Toronto FC unable to find breakthrough in goalless draw with New York Red Bulls
Well, at least they didn’t lose.
The two teams stuck at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings heading into a midweek fixture at BMO Field remained in their respective places after a scoreless match Wednesday night, with both clubs unable to convert on their chances.
Toronto FC head coach Bob Bradley was left scratching his head following the final whistle after his side squandered a handful of opportunities in the final minutes, when a late goal would’ve been the difference.
Instead, TFC are left winless in their last four in all competitions, having only scored once through that run. Even though the result at home wasn’t what was desired, Bradley was able to take away positives from the performance with his team depleted due to injuries and a suspension.
“I thought the mentality of the group was good,” Bradley said in the post-match press conference. “I think we also had some good chances so we weren’t able to take advantage of that.”
A makeshift starting lineup was dealt another blow prior to kick-off with Mark-Anthony Kaye excluded from the matchday squad due to hip tightness. With Kaye’s absence, Richie Laryea was forced to play centre-back for the evening, learning an hour before kick-off that he would play in a new position for the very first time. The Canadian international echoed Bradley’s sentiment of being proud of the overall display.
“That’s football,” Laryea said postgame. “Teams go through stretches like this, we have a good team, we’re missing a lot of people, we have young guys playing that haven’t had a ton of experience. I think it’s better to go through stretches like this now versus somewhere later in the season.”
The injury woes didn’t let up for Bradley’s squad, with Deandre Kerr exiting the match in the first half after suffering a knock to his head. Themi Antonoglou stepped in to replace Kerr, making just his second appearance of the season in the process and representing the next-man-up mentality that the team has had to embrace in the first few months of the season.
The final half-hour was dominated by the hosts as they searched for a late winner, but came up short. Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi dictated the attacking play but neither were clinical enough in the moments that called for precision.
In the 80th minute, a high-arching Bernardeschi cross found Insigne just yards from the net, but his header was denied by Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel. Five minutes later, Bernardeschi sped towards goal and again looked to set up his teammate, but couldn’t connect on a pass that would’ve put Insigne in a perfect position to finish the match.
“Would I like to see him in that moment find a way to slow down, pause, decide what foot to play on, and slip the ball across to Lorenzo and we take the lead? Yeah,” Bradley admitted after the match.
“When a team goes through a tough stretch then you’re trying to keep everybody going, not just mentally, but so that when plays come their way they’re sharp.”
Bradley will hope to see his stars find that sharpness when the Reds travel to face Austin FC in their next match on Saturday.
My first comment on wakingthered.
Became a reader fairly recent when zee scheisse show on the pitch created frustration in the stands but was not mirrored on toron’ofc.ca. All articles there are politically correct where nothing bad is said about the boys even though those were games where Obvious became Captain, bad soccer on the pitch. Coming here, I found a better analysis of the games and enjoyed reading the comments, as they matched reality. But this article about the game last night is torontofc.ca type of article. Soft and just a speaker for Bob Bradley ‘s platitudes. It focuses too much on the last minutes of the game when opportunities were squandered. How about the entire game? Low quality soccer on both sides. What if NY scored early in the game? Bob put Laryea in center taking the ball from the only person creating something in attack in all the previous games. The DPs are soft, slow and predictable. They cannot create for themselves and they have no support. They do have technical quality but you need tactics that help them not being shutdown by inexperienced 20year olds. Don’t you wanna break something when you hear that Bob hopes for things to be good and not be bad? Bob Hope as a coach. *Disclaimer – 1st season ever to have TFC season seats; 35 years experience in watching high level European and South American football; 35 years of looking down on MLS soccer; self proclaimed couch coach.
Welcome to WTR!
Agreed – mlssoccer / tfc.ca are certainly league / club propaganda. This club is in bad shape and has regressed pretty badly since Vanney. I was never a fan of his mind you, but Armas and Bradley are clearly even worse than he was
I agree for the most part with both of you. This article is weak and is almost giving bob some credibility when he is nothing but a scarecrow of a coach who is a complete failure on all fronts. Articles now should be focusing on why MLSE hasn’t fired him, where everywhere else in the world he would be gone.
MLS hasn’t been around for 35 years though. And stop looking down on MLS. It’s ours. It’s local. It’s feeding our national team (as is the CPL).
Great post though. Welcome.
Don’t be this guy. There’s no need. The moment I decided to get season seats MLS has my full attention.
It does not change a few things, though. In a league where there’s no relegation as a supreme punishment for being sh1t Ownership and Management can be complacent. Players can be complacent. MLS people do not know the dread of losing a spot in the main league and how that pushes one to actually play till you bleed. How it pushes top brass to make drastic changes before it is too late. Read Perrerira11’s comment: bye bye playoffs. That is the punishment for a bad season. Competition wise it is a participation prize for everyone. You can be mediocre and sub-mediocre for decades and one should not look down on MLS and its format? In Europe, MLS is considered the place where dinosaurs come to die. There isn’t a big line up of top players leaving top leagues to come to North America.
I know this is what it is, but it is what you said and it also is what I said. Don’t make this a pissing contest. Cheers.
Show me a club and league in any sport anywhere that isn’t soft and I , well whatever.
Absolutely no cutting edge to score, including some very expensive DPs. People liked dumping on Ayo and Themi A for last night, but the scooted no fewer than anyone else.
Some positives last night. Richie thrust into CB last moment and the back line did well enough.
Oldest Bradley actually made a tactical change at half and had Thomson lower and bringing the ball up through the centre more often to a more central Insigne.
Realistically though, not much creativity in the MF with Oso gone, (remember when it went to hell last year?) so, may be a long 20 some games to go.
“Show me a league that isn’t soft …”
Ummm, NFL.
Now finish your sentence please.
This team is going to need at least 45 points to make the last playoff spot. They’re currently on 13 points. There are 21 games left. TFC would need to get 32 points from the remaining 63 that are available. That’s not happening, the season is over.
I can’t blame Bob. He didn’t hire himself, he’s not the responsible for keeping himself employed. The longer this goes on the more I’m certain that Manning has to go.
Bob has to be fired now, especially before the secondary transfer window opens up so he can’t pile more expensive deadwood onto this fire. I want Tata Martino as the coach. Bring him in well before that secondary window opens, so he can see who he actually wants to keep because there are several players whose contracts aren’t expiring this year and they have to leave now as soon as possible.
Bye bye playoffs, another wasted season. Guess MLSE are happy to pay Insigne’s salary and have nothing to show from it.
Well Insigne can always send some back. While his support has been injured, he isn’t finishing very well at all. Should’ve had two on Wednesday night – absolute sitters.