Toronto FC was back in training on Wednesday ahead of its final game of the regular season this weekend on the road against Atlanta United FC.
Here are some news and notes from today’s practice.
SLUMPING REDS?
It was a laboured effort from TFC in a 1-0 home win over the Montreal Impact on Sunday, with coach Greg Vanney admitting afterwards that his team lacked sharpness.
Overall, Toronto hasn’t looked like the best team in MLS over the past month, suffering back-to-back losses for the first time this year before recovering to beat the New York Red Bulls in a bit of a shootout and just getting by Montreal.
Vanney isn’t pushing the panic button, but he does recognize that his team hasn’t been meeting the high standards it set earlier in the campaign when the Reds looked untouchable and the class of MLS by quite some distance.
“We’ve been there, we felt it, we know what it looks like, so now it’s just for us to get a little bit of rhythm back,” Vanney said after Wednesday’s training session.
“Are we playing like the best team in the league? I don’t know. You get to earn that over 34 games. You don’t get to earn that over three weeks. What I do know is that we’ll have to perform better if we’re going to lift the [MLS Cup] trophy in the end.”
According to Vanney, part of the problem has been the absences of forwards Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore, who’ve missed time due to injury.
“I don’t think we’ve been ultra-consistent. I thought we had a stretch when we had the continuity of our group – when everybody was here and everybody was healthy – we were rolling,” Vanney offered.
“When you miss players like Seba and Jozy there can sometimes be a continuity lapse, and I think that’s been part of it. It’s different for [midfielder Victor Vazquez] to play off of someone like [forward Tosaint Ricketts], who is a different player than Seba and Jozy.
He later added: “While we’ve been okay, we haven’t been our sharpest. It comes down to also being consistent over 90 minutes. We had some very good moments the other night, but we also had some very low moments. It’s just about sharpening up.”
[relatedlinks]
ECLIPSING THE POINTS RECORD
TFC’s win over Montreal brought them up to 68 points, tying the mark for the most points in a single MLS season, held by the 1998 LA Galaxy. The Reds can break the record with a win or draw away to Atlanta United FC on Sunday.
But Vanney, who played on that Galaxy side, insists that breaking the record is not his priority this weekend. Instead, he’s focused on improving the team’s sharpness and building some momentum before the start of the playoffs.
“The record is a by-product of our performance on Sunday. If we play well and execute, then we’ll get it. If we don’t then we won’t,” Vanney said.
“The focus for us over the next [few] training sessions and this one game is that we get sharp again, and we get everybody linked together and ready to go when the playoffs start.”
POTENTIAL PLAYOFF OPPONENT
Looking ahead to the playoffs, Toronto could face any one of five teams in the Eastern Conference semifinals: New York City FC, the Chicago Fire, Atlanta United FC, the Columbus Crew and the New York Red Bulls.
The Reds have winning records this season against Chicago, Columbus and both New York clubs, and tied Atlanta in their one meeting.
Vanney is focused on Sunday’s game, but he’s already started preliminary planning for its Eastern Conference semifinal opponent.
“One of my exercises has been looking at all the teams … going back and looking at our previous games against them, scouting reports before and after; what similarities do they have, what differences do they have, and starting to calculate a program for each of those teams,” Vanney explained.
Does Vanney have any preference as to who he’d like to face? If he does, he isn’t tipping his hand.
“I don’t get into preferences because you always get bitten in the rear,” Vanney quipped.
NO INJURY CONCERNS
Vanney said there are no injury concerns ahead of Sunday’s game in Atlanta.
After sitting out four games with a quad injury, top scorer Sebastian Giovinco played a full 90 minutes against Montreal, and Vanney explained the Italian came through it with no issues.
“He felt good. It was good [for him] to get 90 minutes. If you haven’t played 90 minutes in a while, then it’s good to get that feeling back. That was, ultimately, what was most important for him – getting 90 minutes, and that match fitness,” Vanney stated.
LOOKING AHEAD TO ATLANTA
Sunday’s match in Georgia is the second meeting between Toronto and Atlanta this season. The teams played to a 2-2 draw at BMO Field on April 8, with Sebastian Giovinco and Justin Morrow scoring for the Reds.
While TFC has already clinched the Supporters’ Shield (the trophy awarded to the team that finishes the MLS regular season in first place) and a first-round bye in the playoffs, Atlanta is playing for playoff positioning. The expansion club currently sits fourth in the Eastern Conference standings with 54 points, one point ahead of the Columbus Crew, and just behind the Chicago Fire (55 points) and New York City FC (56 points).
The top two teams receive first-round byes, while the third- and fourth-placed sides receive home-field advantage in the Eastern Conference quarterfinals.
Atlanta could be a playoff opponent for Toronto, so this is an important chance for TFC to get one final look at them, as well as acclimating themselves to what is a hostile atmosphere – a crowd of 72,000 spectators at Mercedes-Benz Stadium is expected for Sunday’s contest.
“The game will have intensity and presence no matter what because [of the large crowd], which means that you have to be on your game, you’ve got to be focused,” Vanney offered.
“It’s great for us to go there. It’s a team that we could see at some point in the playoffs. We haven’t been to Atlanta before, so to have that experience prior to the playoffs it’s a valuable experience.”
Former TFC defender Mark Bloom plays for Atlanta, although he’s only made two appearances this season. Forward Jacob Peterson, another former Red, also plays for Atlanta.
[snippet id= 2943445]