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Toronto FC

Toronto FC (0) - New York Red Bulls (1) Post-Match Sum

November 5, 2017 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


TORONTO FC (0) - NEW YORK RED BULLS (1) POST-MATCH SUMMARY

TORONTO FC ADVANCE TO THE EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS ON AWAY GOALS AFTER 2-2 AGGREGATE TIE WITH NEW YORK RED BULLS

SCORING SUMMARY

NYRB - Bradley Wright-Phillips 53' (Daniel Royer)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

NYRB - Sacha Kljestan 34' (caution)

TFC - Jozy Altidore 34' (caution)

NYRB - Sacha Kljestan 45' + 2' (ejection)

TFC - Michael Bradley 45' + 2' (caution)

TFC - Jozy Altidore 45' + 2' (ejection)

NYRB - Bradley Wright-Phillips 71' (caution)

TFC - Sebastian Giovinco 80' (caution)

NYRB - Felipe 90' + 2'

LINEUPS

TORONTO FC - Alex Bono; Eriq Zavaleta (Jonathan Osorio 66'), Drew Moor, Chris Mavinga (Nick Hagglund 54'); Steven Beitashour (Nicolas Hasler 64'), Marco Delgado, Michel Bradley ©, Victor Vazquez, Justin Morrow; Jozy Altidore, Sebastian Giovinco

Substitutes Not Used: Clint Irwin, Raheem Edwards, Armando Cooper, Tosaint Ricketts

NY RED BULLS - Luis Robles; Michael Murillo ( Sean Davis 64'), Aaron Long, Damien Perrinelle; Tyler Adams, Gonzalo Verón (Derrick Etienne 80'), Felipe, Daniel Royer, Kemar Lawrence, Sacha Kljestan ©; Bradley Wright-Phillips

Substitutes Not Used: Ryan Meara, Connor Lade, Fidel Escobar, Alex Muyl, Vincent Bezecourt

GREG VANNEY - HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Losing two forwards moving into the next match, how do you deal with that?

You put someone else in. I mean that's the way it is, we've lost them as of now. There's video footage of what happened in the tunnel. From my estimation and what I've heard, Jozy got ambushed in the tunnel and we will see where that goes.

Did you get a good view of what happened in the tunnel?

I was at the end of it, I just have witness account essentially but we are currently working on the video. Jozy was followed in, basically confronted, he turned around and next thing you knew there were 4-5-6 Red Bulls people rushing at him at the same time. The refs, we will see.

Greg what's your take on this afternoon, you advance but it was a game that seemed to spiral out of control?

Yeah I think that's perfectly okay for them, it was antagonizing and trying to get the game to be a bit chaotic and off-tilt was okay for their side. It is what it is, it's the officials job to keep the game under control. On the field, I think that was lacking a bit. In terms of the tunnels, we try to police them as much as we can, but when multiple people come rushing in behind, it's not as simple. This is our first encounter like this from a stadium perspective. This game became a little bit about soccer and a lot about nonsense. That's irritating for spectators, coaches, players, it's not what this league is about.

An unbelievable save from Alex Bono to keep it only to 1 when Bradley Wright-Phillips shot, did that calm the boys down to continue on for the remainder of the game?

Obviously it was a big save, I mean to be fair until then they didn't have a whole lot, even the goal that went in was a fluke. With these types of games you have to make a play somewhere along the line and Alex was quick to get off his line to make the save there. I know the group took a big sigh of relief on that one and moved on. When the last 25 minutes went down I thought it was a pretty mature performance. We adjusted some things, add an extra number into the midfield, have more of a presence. I thought the guys did a good job making the adjustments and seeing the game off from there.

ALEX BONO - GOALKEEPER, TORONTO FC

How will you approach next game without Giovinco and Altidore?

We prefer to have them, of course, but we have shown all year that we have depth in this team and we can go out and get a result anywhere we need to. So I am sure we'll know early on who the guys that will be called upon and I am sure that they will do more than a good enough job.

You made what could be the series saving save today...

Yeah maybe. You never know what could happen throughout the course of the game. We could definitely come back and score ourselves. About series saving, that is just the job as a goalkeeper, to make saves when he is called upon and that's what I was trying to do.

How do you get ready for the next game?

Yeah we have a big layoff, with the international break coming, which can be good or bad. For us it will be nice to get away from it and to kind of settle down and not let the emotions carry over. We have a big break now so we will know who we play today and will put our focus on towards them whenever we get back to it.

DREW MOOR - DEFENDER, TORONTO FC

You know that they love to play a disruptive style, when do you notice that things were starting to go sideways on the pitch, with the lack of calls, and referee not setting the tone.

Again it is an emotionally charged game in the playoffs and they always are. They were a little bit desperate and they were coming into a fantastic atmosphere, on a wet pitch and they were trying to mix it up. Again when you play against a team like that the best thing to do is to keep your emotions balanced and keep them in check. And like I said I thought we did a good job of that, we weren't able to play as much as we wanted to. I feel that the Red Bulls were going to come in and make it ugly and try to win second balls. I was a little disappointed that we didn't open up the game like we would have wanted to. I thought we showed a lot of character.

How does the approach change in the game 1 without Jozy and Seba?

We will see who we play first but again it is like any playoff game the tone has to be set early. It is going to be a street fight first, it is going to be field position first. Not having those two, you can't replace those two but we have shown all season that we have deep squad and we have been without them a couple of times, even late in the season. We are going to go in and have a measured approach to the first leg. Being on the road we will try to go and get a goal or two, but ultimately, we are going to go and try to win the game.

JESSE MARSCH - HEAD COACH, NEW YORK RED BULLS

Thoughts on Sacha Kijestan and Jozy Altidore were sent off

Obviously what exact the details are but that was the precipice of it and it turned into a melee. I think that set the tone for the second half sure, I mean, both teams didn't want to back down. I don't want to focus on that, I want to focus on our team's performance. In two games against the supposed best team in history, I thought that we played well both games, dictated the game both games, went after it in a big way and we were a little bit unlucky to come up a little short on a few plays. I'm proud of my team, I'm proud of the fight they showed, I'm proud of the way they played. In life you don't always get what you deserve, that's what I told them, and that's what sports is about, that's what life's about, but in terms of now, really going after it in a way to represent what we're trying to do here I thought that so many of our guys laid it on the line so a little bit unlucky to come up short.

If you're in TFCs locker room are you feeling like you escaped?

They should feel like they escaped because they did. It's not whether they feel like that or not, they have to move on and ultimately survive. They accomplished the goal. Again, I think that we are a little bit unlucky in this series not to come out with more. But congratulations to Toronto, I don't want to take anything away from them but I want to focus more on us, the way we played and how we were a little bit unlucky.

TFC didn't produce a shot on goal tonight, what does that tell you about the state of this game?

Well, you can go back to Red Bull arena and just say that I think they had two shots on goal the whole series, so they only had six shots that game, we made a mistake on the second goal but we dictated the game. I thought it was great to see our team, against such a good team, really go after it. That says a lot, two shots on goal over 180 minutes, that is pretty impressive.

What is it about these two teams where whenever they get together there is something about the games...

Someone said that to me beforehand. If you want to go down the list of our rivalries, we have six teams before Toronto. Now, we respect Toronto, they are a good team, they are well coached, I think it's an organization that tries to things the right way so we have respect for them and there is always good games and I hope the respect is mutual. I think they are down the list in terms of real rivalries for us.

Alex Bono's big saves in both games, can we say that is the difference?

Yes, we can say that is the difference. That and maybe the (Sebastian) Giovinco free kick but Bono had a great series. He looked confident coming off his line, making saves, good for him. For a young goalkeeper to show big like that, that was good for them.

SACHA KLJESTAN - MIDFIELDER, NEW YORK RED BULLS

What are your thoughts on the game overall?

Overall we are disappointed because we are out of the playoffs. If you just look at this game we came into Toronto on the front foot. We played well. We played most of the game in their half. We made the game look like we wanted it to look. The guys laid it all out there. We got everybody to put it all on the line and to play with a lot of heart and I think the guys played with a lot of heart tonight.

Can you talk about the incident with Altidore on the field and the incident that happened at halftime?

I think the first bit was very obvious. I think that he went to stand over Tyler Adams and went to intimidate him and I came in to ask him to stop and get out of my face and I pushed him back and obviously he fell down, very easily in my opinion. At halftime he shoved me into the wall. I have a clear conscious. I don't feel like I deserved a red card. So it's a pretty helpless feeling to not be able to play in the second half.

BRADLEY WRIGHT-PHILIPS - FORWARD, NEW YORK RED BULLS

What were your thoughts on the game?

I thought we should have won the game. I thought we were the better team. Even in the first leg I think we were the better team. I thought were in a good position. We didn't mind being 2-1 down. It sat well for us. The way we played sat well being away from home. I think it was a good performance. A couple chances and we would be in the next round. A credit to the boys we had done everything we need to and in the end we didn't get that chance.

What was your plan coming out for the second half? (couldn't make out the question)

I'm not really sure. Even in the first half I thought we had more of the ball. We had a little more danger than they did. I don't think it really matters.

What are you trying to focus on next season? Are there more building blocks you need to be successful?

I really don't think so. In the Chicago game we showed that we had learned from last year and even this game, like I said, if I had scored we are having a different talk right now. I really don't think so. I think great finishing and a little bit of bad luck and I think we were there today. We showed up when it counted.

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