Sports stats



MLS Toronto FC

New York City FC (5) - Toronto FC (4) Post Game Summary

April 24, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


SCORING SUMMARY

TOR - Jesús Jiménez 13' (Jonathan Osorio, Kosi Thompson)

TOR - Jesús Jiménez 27' (Kosi Thompson)

NYC - Valentín Castellanos 38' (Thiago Andrade, Keaton Parks)

NYC - Thiago Andrade 49'

NYC - Santiago Rodríguez 54' (Valentín Castellanos)

NYC - Keaton Parks 58'

NYC - Gabriel Pereira 75' (Talles Magno)

TOR - Deandre Kerr 86' (Alejandro Pozuelo)

TOR - Michael Bradley 90' (Alejandro Pozuelo)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

NYC - Nicolás Acevedo 40' (caution)

TOR - Jesús Jiménez 44' (caution)

NYC - Alfredo Morales 83', 89' (second caution)

RECORDS (W-L-D)

Toronto FC 3-3-2 11 points

New York City FC 3-3-1 10 points

LINEUPS

TORONTO FC - Alex Bono; Shane O'Neill, Carlos Salcedo, Chris Mavinga; Kosi Thompson (Ifunanyachi Achara 90'), Michael Bradley (C), Jonathan Osorio (Kadin Chung 60'), Jacob Shaffelburg (Themi Antonoglou 80'); Alejandro Pozuelo, Luca Petrasso (Deandre Kerr 60'), Jesús Jiménez (Jordan Perruzza 80')

Substitutes Not Used: Quentin Westberg, Lukas MacNaughton, Kobe Franklin, Ayo Akinola

NEW YORK CITY FC - Sean Johnson (C); Tayvon Gray, Alfredo Morales, Alexander Callens, Malte Amundsen (Chris Gloster 80'); Keaton Parks, Nicolás Acevedo (Gedion Zelalem 75'), Thiago Andrade (Gabriel Pereira 75'), Santiago Rodríguez, Talles Magno; Valentín Castellanos (Héber 80', Vuk Latinovich 90')

Substitutes Not Used: Luis Barraza, Andres Jasson, Justin Haak, Kevin O'Toole

MEDIA NOTES

Jonathan Osorio made his 300th appearance for Toronto FC in all competitions, becoming the first player in club history to reach the milestone.

Jesús Jiménez scored his first brace and Deandre Kerr scored his first goal for Toronto FC.

Kosi Thompson recorded his first assist for Toronto FC.

Themi Antonoglou made his debut for the Reds.

With the brace, Jesús Jiménez has now scored six goals for TFC and currently leads MLS' goalscoring charts after eight matches, tied with Sebastián Driussi of Austin FC.

With six saves made today, Alex Bono now leads the league in saves (36 in eight matches), tied with Zac MacMath of Real Salt Lake.

BOB BRADLEY - HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Q. It's not typical that a team scores four goals and loses but what would you say sort of the main problem was for your team today?

The game had different parts. I thought that we were smart the way we started the game. We knew that when we got the lead that they were going to be very aggressive sending numbers forward, and they have good ideas with their attackers in terms of the way they -- when they get the chance, have different guys running through. And so for me, we at times, we were on our heels, we struggled then in certain situations to get pressure on the ball, and then it made us hesitant defensively in terms of decisions. And they exploited the wide areas on both sides. You know, when we played three in the back and we have wing backs, part of what we're trying to do is to control those situations.

But they did a good job of using their outside backs, their eight and their wingers to create overloads on both sides, and still pin us a little bit in the middle. So our confidence to deal with those situations, I think we got beat one-on-one on the flanks a few too many times, and all that led to just so many crosses coming through the box, and ultimately that's where for that period of time, late in the first half, and then for the blitz in the second half, that's what it felt like.

Q. Just wondering, do you take any solace from the fact that the team did sort of come back late and really sort of press New York with those final ten minutes and nearly eked out a result in New York?

I want the guys to feel good about that. I appreciate the fact that there was a period in there where things got away from us. But then on the field you saw guys pick themselves up, keep going. We started to have the confidence to get into their end again.

When I talk about different parts of the game, you know, when we got up the field today we did some very good things. But obviously when they played through us and got into the final part of the field, that's where we had such a tough time. So I see the good things that we were able to do when we got forward. I saw the push late in the game. Now I need to look harder at the different situations that arose and our ability to handle some of those moments better.

Q. That's six goals in eight games from Jiménez, do you still expect more from him?

I do. I think Jesús is a very good player. His movement is very good. He's a very smart player and when we continue to grow as a team, I think his all-around contribution is going to get bigger and bigger.

Q. Deandre Kerr had a rough start to the season but he looks like he's improving on a game by game basis. Do you feel the same way?

For sure. He did have a tough start. There was a period there where he was not 100 percent physically and where I think he lost some confidence. But then you could see some weeks back that there was an uptick and that of course led to him getting opportunities of late. You can see now more confidence. You see some of the qualities that he has that were apparent in preseason, and again.

I think it's pretty normal for young pros, they are excited to start the season but then at a certain point, also it's a challenge, and it's hard. It's the part that they are not always ready for. But I'm really pleased with the way he has sort of pulled things together and I think that he's going to continue to move along because of late, you can see the confidence and you can see the sharpness in some of his moves and some of his plays, and those are things that are going in a very good direction.

Q. Another debut for a Homegrown, Themi Antonoglou. What have you seen from him?

I think he's done well in training, and we needed help late in the game on the left side. He's a young player who is getting experience with the second team. He's trained a lot with the first team. Another young player that picks up ideas, works hard, so I'm excited to see it continue to move forward.

Q. Michael did well to score his first goal this season tonight. Aside from it, how would you evaluate his performance in midfield today?

There was a lot to do. I still think he picked up a lot of loose balls. I think there were times where there was stuff going on around him and his ability to put out some of those fires when they were going forward.

But there were situations there that weren't easy. You know, the one -- well, the one ball that he lost, Ale (Pozuelo) gave him a tough ball. Michael dropped deep and cut out a cross and then as we quickly tried to break, Ale gave him a ball in a tight spot and he lost it and obviously that turned into 3-2. I know he'll be kicking himself for that. In a tight, hard game like that, he still found some good passes forward. Still had a lot to do moving from side-to-side to deal with their eights that play high.

So there were good things, and whenever I watch him, I see things that we can look at together where it can get better.

Q. Ideally when things started to turn against you, what would you like the team to do to stem that tide?

Yeah, I mean, ideally you get a little bit more control of game with the ball. You play a little bit more in their end. But they obviously were putting so much into it that in reality, maybe we just needed to tighten things up defensively and fight through some minutes until we could start to get our feet on the ground again.

You know, it's not always a matter of exactly what you want, what you would want even when we spoke at halftime is that now, you know, our whole idea before this game was still that we didn't want to just get pushed deep; that we had to find ways to move up the field and we had to find ways that even if they had the ball to defend them in their half, that means the type of collective intensity that makes it hard for them to build up and play forward.

So those are the things that when we got into that rough stretch, I think I mentioned earlier, I just felt like we were, you know, I'm saying it about Michael but I could say it about everybody; there was hesitancy. There's moments where if they have got a guy running through and there's a guy right in front of you, now you're not sure, should I step to the ball or do I have to deal with the runner? And so they were able to put us on our heels in that stretch, and I would have liked us to find a way to regain that collective intensity and push them back a little bit.

Q. I believe it's 17 goals against through the start of the season. I think that's tied for the most in the Eastern Conference there. I know it's not all on the back line there, but is that a position perhaps the team would like to improve, and is that something you see the team improving perhaps in the summer?

You know, the defending is interesting, because obviously now you have two games where nine of those goals were scored. And so it's a collective thing. We work hard at it. You know, I've seen progress from all the players. We've had days where we have played both three in the back and four in the back and feel like that those are areas -- those are ways that we can still be flexible.

We'll see what happens in the summer but I believe that the numbers are a little bit skewed just by those two games but we understand that to be a complete team, we also need to have more games where we give less away.

JONATHAN OSORIO - MIDFIELDER, TORONTO FC

Q. I know it's not the way you want to mark the occasion but 300 games is an achievement. From your perspective, the team goes up 2-0 and things are look pretty good. How did the game get away from you guys after that?

I think they started to push and maybe we reacted to it in the way that we found the game was going to help us, but, in fact, I think it's what hurt us. We felt the pressure and we were maybe sitting back a little too much. We invited the pressure too much.

They are a good team. They adjusted and they pushed and they fought their way back and I think that also the key was the way we started the second half. I think the way we started the first half was great and we needed that same start in the second half and unfortunately it didn't go that way.

And then it's just about as a team, we can't let it get away from us. That's what happened. But saying that, I'm really proud of the way the team fought back. We left too big of a mountain to climb. But you know, we clawed our way back and we need to learn from that to not let the game get away from us.

Q. Congrats on the 300th game. It wasn't the result that you guys wanted but how are your feelings about reaching such a significant milestone, the only Toronto player to ever have played in 300 games for Toronto?

Yeah, I think right now in this moment, it's a little bit tough just because I'm more focused on the game and the result of the team and you know that's kind of what is on my mind. I'm sure I'll look back later this week or even going into our next game.

Yeah, it's been great here and to reach 300 games is an honor for this club. But yeah, right now, it's tough. It's tough to focus on that. I'm just focused on the season and helping the team right now. Yeah, maybe sometime down the road I'll be able to reflect and really be proud of what I've accomplished and also of course looking forward to what is left to accomplish as well.

Q. Can you take us inside the dressing room right now, what are some of the conversations that are going on, and what do you sort of say to the young guys about a match like that?

I think these kind of matches are good. This is against a really good team. This is against the defending champions, and you know, with their exit in Champions League and now their focus is on MLS, they are trying to gain some ground back to which they have lost in the first few games of the season. So it was always going to be a tough game. This is a tough game and it's a really good learning experience for the team as a whole, and even I think more so for the young guys.

No, right now, we are just trying to figure things out tactically and collectively how we can do things better and not keep ourselves in this kind of game so we can give ourselves a chance to get a result out of it. It's just a game that we will all learn from and we've got to stay positive because I think with this result, I think things are still going well. We showed some good things in this game, and we need to just learn from this and look forward to the next game because the next few games I think are going to be really important for us.

Q. With the match last week and this week, do you see this as a barometer of where you are at this point in the season and weighing yourselves against the better teams in the MLS?

I think it's hard to say but I mean we do know that these last two games are against two of the better teams in the league and so the way we've played in the last two games, there's lots of positives that we can take out of it and to see where we are at.

I think the one thing that is good is that we know that we can improve, too. We know that we have levels to reach that we haven't reached yet. I think it's positive. Today is a tough loss but we will learn from it and I think as the season goes, you'll see this team become much more consistent.

Q. Themi (Antonoglou) is a young player who is training with the first team recently and came on to make his MLS debut in this game. Wondering how much if at all you've taken notice of young man the last couple weeks and what's been your impression of him?

Of course I've taken notice. Even though they are young players, they are my teammates as anybody else is on this team. We are all really proud of these guys and we know that we are giving these guys a lot of experience and we're asking a lot. We're asking a lot of these guys in their first games, putting a lot of responsibility on them. At the same time that's what we need and that's only going to benefit them.

You know, the earlier they feel that and see that and experience that, the faster I think they will be able to pick up on things and the development process speeds up in that way.

It's good that all of these guys, we have so much people, so much young guys making debuts and their professional debuts and things like that, so it's great to see the young guys come up. They have a lot to give and I know they have a lot to improve and they are all working towards that. Yeah, we are all very happy with our young guys.

Q. First goal from Kerr, a big header from Michael Bradley and two more from Jesús. Can you speak about what you saw on those goals and those three players?

Yeah, they are all great goals I think. Michael's goal and Deandre's goal are off set pieces, and they get us back into the game when it was very easy to put your head down and just let the game end and we didn't do that. We fought till the very end which says a lot about the character of this team and it's huge. It's huge I think for us going forward.

Jesús has been doing today what he's been doing all year. I think he's proving himself and going above people's expectations of what they thought of him coming into this season and he's showing the calibre of the striker that he is. When he gets a chance, he puts it in the back of the net. He's obviously a very important player for us and he keeps coming through for us, and I think on more days than not, getting four goals will be enough to get a result in this league.

Check out the Toronto FC Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from April 24, 2022


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central