Toronto FC still has a lot of work ahead of it to climb back into Major League Soccer contention but finally managed to create some breathing room on Friday night.
The Reds pulled out a 2-1 win over Orlando City Soccer Club in front of 28,009 fans at BMO Field to break a two-game losing streak. Their Major League Soccer record is now 3-6-1, their poor start a reflection of the injury trouble that started in training camp and has not let up.
Just when it appeared the Reds would have to settle for a draw, rookie midfielder Ryan Telfer was rewarded for a fine performance in his home starting debut. The 24-year-old Mississauga, Ont., native, who put in a tremendous performance, drove home a pass from Auro, who worked the ball along the goal line to the front of the box in the 87th minute, for his first MLS goal.
Telfer, who was playing for York University just two years ago and for its reserve squad a couple years before that, took his first MLS goal calmly despite its importance.
“Knowing what has happened before in previous matches, you honestly can’t celebrate until that final whistle has blown,” he said, but allowed he might celebrate later at home. “Well to be honest, I don’t think it has sunk in as yet. Yes, when I’ve got time to go home and see this on TV it does mean an experience and probably hit me then.”
While TFC managed a win with the late heroics, it was again obvious the vaunted depth of the Reds, which took them to the MLS championship last season, cannot withstand the run of injuries the team has had this season.
On the offensive side of the ball, the Reds were missing strikers Sebastian Giovinco, who was suspended because of a red card in his last game, and Jozy Altidore (foot surgery), who is out until at least mid-June.
“We gutted out a win,” head coach Greg Vanney said of the most important thing his team can take from the win. “Aside from that, it wasn’t a tactical beauty. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch.
“But at the end of the day, when you’re missing a lot of your attacking guys, you’re missing your left back, you’re missing pieces. For me it’s not a gauge of how beautiful the game is going to be, it’s about doing the things you have to do to get the result on the day. That’s what the guys did.”
When the TFC offensive game continued to struggle into the second half, Vanney did some shuffling that paid off. First, he moved midfielder Victor Vazquez up to the front line of the attack when the second half started. Second, Vanney replaced striker Jordan Hamilton with fellow Canadian Tosaint Ricketts in the 59th minute.
The moves paid off four minutes later when Vazquez set up Ricketts in the middle. He put his shot off the right goal post but the rebound went to midfielder Jay Chapman, who buried his second goal of the season to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.
Vanney wasn’t quite done tinkering, though. One minute after he scored, Chapman was replaced by Marky Delgado in a bid to keep the heat on. Delgado is fighting a hamstring issue, so he did not start because Vanney is trying to limit his playing time.
The Reds had a goal taken away in the 72nd minute by the video assistant referee. Ricketts scored on a feed from Vazquez but was ruled to be offside.
Orlando tied the score 1-1 a minute later thanks to a great individual effort by Josué Coleman. He worked the ball into the penalty area and found Cristian Higuita, who scored.
TFC could claim a moral victory of sorts after the first half ended with the score 0-0. For one of the few times this season, they managed to get through the early minutes of the game without giving up a goal, although their lack of finish again saw some good scoring chances squandered.
The sound defensive game was thanks to the return of defenders Chris Mavinga, Gregory van der Wiel, and Eriq Zavaleta from injuries. This allowed TFC captain Michael Bradley to return to his customary midfield position after playing centre back with mixed results.
In their last game, a 3-2 loss to the New England Revolution, the Reds gave up goals in the fourth and seventh minutes and never recovered. It was part of a trend this season that saw TFC give up goals six times in the first 15 minutes of both MLS and CONCACAF Champions League games.
But this time, with Bradley back in his familiar position, although Vanney elected to start the game with a 4-1-4-1 alignment, the Reds safely moved past the 15-minute mark.
“For me, it’s not a matter of always winning the first 15 minutes. It’s about setting up the game for it to look like how we want it to look,” Vanney said leading up to the game. “There are certain things that we feel we’re good at as a team, and there’s ways we want the game to look over the long haul to give ourselves the best chance to be successful. None of those have us giving away goals in the first 15 minutes as a positive thing.”
Telfer made a big impression in his first home start for TFC. He was a busy presence on the attacking side of the field, as he worked the ball toward the box and drew a couple of free kicks. If either Giovinco or Altidore had been around, Telfer might have been able to celebrate his first MLS assist.
In the second minute of the game, Telfer dropped a nice pass into the goal area but no one could convert it. Later on, he had a shot blocked by Orlando goalkeeper Joe Bendik and drew a free kick at the edge of the penalty area. Vazquez hit the Orlando wall with his free kick.
The problem was, there were too many of those squandered opportunities in the first half, which left the Reds scrambling in the second.
“[Telfer] did exactly what we wanted him to do on the attacking side, which was get on the ball when he could and be aggressive,” Vanney said. “Try to run at the outside back … we wanted Ryan to be aggressive to run at the outside back to get to the end line, put that player on his heels as much as he could. Just do whatever he could to try and get in dangerous positions.
“He did that and provided some decent service for us. Obviously at the end with a load of confidence he took that [ball] out of the air and finished it.”