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Toronto FC (0) - Real Salt Lake (1) Postgame Summary

July 1, 2023 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


TORONTO FC (0) - REAL SALT LAKE (1) POSTGAME SUMMARY

SCORING SUMMARY

RSL - Anderson Julio 90+2'

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

TOR - Aimé Mabika 21' (caution)

RSL - Ilijah Paul 86' (caution)

RECORDS (W-L-T)

Toronto FC 3-8-10 19 points

Real Salt Lake 8-7-6 30 points

LINEUPS TORONTO FC - Greg Ranjitsingh; Kobe Franklin, Shane O'Neill (Lazar Stefanovic 57'), Aimé Mabika, Raoul Petretta; Federico Bernardeschi, Brandon Servania, Mark-Anthony Kaye (Alonso Coello 64'), Lorenzo Insigne (C) (Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty 46'); Kosi Thompson (Deandre Kerr 56'), CJ Sapong (Ayo Akinola 78')

Substitutes Not Used: Luka Gavran, Themi Antonoglou, Jordan Perruzza, Hugo Mbongue

REAL SALT LAKE - Zac MacMath; Emeka Eneli, Justen Glad, Brayan Vera, Andrew Brody; Jefferson Savarino (Bryan Oviedo 90'), Jasper Löeffelsend (Anderson Julio 74'), Braian Ojeda, Diego Luna (Ilijah Paul 83'); Danny Musovski (Bode Hidalgo 74'), Damir Kreilach (C) (Bertin Jacquesson 83')

Substitutes Not Used: Gavin Beavers, Marcelo Silva, Scott Caldwell, Moses Nyeman

MEDIA NOTES

* Terry Dunfield managed his first match as Interim Head Coach for Toronto FC. * Lazar Stefanovic made his Toronto FC debut and became the second-youngest player to make an MLS appearance for Toronto FC at 16 years, 10 months and 22 days.

TERRY DUNFIELD - INTERIM HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Q. Not the result you wanted but the quality of your overall performance? Yes, it's a tough one to swallow for sure. I thought that the guys in that changing room should be really proud of their performance and what surprised me when I spoke to the group afterwards was how hard they are on themselves, and we needed more. We need to work harder. Give it everything we've got.

But the feedback was, we've got to give everything. It was special to see, in just four days, and I can't speak to exactly what that changing room was like before but that group has come together and we were minutes away from a really good result against a good Salt Lake side. I think the boys should be so proud of their result. Q. Lorenzo coming off at half-time - is that injury-related? Yeah, injury-related. I haven't spoken to medical yet. But hopefully it's good news. The fact that he was able to get to halftime after feeling it, I thought that was positive.

Q. What was the thought behind the 4-4-2 today? Yeah, good question. So how we want to work a little bit is amplify what we have in our locker room, and there's some quality in there for sure. But also look at Salt Lake a little bit, too, and I felt like this was the best way to go against Salt Lake. I thought defensively it really good work. We took away their defensive midfielders, protected the middle of the pitch well. I didn't think we were stretched a ton. So that worked, and at halftime we just opened the system unfortunate and it left us some chances and a high tempo in the second half, so it's not that the guys took on the feedback at halftime and did really well with that. But that was some of the thinking behind it.

Q. Lazar [Stefanovic] got his MLS debut. What was the thinking behind that and how do you think he did? He can be proud of his performance. What a moment for him on Canada Day under the lights. Some of the thinking was Shane [O'Neill] has been out for a while. We knew we could get to 50, 60 with him. I felt like Laz coming on settled us down a little bit. He's comfortable on the ball. There's more to come. I thought defensively he did well. He had two centre forwards up against him and I thought they did well.

Q. What did you make of your team's attacks as they pushed Salt Lake and overall? About 70 minutes, when I thought to myself was, I'm really excited to get the video and review it and get to work tomorrow. That was my feeling. I felt like the picture were close. It's difficult to change a ton in just four days but I thought it was good. I thought there were some nice moments where we created opportunities, but I think with the ball, yeah, I think we can really move the group and that was my feedback to the team was keep trusting in our process. We have done some excellent work and we are going to keep getting better and that's where we are going to start in the morning is see how close we were to our objective.

Q. What did you see on the goal? A set piece. I like the save that Greg had to make and I thought it was nice composure from the Salt Lake player to cut it back. I thought it was good from Salt Lake. Just a tough one with the amount of effort that the group put in but we'll be tested tonight, tomorrow morning, when they come in that we are able to still continue to live "All For One." So I'm excited to see how the group react in the morning. But we'll be clear with our video session and we'll regroup and get ready for Orlando on Tuesday.

Q. You said the group has been hard on themselves. What do you say to the guys to get out of the rut and move forward? We are close and we're looking at the game objectively and we'll take a good look at that video and I think there were close in many moments.

Q. When you look at Fede's performance, what do you think? I felt like he led by example. I thought he led with his heart. I think he can be dangerous in various areas of the pitch for sure. I think us as a team need to work collectively to find the right moments to progress and penetrate, and that's something we'll look at tomorrow. But for sure, Fede can be proud of his performance.

Q. I know you mentioned it's not about you but how has this evening been for you? It was exciting. I definitely enjoyed the special atmosphere at BMO Field again. It was special and once the game started, I was excited to see our work play out and see our guys go to work and it was a lot of positives we can take out of it.

Q. What are some of the challenges with the real short turnaround, Tuesday, as opposed to Wednesday. Monday is a travel day so you have less time than normal. What is sort of the challenges in terms of getting the team ready? I don't see it as a challenge. I see it as an opportunity for us to continue to grow with ten games left. So I think the players, once we review the processes and review the game, we will see a little bit, maybe something slightly different. My feel is that the guys will want to play again on Tuesday and keep working on our game.

KOBE FRANKLIN - DEFENDER, TORONTO FC

Q. Hell of a way to lose a game but wondering what's the general feeling amongst the players in the locker room? Football is a cruel game and we've had our share of cruel moments this year. It's just something as a professional you have to deal with, and it's a quick turnaround for us and we have to look forward to the next game.

Q. How would you evaluate the team's performance wunderith Terry? Like every game, there's a lot of good things and there's a lot of things we can work on. I think dealing with the circumstances and the quick turnaround, I think the team did pretty well, executing the game plan, and yeah, as we continue to build, obviously, and start recognizing what he wants out of us, we're going to keep getting better and better.

Q. What was this week like? A lot of recovery. Obviously, I suffered a dislocated shoulder against Cincinnati, so coming back after missing the New England game and making my way back in the training as well as adapting to the new staff and way of playing, so just things you've got to do as a pro.

Q. Bob was the one who signed you and gave you your start. What was your reaction when you found out he had been replaced? Obviously it's unfortunate. I'll be forever grateful for what Bob has done for me in my young career and given me my first start and everything. I wish him all the best and now just looking forward.

Q. You played alongside Lazar in his first appearance with the first team tonight. What did you make of his performance tonight? I think Laz did well coming into a game like that, 0-0 as a young centre back, is obviously no easy task, so I think he dealt with it well and he's got a bright future ahead of him.

Q. Even though it was a loss, did you feel it was a different environment in the locker room after the game with the new regime and stuff? Yeah, of course, after a loss, everyone is going to be deflated a little bit. But I think everyone knows that better days are ahead, and we are looking forward to our game on Tuesday. So three points were taken from us on Canada Day, so we are going to try to take three points from the Americans on July 4th.

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