MLS Toronto FC

Toronto FC (1) - FC Cincinnati (2) Post Game Summary

Published on April 30, 2022 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


TORONTO FC (1) - FC CINCINNATI (2) POST GAME SUMMARY

SCORING SUMMARY

CIN - Ian Murphy 44' (Nick Hagglund, Júnior Moreno)

CIN - Luciano Acosta 52' (Alvas Powell)

TOR - Jesús Jiménez 65' (Shane O'Neill, Michael Bradley)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

CIN - Alvas Powell 50' (caution)

TOR - Ifunanyachi Achara 86' (caution)

RECORDS (W-L-D)

Toronto FC 3-4-2 11 points

FC Cincinnati 3-5-1 10 points

LINEUPS

TORONTO FC - Alex Bono; Shane O'Neill, Carlos Salcedo, Chris Mavinga (Ifunanyachi Achara 29'); Kosi Thompson (Ayo Akinola 74'), Michael Bradley (C), Jonathan Osorio, Luca Petrasso; Alejandro Pozuelo, Jayden Nelson (Jordan Perruzza 67'), Jesús Jiménez

Substitutes Not Used: Quentin Westberg, Lukas MacNaughton, Kadin Chung, Themi Antonoglou, Ralph Priso

FC CINCINNATI - Roman Celentano; Alvas Powell, Nick Hagglund, Ian Murphy, John Nelson; Júnior Moreno, Haris Medunjanin (Obinna Nwobodo 67'), Dominique Badji (Nick Markanich 90'), Luciano Acosta (C) (Calvin Harris 80'), Álvaro Barreal; Brenner (Brandon Vazquez 67')

Substitutes Not Used: Kenneth Vermeer, Zico Bailey, Harrison Robledo, Isaac Atanga, Arquimides Ordonez

MEDIA NOTES

Shane O'Neill recorded his first assist for Toronto FC.

Jesús Jiménez currently leads the league's goalscoring charts with seven goals after eight matches, tied with Sebastián Driussi of Austin FC.

BOB BRADLEY - HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Q. Of the two goals today I'm sure your team wishes they had back, do you think your team made it difficult for itself today?

We did for sure. When we started the game, the tempo was too slow which played to Cincinnati's game plan. Didn't move the ball fast enough. Didn't get forward quickly enough. And then two of the battles, we gave away a corner with an error, and then it's the second phase where we move off but we don't do a good enough job of moving up and keeping the middle compact and staying with players. We can't just move out and leave guys on side right in the middle.

Then the second one is just a second ball off a throw-in. So those are two poor goals to give up today.

A push late in the game, it's a little bit too crazy the way we are trying to get the next ball. Yeah, there's a lot of things to look at.

Q. With regards to Chris Mavinga, was that an injury or looked like he came off limping?

Yeah, I haven't been updated yet on what was but he needed to come off with some type of injury.

Q. With that, was there -- seemed like there was a tactical switch, too. What was the sort of rationale?

Yeah, going into the game, we weren't certain. They played most of their games 3-4-1-2. Today they played 4-2-3-1. The way they lined up, we felt at that point we could go to a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, take advantage of situation where is we could push higher off the field, maybe press a little bit more, so that was the tactical thoughts.

Q. Is it unnatural for there to be issues with the energy level to start the game?

It's a good question. Part of it is still when the other team does certain things to try to slow down your build up or they have got numbers back. Unlocking them early in the game, the mix between patience, control and still tempo, we haven't found the right blend of all that. So, yeah, the game for me early on, I thought our tempo was too slow.

Q. That mistake you said that led to Cincinnati's first goal, Salcedo, everybody saw. Are you disappointed with his inconsistency in his play this season so far?

As a team I feel we have to be more consistent. Finding the right way to get our best guys playing at their best levels, that's one of the most important aspects of building a good team. And I think we have had moments this year where that's been going in a good direction.

But I still think overall that's our biggest challenge and got to keep trying to find the right way. We at times changed tactically with thoughts that might not only help us engage the other team better but also help guys in terms of how we use them and get them into spots where they can be most effective.

Yeah, that's still on the coaching staff. That's on me to find the right mix of those ideas and make sure that we go on the field and have the football ideas, but together with the intensity and the mentality.

We spent a lot of time this week talking about the fact that there were moments in the NYC FC game just in terms of running hard or just in terms of getting people forward, getting in on a tackle or counter-pressing, they raise the bar in that game. We felt that in previous games, we had been making some progress but that -- you know, NYC FC is a good team. We tried to look at, this year are the things that we now -- in that regard today, it's disappointing that we didn't have a stronger response right from the start.

Q. I thought Nelson might have been one of the bright spots for you this afternoon. Do you feel like he's playing with a little bit more confidence out there?

I would disagree with your assessment. I think Jayden catches your eye on a day like today with some ability and some of the things we see that we are trying to develop but still in the final moments today when he needed to get at the right play, the right pass to create an advantage, that's our area when we talk about him being better and more consistent, that needs to go up.

So I thought he did some things in terms of, you know, exciting energy, quickness, speed, but I still feel we've got to get more of the final moments right for him.

Q. Ayo Akinola made his first competitive appearance in a year today. Can we get your assessment on his performance and will there be a partnership with Jesús?

Not enough to go on today, but training has gotten better. When we were pushing the game late, we tried to have a combination of Jesús and Jordan and Ayo, use it to push Achara higher on the right side. So there's things that we are doing at that point to try to push the game.

But the big picture is Ayo has shown confidence. There's been more moments in training where you really see him take the ball, go quickly, make hard runs to get into the box, and those are all things that are really important for him going forward.

Q. We would be remiss if we didn't talk about Jesús Jiménez adding another goal today. Is it nice to have a guy who's that automatic, give him a chance, he's going to bury one for you?

Yes, Jesús has shown that when you get him chances around the goal, he's an excellent finisher. He's got good movement, and I say all the time, and I still think there's more in there for us. I think one of the things on a day like today when we talk about tempo is also making sure that we can step up on teams; that our ability to put more pressure on them higher up the field, win some more balls to get into transition.

So I think there's more there that Jesús can do to help the team, but I know for sure that when we get him into good spots, his ability to finish out chances has been very good, and we've got to keep that and keep adding some other things to go with it.

AYO AKINOLA - FORWARD, TORONTO FC

Q: How did it feel to step back on the pitch after such a long time and how does it bode for you mentally moving forward?

I felt fine, the enjoyment, excitement after being out nine months, getting my first couple minutes back to playing, I felt good. I felt physically fine. The knee felt fine. Obviously would have been better if we got the win but overall I was happy.

Q. When you finally get into a game after all that time, how does it feel in terms of confidence, because Bob kept saying over the last couple weeks that once you get into the game and you make some plays and that kind of thing, you really feel better about yourself. Does it all come back to you after you played a few minutes?

Yeah, definitely but just more in training. As the weeks went on, the more confident and comfortable I got, being able to trust my knee and being able to put it under different situations that would occur in game situations. But for me just having the confidence more and more and for me, I felt really comfortable out there.

Q. Given all the hard work you had to put in to get back, is it possible to say what you learned from this whole experience, what you learned about yourself maybe after going through this?

Definitely life experiences, just being able to -- knowing what it really is to be a professional. Knowing what it's like to really take care of your body and knowing that your body is your temple.

For me personally, I think the biggest experience that I had throughout this journey was probably just more patience, more accepting, knowing that this is the new me with the knee. But also, having that determination factor, knowing that this is not a setback for me. You know, this is definitely a comeback and knowing that I don't want this injury to not be a flop. I want it to make me even better; makes me a better athlete, makes me better on the pitch.

Q. Since you've been back, you've been back in the squad and you've had a good view of the team, navigating tough matches against Philly and New York and when you come home it's a tough defeat against a Cincinnati team. For the team, how the team is sort of navigating this part of the season.

I mean, not everything is in -- it's just the start of the season. This is just the first part of the season, so not everything is going to be on all cylinders to begin with. And you know, still, we have a new coaching system. We have new players. So everything is not -- everything is not -- we don't expect everything to be yelling quickly. Obviously there will be ups ask downs. Right now we're down with back-to-back losses but I expect things to turn around. The players expect things to turn around and same thing with the coaching staff. But we still keep our heads-up.

But the last three matches, Philly, New York and now this one, the last two not going in our favor but I think the team has a good mentality and we are in the right spirits. Our head is right. For me personally, I don't think nothing to worry about because so early in the season but we should be focused on the details of why we had back-to-back losses.

Q. Just wanted to know what it's like training and playing alongside Jesus Jimenez, a man in form, what have you learned from him since your return to training?

I think what I've been watching or following from him is just more patience. He's very calm. Very collected. You know, I think he just goes at his own tempo. He just goes at his own pace which sometimes plays in his favor which you can see that. Already has seven goals on the season and just adding that to my game I think will be helpful and beneficial.

Q. You guys have a chance to get right back at it against Cincinnati coming up. How eager are you to get on the road?

For us, we are looking to win. We want nothing less than three points. Our team is going to be ready and we are going to come out firing and we are going to be coming back at Cincinnati they beat us at our place and I'm more than confident that we can beat them at their place.

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