With a solid month of training under the belt Toronto FC are set to partake in their first warm-up match on Wednesday ahead of the MLS regular season opener at the end of February.
TFC will play three matches at the Coachella Valley Invitational in Indio, California over the next eight days, squaring off against Vancouver Whitecaps FC on February 8, LAFC on February 11, and the Portland Timbers on February 15.
Today’s match is set to kickoff at 1 pm local time, 4 pm ET.
The club will then face the LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on February 18 to round out preparations ahead of the season opener on February 25 away to D.C. United.
Preseason progresses in phases.
The first portion is about getting back on the field, building fitness and sharpness, laying the foundations for the long season ahead. This next segment is about taking those ideas and principles and putting them into practice against an opponent aiming to do the same.
“What we're looking to do right now is to find the right ideas, the right balances,” laid out Bob Bradley on Tuesday. “When you think about how you create chances, do we go forward quickly, how we, in other moments, control games, how that fits in with the way we defend.”
TRAINING SOUND | Bob Bradley - February 7, 2023
“We've worked to create different situations where as a team we can start to develop a better understanding of how we handle specific moments on the field,” he continued. “If you talk about things like how you defend in transition, it starts with what you're doing when you have the ball and then when you lose it. There's the need for players to react in the right way. And decisions: Are we going after the ball? Are we reorganizing? We’re working in preseason to establish solid starting points for how we play, that understanding on the field, in all different ways, of how we go about things.”
As the schedule changes to matches every few days so too must the training patterns adapt – that too is in preparation for the rhythm of the fast-approaching season.
On one hand, Bradley will have more video to dissect, on the other, depending on how many minutes a player sees in a match, their training will be altered somewhat.
“We spend a lot of time with video every day,” replied the coach, asked if the flurry of matches will shift the focus from on the field to off it. “We enjoy going through training and picking out clips to either show players individually or occasionally show the group, but when you start with more matches you, based upon how many minutes you think you're going to play guys in a given match, then figure out training around that.”
“In the case of the match tomorrow, no one will play more than 45 minutes, so we were able to have a good training session yesterday and we'll push training in a smart way today and use that as a really good three-day block,” he explained. “And then we'll think through at the end of that how we want to go about things for the next match on Saturday.”
Bradley confirmed that the entire squad is available, including the latest addition Sigurd Rosted.
While the side is focused on getting ready for the season, the draw for the 2023 Canadian Championship was held on January 31, live on OneSoccer, setting the brackets for this year’s quest to lift the Voyageurs Cup.
As a finalist last year, TFC were granted a bye to the quarterfinal stage where they will face the winner of a first round tie between CF Montreal and Vaughan SC. That match is set for BMO Field between May 9 and May 11 and TFC will learn their opponent when Montreal and the Azzurri face on April 18 at Stade Saputo.
The potential of a Toronto-Montreal clash so early in the competition catches the eye, but Bradley was quick to remind the nothing is guaranteed in cup competitions.
“It looks like we’ll have the opportunity to play Montreal again, big rivalry; we’ll see what Vaughan can do,” said the TFC Head Coach and Sporting Director. “One of the great things about cup competitions in all countries is when teams from lower leagues get a chance.”
“I don't know that much about Vaughan, but I do know that they'll be excited for their opportunity and then at the end of that we'll be ready to get into it,” continued Bradley. “The history of work for TFC in the Canadian Championship speaks for itself. We're still stinging a little bit from losing in penalties to Vancouver. We start every season with that as a definite goal. We’ll be ready. At the moment you’d expect Montreal, but you never want to forget about the underdogs.”
