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MLS Toronto FC

Toronto FC (1) - New York Red Bulls (4) Post Game Summary

March 5, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


March 5, 2022

TORONTO FC (1) - NEW YORK RED BULLS (4) POST GAME SUMMARY

SCORING SUMMARY

NYR - Lewis Morgan 17' (Patryk Klimala, Frankie Amaya)

NYR - Lewis Morgan 24' (Patryk Klimala, Omir Fernandez)

TOR - Jesús Jiménez 35' (Luca Petrasso)

NYR - Lewis Morgan 40' (Patryk Klimala)

NYR - Aaron Long 42' (Frankie Amaya)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

NYR - Dylan Nealis 31' (caution)

TOR - Carlos Salcedo 61' (caution)

NYR - Patryk Klimala 67' (caution)

NYR - Sean Nealis 86' (caution)

RECORDS (W-L-D)

Toronto FC 0-1-1 1 point

New York Red Bulls 2-0-0 6 points

LINEUPS

TORONTO FC - Alex Bono; Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (Kadin Chung 70'), Shane O'Neill, Carlos Salcedo (Lukas MacNaughton 80'), Jacob Shaffelburg (Ifunanyachi Achara 46'); Michael Bradley (C) (Ralph Priso 80'), Jonathan Osorio, Alejandro Pozuelo; Jayden Nelson (Noble Okello 70'), Luca Petrasso, Jesús Jiménez

Substitutes Not Used: Quentin Westberg, Chris Mavinga, Deandre Kerr, Jordan Perruzza

NEW YORK RED BULLS - Carlos Coronel; Aaron Long (C) (Tom Edwards 66'), Sean Nealis, Dylan Nealis; Lewis Morgan, Frankie Amaya (Daniel Edelman 89'), Dru Yearwood, John Tolkin; Tom Barlow (Serge Ngoma 83'), Omir Fernandez (Caden Clark 66'), Patryk Klimala (Zach Ryan 89')

Substitutes Not Used: Ryan Meara, Lucas Monzón

MEDIA NOTES

Jesús Jiménez scored his first goal for Toronto FC.

Luca Petrasso made his Toronto FC debut and registered his first assist for the Reds.

Kadin Chung and Lukas MacNaughton also made their debuts for Toronto FC.

BOB BRADLEY - HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Bob, in the first half to start with, it looked like things are going pretty well on offense. Petrasso was doing some great things down the flank. Was this just a case of the Red Bulls punishing you on mistakes?

Yeah, there were good things in the first half, but it's impossible to then say we're playing well when we're down 4-1 at half. They punished us twice with just a ball that comes loose on our left side, and then a cut back towards the edge of the box to Morgan. I thought we did well to get back to 2-1.

I still felt like we were finding good spaces in the game, controlling some of the midfield. The third goal off of our attacking corner is a real killer, and then we top it off with the goal on the lateral free kick.

So a really tough day. We can't speak about positives because, at the end of it all, it's just not good enough in the balance. You look hard at it and you work through it and be ready for next week.

Just wanted to get your evaluation of Luca Petrasso on the day. Especially he started up front in the first half, and then you moved him back in the fullback position. What did you see from him today?

In the first half, he was really bright. That's what we've seen of him lately. I think he took the opportunity to start. A lot of our attack in the first half came down our left side through him. So a really positive day.

When he went to left back, yeah, there's a few moments now defensively where in certain moments he got caught on the wrong side of a guy, and we got to work through some details, but happy for him. I thought especially the first half was very good.

When you have two young players like Jacob and Jahkeele learning a new position, what kind of lessons do you hope they take out of a difficult day like today?

Specific details, I need to go back through. But certainly it's -- games against Red Bull are different because you feel like you've got, in some moments, control of the game. But then the ball gets knocked forward, and then very quickly off of a second ball they've got guys running. And there's also moments where the game becomes pretty physical.

So I think that in both situations, just the ability to deal with plays quickly, make good decisions, physically be ready to -- do you go in to win the ball? Do you go in to control the man? So those are the kinds of things I'm thinking about right now.

Bob, I just wanted to sort of get your view on Jayden and Jahkeele, who obviously started in Dallas. This was only their second start of the season. What did you see from them?

In both games, I think Jayden has shown energy, has had an ability in some moments to get away from people. Haven't yet gotten the final moments right in terms of whether he can shift down, make the right pass, whether he's going to be able to create a chance for himself. So some of those little things -- well, they're not little. The end of the plays, I think, are still where we've got to continue to push Jayden.

Jahkeele, has done really well as a young player on the right side. He finds good ways to join in the attack. If he gets pressed, he can dribble by the man. He can dribble inside. He can make passes.

There's some moments defensively in this game in terms of positioning, and I mention again the physical part. Is it a ball that you can win? Can you see it a little faster? Or is it a moment where you're not going to get there and you've got to have a better way to control the man?

What's your message to the guys after a day like this? We saw you having a little bit of a chat with Jahkeele as he came off.

My message to Jahkeele is that I think he's going to be a really good player. I have complete confidence in him and that we're going to learn from little things that happen on days like today and we're going to keep pushing him forward. But he's doing a lot of great things, and I want him to stay strong. Together we can keep pushing him.

For the group, I said, look, we'll come in on Monday. We'll have a better idea of certain things that we want to talk about. But I have confidence that we're going to become a really good team. But a good team still on certain days where maybe something goes against you, your response. We really hurt ourselves by the two -- the third and the fourth goals. That's where we really killed ourselves.

If we go in 2-1 is at halftime having responded well with a real chance to look at a few things, I think the second half gives us a real opportunity. But to give up the three and four before half and put ourselves down 4-1, that is the biggest thing that happens today, that we completely let ourselves down and let the game get away from us.

LUCA PETRASSO - MIDFIELDER, TORONTO FC

Congratulations on the debut. I appreciate that the result wasn't how you would have wanted to turn the debut. Overall, what was it like out there for you playing in your first Toronto game, especially after the halftime switch where Bob switched you back to left fullback.

I thought it was very cool. I was obviously quite a bit nervous before the game. I had all my family there watching. It was amazing. I thought it was amazing, the atmosphere was amazing. Just really excited to get going and get my opportunity to play.

Yeah, I started off on the left wing, but I thought I did quite well. Obviously, we didn't get the result. Obviously, (we need to) bounce back in the next game.

We saw you over in the stands. I'm guessing that was your family that you were saying hello to after the game. When did you sort of find out you were going to be getting the start today?

Yeah, that was my family that I went up to after the game. They came closer to the field to say hi, congratulate me on my debut. So that was very nice of them.

I kind of knew in the beginning of the week. I was training with the starting lineup in their training sessions, and we do 11 v. 11, I was put up as a left winger. So I think I had an idea that I was going to be playing this game, and then as the week went on, I was consistently there and training with them.

So I kind of had to get my head wrapped around it to go. But I played wing in the past, and obviously an attacking fullback, a wing back. So I was quite comfortable to play in that position.

Luca, just congrats again on the debut. As someone who's played most of your life with TFC Academy, TFC II, now the first team, can you describe your emotions coming into this and playing in front of an almost packed field? Is that the moment you've been looking forward to for quite some time?

Thank you. To be honest, I was very nervous. I saw all the fans when we were walking onto the field. But to be honest, it's a dream come true. I remember when I was a little kid, I would do the ball boys in the MLS Cup Playoffs and MLS Finals. So I had that dream of playing on the field and playing with the players I'm playing with now, a lot of players I look up to and hope to have amazing careers like them.

But it's a dream come true honestly to play in front of my family, in front of the fans. Obviously, it's just the first game, but to keep on focusing and working to play many more to come.

How have you found the sort of step up to MLS? I know you've had this goal in mind for a long time, but to have to take those final preparations to be ready for it, how have you found that?

Not too difficult. I've trained with a lot of the players over the past years and preseason and during the years when I was a TFC II player or coming up from the Academy, I've gotten opportunities to train with the team and with the club and be a part of that environment.

But I have a lot of great players and great people at the club and the staff that helped me along the way, a lot of players that I played with growing up through the academy. So I think it's a great group of guys that can help me along the way, and I'll keep getting better and better each day.

JESÚS JIMÉNEZ - FORWARD, TORONTO FC

In the beginning of the game, Toronto seemed to be doing fairly well on the offense, and you had more of the ball. Was it a shock that you went into halftime trailing 4-1?

Yeah, of course, it was shocking and surprising to see that. We enter the game with all the positive momentum that we wanted to win the game, with the idea of controlling the game, having possession of the ball. But the other team had opportunities, and they scored those goals.

That's the way soccer is. It's difficult. At the end of the day when you're down 4-1, every play gets even harder. And when you make mistakes, it gets even worse. So it was a difficult day for us, of course, but there isn't much I can say. It was a bad day for us.

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