… It definitely played its part, especially in the first half. Sometimes when we wanted to relieve a little bit of pressure or we had opportunities to play behind their back line and use a little bit of our pace behind their back line, the ball would just get knocked down. And so, their back line was able to squeeze our midfield a little bit tighter and so it became tough. For them, every time they tried to play a ball deep, the ball carried and it would end up behind our line. It’s a matter of adjustments, but it always plays a factor in terms of how tight and how much an opposition can press you and how much they have to worry about the space behind you. But it dying down in the second half didn’t necessarily help us or hurt us. The game got to be pretty high tempo at that point and we were playing at a good tempo.
JIM CURTIN – HEAD COACH, PHILADELPHIA UNION
Opening statement…
A game that had a little bit of everything, I thought the first 45 minutes was some of the best soccer we’ve played in a while, maybe ever, so from that standpoint happy with the group, disappointing to come back 1-1 it felt unjust, we will just call it that. Everybody was really into the game there were some really good performances in that first forty- five then we get into half time I said to the guys this year do we want be a good team or do we want to be a great team because we are playing against the best team in the Eastern conference. It’s a good match for us. I think the guys showed lot of
character and a lot of greatness second half, it’s a fearless group. I think we are exciting obviously to
watch for the fans had good spells of possession that were dangerous for the night, they had some
guys that could make a play that is for sure. Disappointing to fall asleep on second goal coming from
nothing. Whether it was a foul or not a foul, I take responsibility for maybe getting a little too upset with the ref and maybe that carried over to the players arguing with the ref a little too much, the calls aren’t going to change, so we need to get back a little quicker be a little more alert. It’s really a silly goal to give up on a day when so many guys had good performances for that to go out the window like that, so still showed character to come back and get that second goal to tie it up and push for a third, it wasn’t meant to be on the day, overall a good team performance something to build on and now we go two tough road games coming up, so I would also like to thank the fans for coming out tonight. It was probably one of the colder games that’s ever been played here. We were very loud, unbelievable from the Sons of Ben, and all the fans that stuck it out with us tonight and hopefully they are excited for the season now and inspired by the performance by our guys.
DREW MOOR – DEFENDER, TORONTO FC On getting two points in two tough road games… It’s a good sign, but this is a different team than in the past. We feel like we can come in to a place like Philadelphia for their home opener, especially the way the game went and go away with three points. We felt like we should’ve gone away with three points in Salt Lake. These could be big points come the end of the season. It’s a long season obviously, there’s still a lot of soccer to be played, but anytime you’re disappointed about dropped points on the road, it’s a good sign and we have to pick ourselves up because we go back on the road again next weekend. On whether or not he felt fortunate to be level at the half with the Giovinco injury early on…
Not really fortunate. I feel like we weathered a bit of a storm. Again, it’s their home opener, they had the wind in the first half and they were certainly coming at us. But Tosaint Ricketts brings on a lot of speed and a lot of quality. I felt like we earned the tie at halftime.
JUSTIN MORROW – DEFENDER, TORONTO FC
On the difficulty of starting the match going into the wind in the first half…
It was their home opener, and I think we felt that. The first 15 minutes or so they really put it on us. They were all over the place. We knew that they were going to be like that and we didn’t match their level I don’t think. So I think, as the game went on, we grew into the game and that goal right before half was crucial for us. On how he feels coming away with a point despite the challenges his team faced… I think you look at the way the game went and I think it will still be the same one that we didn’t win. You know, two games on the road and two points, I don’t think we’ll be happy with that. So we’ll be going to Vancouver with a lot of motivation. On the disappointment felt when conceding the second goal after gaining a lead… It’s a problem to concede so quickly right after we score. We’ll have to look at it and I haven’t seen it yet, so I’ll have to
look at it and see what happens, what went down on that play. You know, like you said, we’re a unit back there. And so collectively we’re going to look at it and get better. On the cold weather conditions… It was cold today. The wind was the worst part.
