Sports stats



MLS Toronto FC

Toronto FC (2) - D.C. United (1) Post Game Summary

March 19, 2022 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


TORONTO FC (2) - D.C. UNITED (1) POST GAME SUMMARY

SCORING SUMMARY

DC - Russell Canouse 10' (Nigel Robertha)

TOR - Alejandro Pozuelo 24' (Michael Bradley)

TOR - Jonathan Osorio 53' (Luca Petrasso, Alejandro Pozuelo)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY

TOR - Alejandro Pozuelo 47' (caution)

DC - Edison Flores 49' (caution)

TOR - Jonathan Osorio 55' (caution)

DC - Andy Najar 72' (caution)

TOR - Shane O'Neill 77' (caution)

TOR - Lukas MacNaughton 82' (caution)

DC - Griffin Yow 83' (caution)

RECORDS (W-L-D)

Toronto FC 1-2-1 4 points

D.C. United 2-2-0 6 points

LINEUPS

TORONTO FC - Alex Bono; Lukas MacNaughton, Carlos Salcedo, Shane O'Neill; Kadin Chung (Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty 65'), Michael Bradley (C), Jonathan Osorio, Luca Petrasso; Alejandro Pozuelo, Jayden Nelson (Ifunanyachi Achara 65'), Jesús Jiménez (Kosi Thompson 84')

Substitutes Not Used: Quentin Westberg, Chris Mavinga, Ralph Priso. Noble Okello, Deandre Kerr, Jordan Perruzza

D.C. UNITED - Bill Hamid; Andy Najar, Steve Birnbaum (C), Brendan Hines-Ike; Julian Gressel (Tony Alfaro 90'), Russell Canouse, Sofiane Djeffal, Brad Smith; Edison Flores (Theodore Ku-DiPietro 76'), Nigel Robertha (Griffin Yow 62'), Ola Kamara

Substitutes Not Used: Jon Kempin, Gaoussou Samaké, Donovan Pines, Drew Skundrich, Moses Nyeman, Azaad Liadi

MEDIA NOTES

Bob Bradley earned his first victory as head coach of Toronto FC.

Jonathan Osorio scored his 50th goal for Toronto FC in all competitions. He sits third in TFC's all-time goals list behind only Sebastian Giovinco (83) and Jozy Altidore (79).

Alejandro Pozuelo scored his 25th goal for Toronto FC in all competitions.

BOB BRADLEY - HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Your team was rewarded for its efforts today with a milestone goal from Osorio. Can you tell us what did you think of the performance?

Hard fought. You know, in a game like this, this time of the year, it's a lot about mentality, and within the group, we always work on football ideas but we talked a lot lately about also how you take the training that you put in and turn it into the game, and that includes getting to loose balls that. Includes winning headers. That includes just the mentality.

So on that end, you go down, get back on a goal, well-organized goal off the corner and then in the second half excellent goal by Oso and a really strong mentality to finish the game out.

In those ways, from a team standpoint, those are all big pluses.

Just wanted to get your thoughts on Luca's performance, collected the assist in Osorio's and had a hand in Pozuelo's goal.

I think Luca is showing that he's got really good qualities. We've talked a lot about his ability moving forward with the ball. You saw a little of that today.

But today, the biggest part you want to give credit to was just the mentality in that kind of tough game in terms of keeping his concentration defensively, some of his defensive reactions, so the package of his abilities when obviously the other team has the ball and then of course he gives us some really good things moving forward and some of his delivery, the ball he put across for Oso was fantastic.

Your first win as Toronto FC. Head coach what does that mean to get that under your belt, especially in front of the home crowd?

Yeah, mostly about winning here at home. I spoke how we were excited for the Red Bull game, and really was disappointed that we let the fans down. We had moments where I thought the football was good, but I said immediately that you can't talk about good football when you're down 4-1 at half and you lose an important home opener. I thought today the mentality was such that, look, we are going to earn the respect back game by game.

You know, early in the season, in MLS, and this is probably even more true when you're in a cold weather city, between training fields and then you're playing games in not always easy conditions, the fields aren't always great. So early in the season, the team has to develop a mentality of knowing how to go on the field, still try to play football but try to win games in different ways. For me, that's the No. 1 important part of today.

You guys had the lead last week in Columbus, I'm just wondering how important it is for the morale of the group and the mentality of the group to see out a lead this week.

Very important. Again, having a lead on a day where, again, it's not easy having control of the game, so even the way D.C. plays, you're dealing with a lot of -- there's all sorts of duels, there's loose balls and then in certain moments being able to put together a good play like we did on a second goal.

Down the stretch of the game, I thought the concentration across the board was really quite good, and you know, look, that is -- when we talk as a group of the things that you need to become a really good team, a complete team, the part of dealing with a game, the part of having a lead, finding ways to make sure that you can hold onto it, trying to get the insurance goal but if it doesn't come, making sure that the one goal deficit that you, you know, the one goal, being ahead by one goal but that's enough, so I think those are really important parts, especially, again, for a team that has young players, for a team that's still -- we're still evolving.

You know, so I think in all those ways today, I'm really proud of the commitment of the group throughout the game.

Pozuelo is a guy you've tasked with taking on more positional and defensive responsibilities. What did you see from him in that respect today and how important is it that he still finds ways to get involved in the other end of the pitch as well?

Yeah, look, the work, the discussions, they continue. As much as, yes, I did talk a lot about some positional play things, I think if you've seen -- if you've looked closely at all the games, there's still a lot of freedom that's given too, because as I get to know them, you still have to accept that there are certain parts of him that move around the field in different ways. You try to get him to understand a little bit of when -- how he can trust his teammates in some moments but how we can still get him in good spots.

You know, today early in the game, the way they were stepping up and pressing, I felt that Ale was out on the right too much. We changed a little tactically in the first half where I tried to get Oso a little bit higher and Ale inside a little bit higher so they could be a little closer to Jesus. There are different things we are trying to think about.

Look, it still comes down to how do you utilize everybody's talents in the best way. So it's still part of the discussions that go on I think within the group and certainly between Ale and myself every week.

Curious to the rational behind the three-man back line. Can you talk about your decision-making?

D.C. is a unique team. They play with three in the back. Even though at times in the buildup, Najar goes very far right and then Gressel can then move up and inside, so it's got very different looks to it.

Then in their front three, we were not exactly sure how they would lineup today but when we saw Roberto was in, you end up with Roberto and Kamara and Flores is sort of a little bit free but sort of hanging in there half-left.

And just to make it a little bit easier for our defenders, especially young guys that have to deal with wingbacks, then I think it's important that your wing backs can get out to their wingbacks.

I don't want it to be, again, a guy like Ale Pozuelo is forced to go out and defend wide in all these spots. So we tried to have ways that we can go after their back three and get after their two sixes, and I just think that we can engage a team like D.C. a little bit better than when we have three because it allows our wing backs at times to be more aggressive to get out and close down their wing backs and that way we are not defending deep all the time.

Osorio's body of work is plain to see and what he brings to the game obviously in key moments, but do you think some ways he's a bit of an unsung hero; that he doesn't get the due he deserves?

Yeah, again, I don't know in what quarters he doesn't get respect, because I think people who know football and who know the league have tremendous respect for him. People in Canada who also see what he brings to the national team I believe have a lot of respect for him.

He's a smart player. He has real ability to get up and get into the box. So four games, two times now, he's arrived in the box in really important ways and scored two goals with excellent finishes. In other moments in the game, you know, he still realizes that if Michael has got to move and cover things laterally left and right, then sometimes he's got to be defensively very ready to come back and position himself deeper.

So he understands the game. He's still on the ball. With people around him, comfortable, sometimes able to get out of tight space and make a very, very good pass.

But the combination of all those qualities and what they mean to teams and the fact that you can in different moments challenge him with different responsibilities and he's smart enough to be able to take those things on, I think that speaks to everything that he's about as a player.

What was your message to Nelson when he came off the field?

Honestly I felt when he broke in on one side without an angle, I said we need to look at it but I thought he had opportunities with maybe Ale and Jesus in the middle that I thought maybe that wasn't the right time to shoot. Look, that's part of working with young players. I want Jayden to score goals but I also want him to make good decisions.

You know, we talk a lot about his dribbling. I want him to understand how to utilize his dribbling better. You know, again, I'm also very happy with Jayden, and I would also like to mention Jahkeele because he came off last week. I'm not exactly sure the play. It perhaps was 30 seconds into the game when he jumped for a header and landed a little bit awkwardly. But he felt something, and he gets scared. The MRI didn't show much and now as he got back into training during the week, there's a question with a young player about when you feel something and now you have to come out of a game early, how long before the confidence to be back on the field, how long does that take?

And you know, the way the game was going, I spoke to Jahkeele yesterday, and then at halftime as we were thinking about possible moves in the second half, I spoke to him again and said, tell me in, your warm up and everything else, how are you feeling?"

And he ended up saying, "Look, I can do it." That's a really important step for a young player that in a situation like that, he's got the confidence to say, yeah, if you need me, I'm ready. And so I was also really happy with that part of it.

You've spoken in the past about the confidence for the team to get rewards for the hard work they are putting in. Do you see that already in the guys after today's win?

Yeah, for the first time. I think we felt that we still had a chance to take three points in Dallas. I've talked too many times already about the disappointment of the home opener last week. Still in many ways a good first half but just not the right response when Columbus pushed us in the second half, and you know, I didn't like the goals that we gave up last week. And so today, to come-from-behind, and now know how to finish the game, for me that's really important, and that is what I said during the week, it's a great group, you're working hard, I say it every week to the media, and I say it every day to them; that we are going to become a good team, but now you've got to get some rewards for yourself, so that was really, really important.

Is there an update on (Kadin) Chung?

We need to check. Would I have concern that he felt something in the hamstring.

What was your feeling when the final whistle blew, and is that any different over your career?

No, every group, you want to see the group begin to develop a mentality. You want to see the group get something to show for themselves. My thoughts are always about the work that's been put in, some of the things now that we've had to face that haven't come easily. So I'm proud then when I see a group of guys come together and take an important three points.

JONATHAN OSORIO - MIDFIELDER, TORONTO FC

Can you tell us a little bit about the play, you started the play when you intercepted the goal and you showed some pretty impressive acceleration going towards the goal.

Yeah, once we got the ball out, I forget who gave the ball to Luca, but once I saw that kind of Luca making the overlap, I kind of saw the play developing and you know, actually a little bit similar to my first goal of the season. I've seen the space in the back, just hoping -- making a hard sprint to there and making a space before the defender and hoping Luca would put the ball in that area and he put a perfect ball. Then it's just about getting good contact and putting it on the net.

Yeah, I think it was a good team goal, and for what it meant in the game, giving us the lead and the momentum, so everybody is very happy with the result today.

How good does it feel going into the international break finally getting rewarded for the team efforts?

Yeah, I think it's huge. For me personally, you want to go into the international break on a high with your club, and so that was huge.

But more so, I think for our team, you know, getting this win in front of the fans after the last result in our home opener was huge and getting the result and fighting the way we did, we wanted to give the fans more what they deserve. They didn't deserve the result in the home opener. We made sure to fight today and I think it was a very good response.

It would have been very easy to let that goal really kill our spirits, but we kept going and we got the equalizer, and the way we came out in the second half was great. Overall, just a great performance.

What does it mean to score this goal at home, and over the course of the years, is there one or two goals that stand out in your memory as one of the most memorable of your career?

Yeah, first to score this goal in the Sound End, I wouldn't want it any other way. It's where I scored my first ever goal, and to score 50 there is amazing, and just more so what it meant in this game, too, to give us the lead everything and I was happy to get that because we needed the win today.

It's been amazing. I love -- I'LL keep saying it, I'LL always say it, I love this club and I will always do my best here, and now I want to keep going. It took me ten years to get 50 but hopefully I've got another ten years in me to get another 50 and get to a hundred. So bueno, amazing, great to do it in front of my family and of course the fans. The fans have been very supportive of me since I got here. I love them and I feel the love from them, and, yeah, happy to score in front of them.

Just wanted to get your impressions of Luca so far this year, because I'm not sure there was that much hype about him coming into the season but so far he's produced as we saw today. What's been your take on how he's taken the most of the opportunity that's been given to him?

I think it's great. He's a kid that worked -- I saw him working on the training ground this off-season working every day very, very hard, knowing that, you know, if he keeps working hard, when he gets his chance that he would be ready and he has taken this opportunity, the way every -- every young player should.

He's playing with confidence and he's producing, which is important, and we're very happy, we're very happy for him. We're very happy with how he's doing and he should be very proud of himself and now he needs to not relax. He needs to just keep going and take it game by game and keep putting him in these performances because he will definitely get rewarded for it.

But yeah, it happens a lot of times that a player that's not hyped and not really talked about in the off-season or before season is the one that comes up. This is normal. I'm sure that, you know -- I hope that he's not paying attention to it but if he does, it's just fuel. It's just fuel for him to show that when I get my opportunity, I'm going to be ready. I like that in a player, and I'm very happy for him.

What does a result like today do for the group in terms of the confidence and the faith in the new ideas that you guys are putting together?

It's huge, especially for a young group to get the feeling of what it takes to get three points in this league, the hard work that you have to put into every game, I think more so it's important to have that feeling, to experience that feeling of the three points.

So I think this is a big step for us. I know all the guys are going to keep working during the international break, and looking forward to that game against New York City, then at home again. That's going to be a big game for us.

Yeah, this game was huge for us. We needed to get this and the way we performed out there, we deserved the three points. Yeah, a great feeling to get especially for the young guys to get that experience.

Can you just speak about what it meant for you and the squad to get Bob his first win as manager of Toronto FC?

Yeah, it's important to get the manager the first three points of his tenure. I mean, Bob has done such a good job of creating such a good environment in this club and trusting the young players and coaching them and coaching them in the same way and treating them in the same way he treats the veterans. It's great. You know, he has deserved these three points for a long time coming now and we're glad to give him the three points today.

Check out the Toronto FC Statistics



Major League Soccer Stories from March 19, 2022


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central