Toronto FC eliminated by CF Montréal in Canadian Championship quarter-finals
In a tournament they expect to be competing to win every season, Toronto FC will not add a ninth Voyageurs Cup to the trophy cabinet this year.
It was another disappointing night for TFC at BMO Field as they lost to their rivals from Québec on Tuesday in the quarter-finals of this year’s Canadian Championship.
As seen in numerous matches so far this season, TFC allowed pressure in the opening moments in this contest as well. About 30 seconds in CF Montréal midfielder Mathieu Choinière had a somewhat uncontested shot from around the opponent’s box but the attempt went wide of goalkeeper Sean Johnson’s goal.
Toronto’s first chance of the night came in the 14th minute as Brandon Servania’s shot was parried away by CFM goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois. Credit to Federico Bernardeschi for a moment of quality to begin the play and find Servania in the right space.
The injury bug came back to haunt TFC tonight. Just 20 minutes in, Alonso Coello was forced off due to an ankle injury he suffered during a challenge just a few minutes earlier.
The sequence between the 33rd and 35th minute shifted momentum in favour of the visitors. Off a blocked free kick from Federico Bernardeschi, Montréal countered in quick fashion and took the lead through Canadian defender Zachary Brault-Guillard.
Montréal doubled their lead just four minutes later when striker Chinonso Offor headed the ball past Johnson.
The Reds would get a goal back before halftime. Lorenzo Insigne finished off a play which began with substitute Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty winning the ball back and feeding Richie Laryea, the man on loan from Nottingham Forest sent a pass to the Italian winger who had the simplest of tasks to put the ball in the back of the net.
The majority of the second half consisted of the home side trying to find the tying goal, but to no avail.
There will be more worries on the injury front because centre-back Sigurd Rosted walked straight into the tunnel after being substituted at the 80th minute after he appeared to sustain a rib injury.
“There are different types of injuries. If a player rolls his ankle or a guy takes a knock in the ribs, they’re all injuries and the list is long right now,” head coach Bob Bradley said post-match, acknowledging the current injury issues within the squad.
Bradley also addressed his team’s effort.
“Decent enough start, then we lose these two goals. We put ourselves in a hole. We started to respond in the first half, we get a good goal. In certain moments, the quality of crosses and touches at the end, still not good enough to make more big chances. Good effort though, from a lot of guys to push hard in the second half,” said Bradley.
The importance of the Canadian Championship is not lost on Bradley who admitted what a gut punch Tuesday’s loss was for the TFC faithful.
“This game meant a lot to us tonight, going out is a big disappointment for all of us. We understood the importance for our fans, we wanted to win in front of our fans and we know how much it meant to them,” Bradley said.
Insigne, Bradley’s lone goal scorer, has been a major talking point since returning to the starting lineup April 22, the 4-2 loss in Philadelphia.
“Lorenzo wants this team to be good, he wants to play well. Right now we’re not doing enough. That’s frustrating for him because he’s committed. On a night like tonight, it doesn’t all happen and our challenge is to find a way to keep him going in the best way possible,” Bradley said.
Richie Laryea was not happy with his team’s performance against their most heated rival.
“It’s not enough. Obviously we pushed hard in the second half, but when you’re down two goals and they start sitting deep, it’s difficult,” Laryea said in his post-match press room availability.
With a quick turnaround, Laryea and his teammates now have to put their focus back to MLS action. Up next? Montréal again.
“We have a sense of what they [Montréal] do. We take away stuff we can improve on, and obviously go for three points on the weekend. We need a massive turnaround from this point forward,” said Laryea.
The visitors become the hosts on Saturday, as CF Montréal take on TFC at Stade Saputo in MLS matchweek 12. Kick-off is set for 7:30 p.m. EST.
#FireBradley
You need OneSoccer for the Canadian championship and Apple TV for regular games but sometimes you don’t need Apple TV.
This setup plus the team playing like crap is killing my friend’s interest in TFC.
“Decent enough start”, erm no.
Tactics, if there are any, don’t work.
First goal is a shit show, what else can you say. Second goal is even worse. 2vs1 on Laryea, where is Kaye? Where is the support? Mabika gets caught ball watching and it’s a goal.
Laryea is the only one with heart on this team. The DPs are ineffective under this coach. Bernardeschi now enters his longest goal/assist drought since he joined. Coello is injured, Rosted is injured. Subbing on Akinola doesn’t matter because he can’t create his own goals and the strikers get no service. Subbing Kerr on doesn’t matter because the ball can’t get to him to run at defenders and shoot from the top the box. No point in subbing Franklin and putting JMR there when he had a part to play in the goal while playing in midfield.
You ready for some OPTA stats?
There are 29 teams in the MLS
– Montreal are ranked 28th for total shots from open play
– Montreal are ranked 27th for xG from open play
– Montreal are ranked 28th for goals scored from open play
– Montreal have the 4th highest xG against themselves from open play
-Montreal are tied in 2nd for the most goals conceded from open play
– Montreal are tied in 4th for having the most shots against themselves from open play.
Toronto are better in every category mentioned. They shoot more and receive less shots, they score more and concede less, etc. This should have been an easy win. It’s actually remarkable how badly they fucked this one up.
And if anyone from MLSE is reading this, for the love of God stop doing that little fashion show that you clowns have the players do before the game. This team plays like dogshit, the last thing I want to see right now is grown men rocking up to the game, happy as a clam to show off their little outfits for the cameras. Give it a rest. Spare me the pageantry for when they actually win something.
Enough is enough, reading a “post mortem” every time your football team plays is numbing.
For people who don’t think Bob is the issue, or who believe that he has player confidence, look at his time in the UK. Search “Brad Bobley” on YouTube to see what people thought if his approach to the game.
It seems Bob bounced around different leagues/countries not to gather broad ideas or feed innovation. He was looking for a place to apply his rigid ideas, ones locked in time, somewhere people wouldn’t complicate things for him.
Bob as coach is not as big of a problem as Bob as this teams General manager , no manager out there Klopp Mou Pep Ancellotti would get this team anywhere near playing respectable looking football. Looking a last nights starters back 4 Mabika (no football resume has played nowhere) looked bad on second goal, Lareya – what kind of effort was that on second goal? get up off your ass and defend! Rosted (how bad has he looked the last few games?) Franklin (TFC 2 product last year, so he was playing semi pro 6months ago correct?) Midfield -Servania (nothing more then a lifer journey man in MLS) Coello ( TFC 2 product again semi pro 6 months ago) MAK( he has not looked good the guy that we traded away for him would do the same job at a small fraction of the cost we put out for Mark) I want Bob out for the atrocious job he has done constructing this team after he wasted a year with whatever the F he was doing with this club.
Here is something from the LA Times when Bradley was let go by LAFC;
“But LAFC, hampered by injuries to key players, went 12-13-9 and finished ninth in the Western Conference this year, two spots out of a playoff berth. Just seven players remain from that record-setting 2019 team and some of those won’t be returning, something that factored into Thorrington’s decision to make a coaching change.”
So, injuries, missing play-offs, players leaving. And Manning game him the keys and 4 years. He has repeated the pattern quickly here and we can’t do anything about it as his winning record slides toward “worst coach” status each time they play.
As recently as a month ago there was lively debate on this site why Boob Bradley has done a good job, it is all gone now, those posters have vanished , entire fan base wants this clown gone and fast.
All the audio from the post game press conference 51 minutes! of the Canadian Championship QF between York United FC and Vancouver Whitecaps played May 10/23. Austin Ricci and Martin Nash and Vanni Sartini and Simon Becher. http://www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com/reports23/23york061.htm