Toronto FC (0) - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (0) Postgame Summary

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MLS Toronto FC

Toronto FC (0) - Vancouver Whitecaps FC (0) Postgame Summary

March 29, 2025 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


TORONTO FC (0) - VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC (0) POSTGAME SUMMARY

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

TOR - Federico Bernardeschi 65' (caution)

VAN - Édier Ocampo 81' (caution)

RECORDS (W-L-T)

Toronto FC 0-4-2 2 points

Vancouver Whitecaps FC 4-1-1 13 points

LINEUPS

TORONTO FC - Sean Johnson; Henry Wingo (Kosi Thompson 53'), Sigurd Rosted, Nicksoen Gomis, Raoul Petretta; Alonso Coello (Deybi Flores 67'), Lorenzo Insigne, Jonathan Osorio (C); Derrick Etienne Jr. (Tyrese Spicer 67'), Deandre Kerr (Ola Brynhildsen 53'), Federico Bernardeschi

Substitutes Not Used: Luka Gavran, Zane Monlouis, Kobe Franklin, Markus Cimermancic, Theo Corbeanu

VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC - Yohei Takaoka; Mathias Laborda (Édier Ocampo 79'), Ranko Veselinovic (C), Tristan Blackmon, Tate Johnson; Jayden Nelson (Emmanuel Sabbi 60'), Sebastian Berhalter, Jean-Claude Ngando (Jeevan Badwal 89'), Andres Cubas (Pedro Vite 60'), Ali Ahmed (Daniel Rios 79'); Brian White

Substitutes Not Used: Isaac Boehmer, Giuseppe Bova Lina, Belal Haloumi, Ralph Priso

MEDIA NOTES

Toronto FC kept their first clean sheet of the 2025 MLS season.

Sigurd Rosted made his 50th Major League Soccer appearance for Toronto FC.

ROBIN FRASER - HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Q: Robin, not exactly a thing of beauty, but single point, a clean sheet. And you had a pretty good team under duress in the final minutes. Is this something you can build on?

Yeah, you literally just took my whole opening statement, but it's true, it wasn't a thing of beauty. We did grow into the game and what I think is really important, today's resilience and this is a thing to get to where we want to go, that's probably the number one thing is we have to be resilient. I think what we've seen so far this year is when things have not gone well for us. We've had lulls and in those lulls we've given up goals and that's been kind of our Achilles heel to this point today. We had to fight, we had to fight really hard at certain points in the game and it was really all hands on deck. And as you said, I think quite rightfully by the very end we were quite threatening. I thought [Tyrese] Spicer put in a couple of balls that were fantastic.

And overall, I do feel like it's something we can build on. We talked about it. We talked about how training went this week and the resilience that we saw within training showed up in the game. And obviously we want three points. We would've preferred three points but given we're playing a very good team and the fight that we showed and we get a shutout and like we said at the end we were pretty dangerous. I do think this is something that we can build on, but for us, this is about recognizing that the starting point of all of this is our willingness to fight.

Q: Deandre [Kerr] and Henry [Wingo] looked like they picked up a little bit of serious injuries at the end of the first half. Is there any kind of update?

I'm not sure what it is with DK [Deandre Kerr]. He, I think, went down awkwardly and could be something in his ankle. I think they'll do some tests tonight, tomorrow and try to get a definitive answer there. And then I think Henry [Wingo] had recurrence of a hamstring injury that he's been kind of dealing with for a while. Hopefully neither too severe, but certainly you hate when you have to make subs based on injuries. But obviously it occurred and I thought both guys had really put in a good shift to that point in terms of work. So it was obviously for us, sad to see them in a situation where they may be out for a little while, but hopefully not too long. But really the guys who came in, I think real credit to the guys who didn't start as well either because when they came in, the intensity didn't drop. If anything they picked it up and I thought, Ola [Brynhildsen], Kosi [Thompson], [Tyrese] Spicer, they brought real energy and it really I think helped kind of keep us moving forward.

Q: A little bit of a formation change today, a bit of a tactical tweak. I'm never quite sure how much of that is based on who's injured and who's available. Just what was the thinking today and what did you like about it?

The thinking was that when we have more players higher up the field and are willing to run behind than we create more dangerous opportunities. And having said that, I didn't think for the early part of the game we were as dangerous as I would like for us to have been. As I said, they're a good team and they make it difficult for you to get into the spots that you want to get into. And I thought early on we probably didn't do as good a job of getting behind as we wanted to. Coming back to the question of the formation change, but I thought as the game went on, we started to find our opportunities and second off, I thought we did a better job of finding players behind and thus creating a few interesting and somewhat dangerous moments for us.

Q: Nice to get the clean sheet after leaking goals?

Very nice to get a clean sheet. And I've said this, I think I said this during the week, that we're doing a lot of things well, but we keep having moments or we had been having moments that when you look at the goals, the number of goals we've given up and you look at how we defended kind of over the entire five games prior to this, I would say we're doing more things well defensively than we are poorly. But when you look at our goal record, it just doesn't show that. And I think we've just made too many mistakes. We've had too many lapses. We talked about engagement today and I felt like the group was really engaged and as a result we didn't have any of those moments that I think have bitten us so far. And so again, I think it's something to build on the fact that we put in a good shift. It was a difficult game against a very good team. And we talk a lot about bending and not breaking and we felt like we saw that today.

JONATHAN OSORIO - MIDFIELDER, TORONTO FC

Q: We were talking to Robin [Fraser] about this performance, a clean sheet against a good opposition and a draw, perhaps a spot that you can build off after a tough beginning of the season. Do you see it that way?

Yeah, I think the biggest thing that I personally take away from it was the attitude of the team and the intensity in which we played and the togetherness. But more than anything, just the intensity and the attitude I think was a big difference today. And I think when we put that and we focus on that, we give ourselves a much better chance in every game. And so I thought that was good against a really good team, a team that's flying right now on confidence and everything. So yeah, it wasn't an amazing performance. I'll say football-wise, we had our times where we suffered, but I thought that we kept ourselves in the game with the way we defended as a group. And at the end, honestly, I thought we were the aggressors. We were the ones trying to take three points out of it. So saying all that, yeah, it's something definitely to build on and then take into next week.

Q: The first clean sheet of this season, was there something different today or was it just as you said?

I literally just said it. So the intensity and the togetherness of the group in the way we defended the commitment, I think to give you something different, the commitment from everybody was a little bit different today, and I thought that's what led us to keeping a clean sheet.

Q: Every time it's a game between two Canadian teams, it feels a little bit like this. But was today about more than just three points over 90 minutes from you?

Yeah, of course. With the way the season has started, it is been tough. And so yeah, we know kind of that these fans deserve more and they've been wanting more. And yeah, I just thought, and the group thought the big thing was the attitude and giving our all and the commitment to get to every ball to win duals and things like that. And we knew that that would change, that would give us an edge, change the margin, give us a bigger margin to win at least. And yeah, I think we saw that because there was times when we found the confidence to play. You could see that we could play and put a little bit of pressure. I think we are missing some that final ball or runs into the box that really puts the pressure and gets us final acts in the attack. But again, the commitment and everything is a big building block that we have to take into every game.

Q: I know you are used to playing in different conditions, especially in Toronto, but you just spent time in California, you're going to Florida next week, and then you got a freezing rain warning playing today. What was it like out?

Yeah, it was cold. It was actually okay in the warmups. It was fine. And then the freezing rain came and that was difficult for both teams. Football, it's something that we have to be aware and used to here in Toronto. And so yeah, it was cold for both teams, but I thought we pushed through it and to be fair, they pushed through it as well.

Q: You've seen bits and pieces from Ola [Brynhildsen] just because of his sort of fitness issues. I'm just curious to hear your take on what's been your impression of him from what you've seen?

No, no. Yeah, he's been great. I think it's been tough for him to try and get, to get himself into a good state fitness-wise. And so that's maybe been a little bit frustrating for him, but he's working hard and today we saw him, we saw in the Cincinnati game the intensity that he brings and the running and the commitment to that running that he gives our team. It definitely helps. It helps a lot. And you saw today the danger that he can bring to a back-line. So even at the end, some of the crosses that we're putting in, he's making the commitment to run to that first post, so that makes it hard for their defenders on each of those plays. And yeah, I think yeah, the more fitness he gets, I think the more you'll see from Ola [Brynhildsen].

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