Toronto victory over Chicago Fire
Toronto FC defeat Chicago FC 3-0, and thanks to Jozy Altidore 53’.
TFC – Jonathan Osorio 72’ (Sebastian Giovinco, Víctor Vázquez)
TFC – Sebastian Giovinco 89’ (Ayo Akinola)
Misconduct Summary
CHI – Brandt Bronico 30’ (caution)
TFC – Sebastian Giovinco 42’ (caution)
TFC – Michael Bradley 63’ (caution)
Records
Toronto FC: 6-11-4 22 points
Chicago Fire: 6-12-5 23 points
Lineups
TORONTO FC – Alex Bono; Gregory van der Wiel, Eriq Zavaleta, Chris Mavinga; Ashtone Morgan (Marco Delgado HT), Víctor Vázquez (Nick Hagglund 82’), Michael Bradley ©, Jonathan Osorio, Justin Morrow; Jozy Altidore (Ayo Akinola 80’), Sebastian Giovinco
Substitutes Not Used: Clint Irwin, Liam Fraser, Jordan Hamilton, Ryan Telfer
CHICAGO FIRE – Richard Sánchez; Kevin Ellis, Johan Kappelhof, Brandon Vincent, Raheem Edwards; Brandt Bronico (Mohammed Adams 56’), Bastian Schweinsteiger, Nicolas Hasler; Aleksandar Katai (Alan Gordon 79’), Nemanja Nikolic, Diego Campos (Luis Solignac 64’)
Substitutes Not Used: Stefan Cleveland, Jonathan Campbell, Rafael Ramos, Tony Tchani
GREG VANNEY – HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC
Nice to get the win, Coach?
Yeah, always nice to get a win, and obviously a little sweeter now given the situation that we’re in. Equally as important, the performance in the second half felt more like us again, in terms of the way the ball was moving and the chance creation and the looks we were getting and the control we had of the game. So, in addition to the win, feeling a little bit of the momentum building in the game and feeling more like ourselves than we have in a while, I was pleased with that as well.
What changed when you made the substitution between (Ashtone) Morgan and (Marky) Delgado in the second half, specifically that maybe opened the game up for you?
The first half, we didn’t create many chances, a lot of our actions were going backwards because of the way they were defending us, our extra number or free player was behind the ball all the time, so we weren’t able to find the extra number or open guy to play forward to a lot of our actions were sputtering in terms of and coming backwards. So all the time we were having to break down too many guys, and didn’t really have a way to get guys unmarked clearly. So we took Ash(tone) off, it wasn’t because of anything Ash(tone) was or wasn’t doing, and we added Marky so we put another midfielder ahead of it, because they were man-marking us; the extra midfielder threw off their numbers and their ability to man-mark us, so as long as we moved the ball and found the extra player in midfield it would throw off their ability to kind of track us around the field and so with that we kept finding the free guy; they would get caught in between guys because they were trying to deal with the extra player and all of a sudden we were able to start creating chances and build momentum and in return they had to put so many guys behind the ball to defend, we were able to sustain attacks by winning balls every time they tried to play out of it. It was a useful tool for us today and obviously helped us tilt the game in our favor and create a lot of chances. It would have been nice to get a couple more. Seba (Giovinco) was– I think he hit every single bar today, hopefully he doesn’t hit too many tonight — I thought he played great.
Greg, was their kind of a weight lifted off the team’s shoulders tonight? I Mean a big goal for Altidore, we don’t know he was calling boots.
Yeah it was good, I mean, Seba (Giovinco) scored, Oso (Osorio) continues to score, Jozy (Altidore) scored. All of our big goal scorers found the back of the net. I thought the way the ball was circulated was really important. It was good for the group again to perform and to create opportunity after opportunity and to get a convincing win. I think this group is, over the last couple of years, used to having those moments throughout the course of a season where you have a convincing win, that sort of establishes again that you can be a dominant team if you do things the right way and you play together, so that was an important statement for us. We’ve been talking about over the last couple weeks, starting with the Ottawa game a couple weeks ago, just building momentum, one win at a time, one result at a time, one performance and so far so good. We know we still have a lot of work to do, but beating Chicago twice is a big step towards tracking down at least Chicago ahead of us and we’ll see what the other results look like, but we’ve got to just keep doing our thing in this along the way.
JODY ALITDORE – FORWARD, TORONTO FC
Thoughts on the goal?
It always feels good to score, but the most important thing is the team and how we performed today, I thought was Good. It is still a bit rusty but I think the chemistry is there. We saw some beautiful soccer, which is what we’ve become known for. That is the part I am happiest for the most.
4 in row, what does this mean for the momentum?
Yeah it is probably our best stretch all year in terms of MLS play. Our goal is just to build on it. We have a tough game coming up next week, against a very good team. I think it is a game we need, we need these types of games where we are forced to play our best soccer.
Tell us about the celebration, who were you calling?
I was answering the call, when the city calls you have to pick up the phone. I love being here, I love playing for this team, this city and this is my home. Any chance I get I want to express it.
Waited a long time after surgery, must have felt really good to help the team out…
Yeah like I said before it is a unique place to play, where each and every player whether they are injured or anything, you just can’t wait to get out there and play in front of these fans and this stadium. So to get back out there tonight and be part of some great moments and football, is truly positive.
GREGORY VAN DER WIEL – DEFENDER, TORONTO FC
Four in a row what does this mean for the team going forward?
It is obviously a great period for us, to win four in a row. It is good for our confidence, we are back on track.
Did it start to feel like the real team was back, with all the additions?
Yeah last couple of months we missed a lot of players and now everyone is back and it feels much better. As you can see on the pitch we play much better too, so I am happy with that.
VELJKO PAUNOVIC – HEAD COACH, CHICAGO FIRE
Your thoughts about the game coach?
I think it’s a tough loss. We have to do a good job in support and recover our guys definitely. It’s not anything lost yet. We still have options and we depend on ourselves, so we face a big, big hill and we have to fix our team and I’m confident we still have the season to play and we still have the Open Cup which is very important for our club. So we will do our best definitely and keep trying to improve and get better and be competitive and try to win every game.
What do you think were the changing points in the game
Definitely, there was switch in half time and I think we lost the consistency in our defence and all the credit to TFC’s quality. We still believe we could do better in our defensive shape, which in first half was very good, we did well and break in half time didn’t help for 2nd time against Toronto. We have to keep our concentration and focus, especially in moments where starting the game and starting second half and that’s where we are vulnerable so far.
Good chances, could’ve done better?
We lack precision in the final third. We created good situations but didn’t find the last pass last touch that’s very important in games like this, against teams like Toronto you have to execute well and do better on offensive side. You can’t defend all the time if you don’t attack and take advantage of your opportunities.
What next?
We have to support our guys we have to recover well and we have to prepare for the next game. Next game is next opportunity and we always look forward learn from mistakes and look what we can improve but what’s behind, we cannot fix it. We can only do what is in front of us. We targeting next game, important game, another final. That’s how we will play every game.
BRANDT BRONICO – MIDFIELDER, CHICAGO FIRE
Thoughts on game?
Think we executed our game plan well in the first half. Think they switched formation and we didn’t adjust to it well enough and it ended up hurting us and after first goal we kinda let our guard down and didn’t show enough character to be honest.
What next? Mood in
We need to learn from our mistakes, kind of redundant. Now it’s the next game. We have to go to Salt Lake fresh start and fresh mindset and need to win some games.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BlzAHgUHy9G/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=10nhd0qmyefb7
