Toronto FC rounded off their marathon road trip at last with a 1-0 loss against the Montreal Impact in the first leg of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal on Wednesday, but while the result didn’t go Toronto’s way, TFC boss Greg Vanney isn’t even thinking it’s game over for his side, least of all because there's the return leg next week at BMO Field.
“This is a 180-minute game,” Vanney said after the game. “We’re looking forward to the return match at our place. It’s a loss for a half of the competition, which is two games long. I thought our defensive shape was good for the vast majority of the game. I’m disappointed in the goal we gave up."
Veteran Nigel Reo-Coker set up the game's lone goal, as he sent in a cross to striker Jack McInerney, who finished with a tap-in.
"It’s not good enough to allow a right-footed player on the right-side with that much time to get into a good defending position the opportunity to cross the ball," Vanney said. "That can’t happen.
“We’re one goal down but for me, that’s not an issue,” he added. “It’s more of a motivating factor to push a little bit.”
Toronto FC fielded a very different line up against the Impact, with one eye on Sunday’s league encounter with the Houston Dynamo at newly renovated BMO Field (5 pm ET, ESPN2). With the club’s home opener just around the corner, players like Jozy Altidore, Sebastian Giovinco, Damien Perquis and Robbie Findley were given a rest.
But while the other two Designated Players were rested, Michael Bradley did hit the field and looked lively throughout the match. It was a decision, Vanney says, that came about after speaking with the TFC captain.
“Michael’s got a different approach to his week in training,” Vanney explained. “He’s a guy who has a high engine and a high capacity for work. We knew in playing him today, we were going to take him to a certain level. Usually in training on Wednesdays, he gets a certain capacity and a certain number of sprints in kilometres. We know what that looks like in terms of minutes in a game. So, his Wednesday today was really no different than his Wednesday in training.”
“For him, he feels like, as I did as a player, the more games he plays, the stronger he gets and the sharper he gets,” Vanney added. “It was with a lot of thought and preparation that he would play the game but this competition is also important.”
Vanney did give a run out to some of his depth options, with players like Dan Lovitz, Marco Delgado, and Eriq Zavaleta all getting the start for this game.
“I thought everybody played solid,” Vanney said. “Did anyone blow me out of the water? No. But, I thought it was great for a lot of guys to compete for 90 minutes. I don’t think anyone had a particular poor day. I think everybody was solid.”
Now, Toronto FC shift focus to their much-anticipated home opener.
“We’re looking forward to the energy that we know our fans will bring to the stadium,” Vanney said. “When you go on the road and you play, there’s time where you’re looking at each other, trying to push each other on, and that’s something you get from the crowd; it’s that little energy when you’re getting tired or when you do something great and the crowd spurs you on and pushes you. We’ve been there to see BMO Field. It’s beautiful. We’re really looking forward to Sunday.”
