TORONTO – Three points in hand, the next game comes fast.
Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps will meet for the second time in four days on Friday night at BMO Field as the ‘Canada only’ portion of the MLS regular season continues.
In Tuesday’s 3-0 victory one of Greg Vanney’s demands of his side, that they put in a complete 90 minute performance, was answered.
Now there is a new challenge.
“Do it game after game,” said the coach on a Zoom conference on Thursday afternoon. “Now it's not just to do it for 90 minutes. It's to back up a good 90 minutes with another good 90 minutes. If you want to be in any sort of discussion – top teams in the league or Supporters’ Shield winners or anything like that – then we've got to back up good games with more good games. That's the next step.”
“Plus there's always details in every game that we want our guys to be more attentive to and better at,” he continued. “Then there's moments like this where you play a team back-to-back: how quickly can we as a group adapt to [Vancouver’s] adjustment and still try to turn the game in our vision. There will be plenty of questions that we'll want to answer in this game, as there were in the last game.”
In the normal slog of a long season, two games with such a short turnaround would be a pain, but not now.
“The guys are excited to get back out on the field again, to play another game in our stadium. And to do so in quick fashion is exciting in these times,” Vanney added. “We've done so much training and waiting around that playing another game pretty quickly is exciting for everyone.”
While TFC had the lion’s share of possession on the night and kept a clean-sheet, it wasn’t that the Whitecaps were toothless.
A Lucas Cavallini flick-on for Yordy Reyna required a Chris Mavinga intervention early on and at the start of the second half Cavallini himself broke in goal, requiring an alert save from Quentin Westberg.
Both were more quick counters than lengthy possessions; managing transitions is vital in the modern game.
“It was a really good match for us all around,” summed up Jonathan Osorio. “Maybe one thing we would like to improve – we always want to keep improving on this – is our defensive transition.”
“It's the way that teams look to hurt us and something that we always have to be careful with,” he stressed. “They got that one chance in the second half that may or may not have changed the way the game had gone. We want to limit those chances as much as we can and be able to keep imposing ourselves.”
Vancouver will be eager to flip the script, so Toronto anticipates a new and different game.
“It's not necessarily that we want to change a lot of things, but you want to keep the opposition uncertain if you can,” said Vanney. “I suspect that they will consider some sort of an adjustment to try to get themselves more into possession or in a more advanced position.”
“Any time you play two quick like this you’ve got to be prepared for some sort of an adjustment between the two games. We'll be ready for that, but some of the principles that we want to play by will never change,” he continued. “If we can keep the ball moving as quickly as we did last game that will go a long way to helping us to regain control and possession. And we've got to stay diligent, defend well, and stay focused behind the ball and deal with counterattacks.”
With the matches in such close proximity and memories fresh, perhaps another tackle or two can be expected.
That there would be at least one in the previous meeting was prophesied by both Osorio and Cavallini in a profile that aired pregame during the TSN broadcast.
The two members of the Canadian National Team have been friends and teammates since they were young; they both followed their footballing dreams to South America with Nacional’s Academy in Uruguay.
“It was funny,” laughed Osorio, when asked about the early challenge and an apparent exchange between the two friends-turned-foes on the day. “We spoke about it in those interviews a while ago, so it was ironic the way it played out.”
“But I actually didn't have words for him after – I think the camera kind of showed that, the angle, but it was actually words for the ref to keep an eye on him because he was going to come for more,” he explained. “I knew that he would have a few more slide tackles in him.”
“Right after he got the yellow card, so it was just funny,” Osorio added – Cavallini was booked in the 18th minute for another tackle. “I've known Lucas since I was a kid. I know how he plays, he plays really hard and never rests. It was funny that we both anticipated that that play would happen.”
Good-natured or not, Vanney knows his side should “expect a reaction” from Vancouver given the way that first one played out.
“These guys are all professionals because they have a lot of pride and because they have belief and confidence. I suspect that the coaches will establish a game plan that they feel will give them the best chance to get a result,” anticipated the coach. “[And the] players, I expect them to have a response, whether that's to be a little more physical or to run, to put out a little bit more.”
“It’s never a good decision to underestimate the opposition when you've had a good match against them last time,” he warned. “We have to come out with the right level of intensity – every bit of what we had last game, maybe even more – and try to establish the vision of the game on our terms as much as we can and continue to be aggressive.”
After all, these six games count for more than just the points on offer. The winner will earn a spot in the final of the Canadian Championship, a shot at lifting the Voyageurs Cup. The other finalist will be the winner of the Canadian Premier League’s Island Games.
“It’s probably the best way that you could go about the Canadian Championship,” said Osorio of the reformatted competition. “I like it. It puts even more emphasis on our games with Montreal and Vancouver – not only do they count for the league, but they also count for another trophy.”
“For everything that's going on in the world right now, it's the best way to do it and I think it's cool that it gives an opportunity to a CPL team to be in a final and challenge for the trophy,” he continued. “That’s great for Canadian soccer. Hopefully, it will be against us. We, as Toronto FC, always want to win the Canadian Championship. We want that trophy back in our hands.”
With valuable points and a spot in a final in the balance, the “age old question” haunts Vanney once more: how to strive for results while also getting more players time on the field.
“As a club that wants to be in contention for the Supporters’ Shield, to be at the highest possible position as we go into the playoffs and wants to win every single game, it's finding the right balance,” he weighed.
Between young players chomping at the bit to play – Toronto signed another homegrown player for next season in 19-year-old forward Jordan Perruzza on Thursday – and older players eager to get involved or keep sharp, the coach has decisions to make.
“It's always a question. This year has been tougher because of all the stops and starts,” Vanney elaborated. “On some level you just want to get your core group on the field together and give them some minutes to bond on the field and get some of their relationships tightened up, but then you're also trying to add to the core. It's been a challenge.”
“This is also more than just a league set of games,” he reminded. “We're playing to get into the final of the Canadian Championship. You try to keep putting the mix of players that you can build the relationships, but also try to bring guys along.”
“It's not an easy ask, but there’s more games in front of us than just this one on Friday,” he added. “So for guys who don't get to be a part of it, there's another one to come and another one after that.”
