Toronto FC returned to the training pitch on Tuesday. Saturday’s stinging defeat in Los Angeles has been left in the past as the squad prepares for Sunday’s nationally televised match against New York City FC.
Andrea Pirlo officially signed with the expansion franchise this week, but he won’t feature against the Reds on Sunday. Frank Lampard, however, will make his MLS debut.
“I don’t know exactly how they intend to use him based on their lineup and the positions they utilize,” said Greg Vanney following training.
“He’s a player who can create things, he arrives into the box late, he’s a goalscorer but he’s also (a set-up man) for them. Obviously he’s a guy we need to be aware of but without seeing him in this league it’s tough to say how he’ll immediately adapt. That’s always a challenge for players who come from international leagues.”
TFC wants to move forward after the 4-0 drubbing suffered at the hands of the Galaxy at the StubHub Center.
Damien Perquis believed the scoreline was a result of the Toronto’s poor play, not the Galaxy’s brilliance.
“You think they did well, or we did bad?” he asked. “No, it’s the second thing for me. We had a bad game.”
Perquis’ head coach echoed the fiery Pole’s comments.
“The short of it is we flat out weren’t good enough. We were disjointed in a lot of ways as a collective group, and we had a lot of subpar (individual) performances in general.”
The Reds will look for revenge at Yankee Stadium after NYCFC took three points at BMO Field three weeks ago.
Injury Notes
Though Mark Bloom was on the bench for the Galaxy match he was rested once again. Vanney indicated the way the game played out, with the Reds falling behind early, was one of the reasons for the precaution. Bloom could see his first start of the season in New York.
Steven Caldwell trained with Toronto FC II over the weekend as he works his way back to full health. Clement Simonin inches closer to making his return. The Frenchman was a full participant in training on Tuesday.
Luke Moore is back with the squad after travelling to England over the weekend after a death in his family. Bright Dike is also eligible to play on Sunday after returning from his loan stint with the San Antonio Scorpions.
