TORONTO – Toronto FC are riding high after two strong showings in the past week: one in a narrow loss to Manchester City on Wednesday evening and the other in a win against the Portland Timbers last weekend.
While Toronto FC head coach Greg Vanney continues to work in establishing an identity for his side, he’s found a bit of a groove with a four-man midfield diamond, and is hoping the efficiency of that particular system carries on against the San Jose Earthquakes in Saturday afternoon's home game (5 pm ET, MLS Live).
“Three points would be great,” Vanney told reporters at training Friday. “It’s a league of momentum, a lot of times, and we’ve had a good stretch over the last four games. Another home match is a good opportunity for us to keep solidifying the direction we’ve been going in. We want to improve on some things, of course, but to pick up three points would be big. We want to win our home matches.”
Vanney will need to make a few changes to his lineup, as Jozy Altidore and Collen Warner both deal with hamstring issues; however, Vanney was optimistic about Altidore’s recovery. The US forward trained on Friday and while he’s not available for Saturday, Vanney says Altidore might be ahead of schedule in his recovery.
“He’s doing great,” Vanney said. “I would say yes [he is ahead of schedule], without putting myself too out there, because he hasn’t done too much, but he feels great. That’s a big part of it.”
Vanney said that while Luke Moore is the preferred option up top, he has other options, including players who “run off the ball and look to combine, but threaten the opposition in terms of space behind them.”
As for the midfield, Vanney said the team might field Warren Creavalle, who the TFC coach said was more comfortable in midfield, in place of Warner. And, with another home match to build with, Vanney says he’s also looking at getting his outside backs more involved in the match, a product of his team’s “ability to possess the ball.”
“There are times where we get in a little bit of a rush to attack and it’s hard for the outside backs to join in and get good attacking positions,” Vanney explained. “It’s really on the whole team being good at securing the ball and finding the right moments to collectively move forward. That means getting our outside backs moving forward.”
Defensively, Vanney says that though his side will work to contain the likes of Shea Salinas and Matias Perez Garcia, it’s the newly minted member of the 100 club, Chris Wondolowski, who he’ll have his players mark closely in this match.
“It’s always important to keep an eye on Chris [Wondolowski],” Vanney said. “He’s very clever, and he’s hard working. You have to know where he is at all times. He’s a guy that reads off the movement of his teammates and our guys defending. If you lose concentration for a split second, he has a knack of finding the opportunity.”
