MLS Toronto FC

Orlando City (4) - Toronto FC (0) Postgame Summary

Published on July 4, 2023 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


ORLANDO CITY (4) - TORONTO FC (0) POSTGAME SUMMARY

SCORING SUMMARY

ORL - César Araújo 16' (Rafael Santos, Iván Angulo)

ORL - Duncan McGuire 22'

ORL - Dagur Thórhallsson 77' (César Araújo)

ORL - Ercan Kara 84' (Martín Ojeda)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

TOR - Alonso Coello 45+1' (caution)

TOR - Federico Bernardeschi 47' (caution)

TOR - Federico Bernardeschi 62' (ejection)

ORL - Pedro Gallese 62' (caution)

TOR - Raoul Petretta 80' (caution)

RECORDS (W-L-T)

Orlando City 9-5-7 34 points

Toronto FC 3-9-10 19 points

LINEUPS

ORLANDO CITY - Pedro Gallese; Kyle Smith (Dagur Thórhallsson 68'), Antônio Carlos, Robin Jansson, Rafael Santos; César Araújo, Wilder Cartagena, Facundo Torres (Luca Petrasso 79'), Mauricio Pereyra (C) (Martín Ojeda 58'), Iván Angulo (Ercan Kara 68'); Duncan McGuire (Ramiro Enrique 57')

Substitutes Not Used: Mason Stajduhar, Rodrigo Schlegel, Felipe Martins, Favian Loyola

TORONTO FC -Greg Ranjitsingh; Kobe Franklin, Shane O'Neill, Aimé Mabika (Lazar Stefanovic 46'), Raoul Petretta (Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty 82'); Federico Bernardeschi (C), Alonso Coello (Themi Antonoglou 46'), Mark-Anthony Kaye, Kosi Thompson (Jesus Batiz 46'); Brandon Servania, Ayo Akinola (CJ Sapong 63')

Substitutes Not Used: Luka Gavran, Adam Pearlman, Jordan Perruzza, Hugo Mbongue

MEDIA NOTES

Jesus Batiz made his debut for Toronto FC.

TERRY DUNFIELD - INTERIM HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Q. Terry, a pretty rough night tonight. I think there's a lot of anger from TFC fans over this. Maybe you could say something to sort of calm their fears. There seems to be a lot of bad feelings about and feelings that the club is just completely off the rails. What do you have to say about a performance like that?

Yeah, I think the scoreline tonight, the late goal we conceded against Salt Lake just opens up some scars. Some scars of just three wins in 20 this season prior to last week, and just simmering under the surface, there's a lot of frustration, and rightly so.

Q. It looked like Orlando was finding joy up the left in the first half. What did you see in the first two goals?

Yeah, look, we know Orlando is a good side. Their back four shifts right. They get into a nice back three structure and Oscar has done a good job with them. As to the goals, if I'm being objective and I haven't had the opportunity to watch them back yet, they are frustrating. I thought for the first 15 minutes, we started well, and especially in possession at times, got into a nice rhythm, created a couple of nice overloads, and there was a nice feeling of confidence starting to grow within the group. One moment that we knew would be key was our structure in our defensive half. We have 11 interceptions in the first half. Previously we were averaging eight, so it was up a little bit, and then we knew that moment of connecting two passes and being a threat in transition or getting into a rhythm was going to be really important. So when we won it, unfortunately we turned it over. They come down the left-hand side and we knew the next one was going to be important, and that was protecting the goal. Some of the detail wasn't quite right and it's in the back of the net, and it was in short, two moments that weren't right, get compounded and you're 1-0 down.

Then the second goal I thought we were a little bit unlucky. I think it takes a deflection and it's in the back of the net. You're 2-0 down and at times we continue to play to halftime. I thought we regrouped well at halftime. We are a little bit more on the front foot. Created a couple half-chances, and then it's difficult after the sending off for sure and the third goal is preventable as well.

Q. Just your thoughts on Federico's sending off and what was his mentality like afterwards? Did he feel remorseful about it?

I haven't seen it yet. I think a player of his experience on a yellow card should know better. So it's a frustrating one for sure. Afterwards in the changing room, I shared my message with the group and Fede raised his hand and said, "Coach, can I have a moment?" And he owned it, which isn't easy to do. Said that he can do better. So yes, he was remorseful.

Q. You made a few adjustments at halftime bringing in Antonoglou, Petretta and Stefanovic. What was the reasoning for the changes and how did you see things turning around in the second half by bringing them on?

We felt like just flattening out our midfield a little bit would give our fullbacks a little bit of protection in wide areas, and then with a little bit more of an out and out front two, we felt like we would be able to get a little bit more pressure on their back line.

Q. How do you move on from this? 4-0, that's a pretty heavy defeat. It's a performance that was lacking in a lot of ways. Where does the team go from here after, frankly, such an embarrassing outing?

I think it's important to hold ourselves accountable for sure, and there is going to be no pass but also to be objective and to look at the goals and the game got away from us real quickly. First goal, it's two errors that are compounded.

The second goal, it's a deflection. I think we are a little bit unlucky and now we are playing with ten men. That's the storyline after a good start to the second half. The third goal is an error. And the fourth goal is some tired legs for sure, and look, Orlando brought some quality off the bench.

Q. There were a lot of young guys on that pitch tonight. You're going to have experiences like this in your career. What do you want them to take away from a night like this?

No. 1 is belief and just building a little bit of credit with themselves that they can play at this level and be impactful. And two, I would say for sure is the experience of playing at the next level, as well, and there will be tons of little learnings in there for sure, and we will freeze those learnings when we review the game. I think each time these young players see that picture, they will continue to get better and better. There's so much potential with our young players at this club.

SHANE O'NEILL - DEFENDER, TORONTO FC

Q. We'll just start with your thoughts on the match tonight.

Yeah, it was a tough night. There's no question about it. I thought there was some good stretches in the game. There were some positive stretches for sure and there was a good energy and just in those critical moments, they were just more ruthless than us. They probably had a little bit more of an edge and bite and those are the margins. The margins are really thin, especially when it gets to this time of year because everybody is fighting for playoffs, so you don't really have that much room for error. Yeah, we got punished in those critical moments. So I suppose that's my overall thoughts because there was a decent stretch where it was a tight game and obviously it got away from us.

Q. Shane, I appreciate comments about there being decent stretches in the match tonight, but the overall standard, was it anywhere close to where it has to be from this team?

I guess in the crucial moments, defending our box in the final third trying to create chances, it's hard to answer that and say yes. Obviously we need to get better. But it's a process. This is the second game and it's been a week of new ideas and new style of play. Obviously this is also a hard place to play. So we can't, I think, dwell on the fact that yeah, okay, it wasn't good enough but we have to keep reinforcing the ideas that we are trying to play clean up those moments. It's like you talk about the game of inches. Obviously a deflection here, a deflection there and who knows how the game goes. The same you could say for Saturday against Salt Lake. We just have to stay committed to the way we're playing and keep the energy in the group.

Q. One of the things Terry touched on last game was how surprised he was at just how hard the team was on themselves after the Salt Lake loss. How would you describe sort of the mentality and overall mood of this group right now considering the rut that this club is in?

We've been saying it for a long time, actually. There's a lot of togetherness within the group in terms of enjoying being around one another, camaraderie and enjoying each other's company which I think is really important. I think the next step is obviously how does that translate into when you need to be a little bit more ruthless and get wins and make big plays at big moments of the game. That's what we've talked about a little bit as a group, finding that as the next piece because until you do that, there's always that missing piece because at the end of the day, this is a results-based business. We know that. Got to get wins. Got to get three points and obviously when you don't do that there's a little bit of a lack of that feeling, so we're trying to piece it together to get a result to start to feel that feeling again.

Q. You were partnered with Stefanovic in the second half of tonight's game. What do you see in him as a young defender coming up, and does he have any promising qualities?

Of course. I believe he's 16 and it's amazing he's getting the opportunities he's getting and he's got a lot of quality on the ball and to be fair it's not just him. Adam [Pearlman] was on the bench and he's also got a ton of quality on the ball. He's a young kid, I don't know how old he is, maybe 19 or something like that. But there's a really good pipeline of young players. It's exciting to see that. I think Jesús made his debut tonight. I don't know if there was anybody else but yeah, so that's really exciting but again, like for these young guys, you know, we want to be able to set a standard of results and winning to help them because when you have that, it's a lot easier for them to come in. It's hard for these kids to come in away against Orlando and take these kinds of beatings because it's hard on the confidence. But Laz obviously has a ton of potential and it's great that he's getting some opportunities.

Q. You face another quick turnaround. Where do you find the resilience to dust off from this one and get ready for the game this weekend?

Yeah, said the same thing after the Salt Lake game, maybe the first 20 minutes down here, 15, there was a good feeling. There's obviously been a change, a change in dynamic and atmosphere and whatnot. So I feel like we are trying to find ways to be positive and implement these new ideas. We just have to keep going with that but yeah, with the understanding that Saturday is not going to be easy. It's not going to be easy. As simple as that. There has to be resilience and hopefully we get some guys back from injury and that always gives confidence to the group, and you know, you go from there.

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