Toronto FC lost 4-2 to Atlanta United on Saturday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
Quentin Westberg came up big in his return to goal, saving a penalty kick from Luiz Araújo in the 12th minute, but after a scoreless first half it was Juan José Purata who put the home side ahead shortly after the restart, rising up to meet a Brooks Lennon corner kick. Ayo Akinola quickly responded for TFC, capping off a smooth attack by collecting his own rebound and slotting it into the open net.
Purata scored again on the second phase of another corner kick in the 62nd minute, but once more Toronto replied, Federico Bernardeschi maintaining his perfect record from the penalty spot five minutes later after Jesús Jiménez was felled at the top of the box.
A thuderous long-range strike from Thiago Almada made it 3-2 in the 74th minute and Purata completed his hat-trick in the 88th minute from yet another set-piece to seal the result.
“The first half we just didn't find ways to close down and get around the ball,” assessed Bob Bradley post-match. “We were on the defensive, Q makes the save on the penalty – penalty comes after a bad turnover – and at halftime we have an idea of how we can rearrange some things tactically.”
“Before we really even have a chance to see if that's going to help us, [we] give a bad ball away that leads to a corner. And when we talk about the set-pieces tonight... the first one Purata slips a little behind us. The next one is the flick that gets to the back-post, we lose control on the ball that comes back. We've got three guys that are in position to deal with the next ball, we do a poor job. The last one again the flick,” he detailed. “Three goals by the guy that we had talked about as being their main threat – that's really disappointing. There have been some times in second phases of set-pieces that we haven't done great this year, but most games when we know who's their main threat, our ideas and how we can deal with that have been okay.”
Westberg summed it up succinctly: “We were late on many occasions, but weren't punished for it all that much [in open play].”
“That's the thing tonight, when you're not doing too well in a game usually set-pieces offensively and defensively are the moments where you reset and you actually have more control, you know where it's going, that's the part that is hard to understand,” he continued. “We were just not ready to give a good enough fight tonight. We got punished in the mentality part of the game. They did better with the ball, but we survived. But when it came down to mentality and small details, their central defender scored three goals on us. That hurts.”
Making his first start since July 13, Westberg came up big for his side, not just with the early penalty kick denial, but with important stops at key times.
“He made some great saves,” said Bradley. “I don't think he did well on the goal in the first corner, but you’ve got to give credit for the saves that he made in important moments. He came through in a good way on a bunch of plays.”
Getting back between the pipes brough mixed emotions considering the result.
“There’s some frustration, some gratefulness to be back on the field. There's a little bit of everything,” said Westberg. “I would have loved to come back with even a point or some sort of miraculous outcome, but frustrating on many accounts. The soccer just wasn't good enough.”
“Atlanta brought it to us, they created many chances,” he added. “They wanted it more than we did tonight, there’s no question about it. It just wasn't enough tonight for sure.”
Toronto did well to fight back twice from behind, but that wasn’t enough.
“When we went behind, we pushed back both at 1-0 and at 2-1 to push back into the game, but that also makes it even more disappointing where you can't then take advantage of that momentum and push the game and take the lead,” laid out Bradley. “And then quickly with a mistake, you’re behind.”
Much like with Jiménez’s goal against the LA Galaxy, Akinola ended his long dry spell in the league – he bagged a brace in the Canadian Championship against CF Montreal in June – scoring his first in MLS since May, but again, it wasn’t enough.
“In the first half, Ayo was not able to find good enough ways to move and find the right spaces, but the second half he worked very hard, happy to see him get a goal,” said Bradley. “There's still a lot of work to do, to sharpen him up, to get his ideas – both in terms of movement with the ball, in terms of some of his defending ideas: when to step up, how sometimes you close the centre-back down, but do it in a way that they can't play it directly to the Six on the other team – I keep working through that with him, but it was very good to see how much he put into the second half and to get a goal.”
Post-match, the locker room was quiet.
“Very quiet, quiet. A cemetery,” said Westberg. “There wasn't a lot to say. Disappointment. Some shame. Just, yeah, not a good feeling; not a good feeling.”
With the defeat, TFC’s chances of reaching the post-season become that much further diminished. The final berth is seven points away and just three games remain.
“As long as the points are manageable, then there's hope, right?” said Westberg. “But then it's in the content and what really brings us on the field and how we want to get into games and our production and everything.”
“I believe soccer gives you what you give it,” he continued. “On a night like tonight, we hoped, of course, because it's still manageable, but also we need to do a lot better and we need to take ownership of the level of play and what we do and how much we want it.”
“On the one side there's mentality, on the other side there's skills and everything that you do with the ball. It’s not being a magician. It's not hiding from certain plays. It's always being open. It's wanting the ball even when, yes, it's a difficult situation,” Westberg added. “Right now we're not where we want to be and the standards of this club are way higher. There's a lot of things that go into consideration, but as long as there’s hope – it's a French saying – as long as there's hope, there’s life.”
