MLS Toronto FC

Columbus Crew (2) - Toronto FC (0) Postgame Summary

August 26, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


SCORING SUMMARY

CLB - Diego Rossi 21'

CLB - Jacen Russell-Rowe 89' (Patrick Schulte)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

CLB - Malte Amundsen 24' (caution)

TOR - Brandon Servania 44' (caution)

RECORDS (W-L-T)

Columbus Crew 12-7-6 42 points

Toronto FC 3-13-10 19 points

LINEUPS

COLUMBUS CREW - Patrick Schulte; Steven Moreira, Rudy Camacho, Malte Amundsen; Julian Gressel (Mohamed Farsi 85'), Darlington Nagbe (C), Aidan Morris (Sean Zawadzki 86'), Yaw Yeboah (Maximilian Arfsten 85'); Christian Ramirez (Jacen Russell-Rowe 70'), Diego Rossi (Alexandru Mățan 70'), Cucho Hernández (Kevin Molino 89')

Substitutes Not Used: Evan Bush, Yevhen Cheberko, Jimmy Medranda

TORONTO FC - Tomás Romero; Kobe Franklin, Shane O'Neill (Aimé Mabika 57'), Michael Bradley (C), Themi Antonoglou; Alonso Coello (Víctor Vázquez 64'), Brandon Servania (Kosi Thompson 81'), Jonathan Osorio; Federico Bernardeschi, Lorenzo Insigne (Cassius Mailula 64'), CJ Sapong (Deandre Kerr 46')

Substitutes Not Used: Luka Gavran, Franco Ibarra, Hugo Mbongue

MEDIA NOTES

Michael Bradley made his 300th appearance for Toronto FC in all competitions, becoming the second player in club history to reach the milestone.

Bradley also made his 250th MLS Regular Season appearance for TFC.

Cassius Mailula made his debut for the Reds.

TERRY DUNFIELD - INTERIM HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Q. We'll just start with your thoughts on that one please.

Yeah, it was another difficult result. Again, a similar story to our previous matches; that the goals we conceded were unnecessary and we're better than that in those moments, and I thought tonight against a very good side in Columbus, we created five or six very good opportunities, and we should score one or two.

Q. Can you just give us the rationale about starting Michael [Bradley] at centre back? And was the plan always to play him the full 90 or with Shane's injury situation, extended him a little bit longer than you would have liked?

Yeah, I think there's evidence over the last four or five years that at times, Michael has played at centre back. I think his skillset suits the position in certain moments, and I thought he brought a stability on the ball for sure.

I thought the way he reads the game helps us. Columbus players coming off the front line or running behind, he's also able to organize there.

And after being out for three months, I thought it was a top performance today. He manfully, too, with our guys, protected the box really well. He intervened on numerous occasions when protecting the goal.

Q. You've been in some tough moments with the club as a player and now you're experiencing it as a coach. What's your message to the team in difficult moments like this with the team in a bit of a rough spot at the moment?

Yeah, my message after the game was, thank you for your efforts tonight. I thought our boys worked our ass off as we have done for the past nine weeks.

You know, if we keep creating opportunities like that, we're going to start scoring. We're going to start scoring consistently two, three goals, and I'm gutted for the guys; the two we gave up were tough ones. And the way we defended under pressure at times from wide areas I thought was different class. And that was the area of the pitch we just had to give up, and when Columbus got there, I thought we dealt with it really well.

Q. You mentioned the good chances, I'm thinking the early ball to Sapong, Lorenzo off the post. Between those two, Columbus gets there first. Is that just how it goes when the tide is against you guys, and how do you tilt that back in your favor?

Yeah, two or three half chances Bernardeschi created off the right side, the sublime pass in behind from Lorenzo Insigne to Deandre Kerr. So yeah, I just think these are moments we've been working on, so it's great to see our work from the training ground come out.

But I think in these moments, you need to be ruthless, and also, the two that we gave up, we just need to be more ruthless in those moments.

Yeah, that would be how I'd answer.

Q. You brought in Cassius [Mailula] in the 64th minute, a little bit of a runout. I just wanted to get your impression of what you saw from the South African in his team debut?

Yeah, speaking of chances, I'd add Cassius's header at the near post. What a start that would have been to his TFC career.

I thought in broken play and transition, he was excellent. He protects the ball well when he receives between lines. I think the more training he gets under his belt, the more we'll see just a little bit of sharpness in and around the box. I thought he worked hard to step out and press defensively at times and reorganize and give Themi a hand as well managing Gressel. Overall, it was a pleasing debut, or second game.

Q. That was Michael's 300th appearance with the club. You've been involved in this game your entire life. What does it mean for a guy to get 300 appearances for a club?

In MLS, too, with the travel, the shorter season, to win championships, as well, he's one of the best players to play in MLS. He led TFC right to the top of the mountain when we were there for three years.

What stands out to me about Michael is it's never about Michael. It's always about the club, and he's just such a top professional and leader. Today it was incredible, he was just focused on us obtaining three points.

Q. Obviously the results haven't gone the way for the team since the coaching change but in your mind is the team making progress? Can you point to anything tangible that you can say, yeah, look, we are making improvements in this area that gives you hope that things can turn around?

Yeah, I think the biggest thing that it gives us hope is that collectively, we're becoming difficult to beat, and the goals that we give up are right now individual errors. So I'd say as a team, we're organized defensively. I think we are now becoming a threat in transition, and I think consistently from where we were nine weeks ago, we're creating chances. We're creating five, six, good chances that we now need to take.

I think our medical team have done a fantastic job to get players back on the training ground and on the pitch as well, so I think we are becoming stronger. So yeah, I think there's lots of positives bar the results.

Q. There were a lot of young guys out there tonight: Themi, Kobe has been doing well this season, Alonso, Deandre off the bench, Kosi off the bench. What do you want them taking away from these experiences?

I think the biggest thing is belief that they can go out there and perform. I think with each play they make, they start to earn trust, not only with themselves, but trust and credit with their teammates.

I think that's important, and I thought today in particular, Themi and Kobe were excellent at fullback dealing with overloads, and then that was a space Columbus often gave to us build from in that fullback space. I thought it was two top performances from those two.

They never shied away from making a play with and without the ball.

Q. Just on Owusu, I assume his illness kicked back and he couldn't make it tonight? And the broadcast said O'Neill was a concussion sub. Do you have an update?

The Shane O'Neill one was a concussion sub, and Prince, yeah, he didn't travel with us. It's a lower leg injury at the moment that we are assessing.

CASSIUS MAILULA - ATTACKER, TORONTO FC

Q. Obviously it was your debut today, coming off the bench for the final 26 minutes. Wanted to get your general impressions of how you think did you and what was it like, your first taste of MLS action for TFC?

Yeah, I'd like to thank the team and the club, the coach, also, for giving me the opportunity and it felt great to be out there, to feel how it is and to get to understand how everything is in the MLS, and actually to even play away because I know it's always tough to play away. But yeah, I'm just glad that I got to feel how it is out there.

Q. It looked like you almost scored your first goal with your first touch there. Can you talk us through how that play sort of developed and how nice it would have been?

I think it was going to be truly great because it gave me a lot of confidence, and it will help me to lift the team up. I think it's something that it's on me. I think I always give myself a chance by being in the right positions. So yeah, just unfortunate that it didn't go in but yeah, I'm just happy that I got to feel the pitch and also to feel the crowd, also. To play away, it was actually hard; it was difficult, but under all circumstances, I'm just glad that I got to be on the pitch.

Q. As the second half grew on, you had interchanged with Deandre Kerr, both at centre forward and on the wing. Do you feel you're that type of player that you can play anywhere amongst the front three?

Yeah, actually, I am able to play anywhere at the front three. I feel comfortable anywhere. But I actually saw that on this game, we need someone that is going hold the ball for us there up front because we can see that when we kept the ball, we are doing much better. But I feel like, yeah, we could have done better. In the second half we could have done better by scoring at least one. But it's a work in process. It's not easy but we'll get there.

Q. When we spoke to you last week, you talked about how the opportunity to play with guys like Bernardeschi and Insigne. You spent a little bit of time today playing with Bernardeschi. I wanted to get your general impressions of what it was like linking up with him on the pitch?

It was good. It was good. I think we needed a little bit of time to gel together but I think I get to understand what kind of a player that he is, and I think as time goes on, if we get a chance to be on at the same time, if we get a chance to start together, to play together, I think we'll create something for the team. We'll help the team to score, to get the results, but I think I am now getting to understand the kind of a player that he is. He's actually good. I just feel he needs a lot of support, you know, someone that is going to help him, also.

Q. I wanted to get your thoughts on how that match played out. It was a familiar story for Toronto, having some chances but mistakes proved costly on the other end.

Yeah, of course, I think one thing that the team has to try to improve and work hard on is to limit the mistakes, if you check the goals that they score on us, it's not something that we can't solve. We can always solve it. But that's our training, how we apply ourselves, the concentration level, how it is in training. But I think it will get better as time goes on. It's just that now we are in a difficult position, but I feel like we are not really that bad. It's just that results that are unfortunate for us, and we will try to get back together, to try to keep on pushing and pushing, and hopefully we'll get the result. You know, I think most important thing that we have to focus on now is to just get that first three points, you know, and the rest of the things we'll definitely fix.

But as you say, the mistakes, the goals that we concede, it's something that the team can try to rectify. But even then, I think our opposition was actually good. It was good. It was actually good opponents. But I'm glad I actually learned a lot also today.

Q. Wanted to check how you're settling in. Sleep schedule straightened out, that sort of stuff?

So far so good, I'm starting to settle better. Yeah, I think I came at the right time where the weather is also good, and I'm settling very well. I'm trying to adapt, also, to try to gel with the team because the most important thing is to come here and play football.

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