On Friday night Toronto FC Academy teams continued their three-game tour of Columbus and after two wins and a draw Thursday, the Reds kept an unbeaten record by winning all three of their matches the next night under stormy conditions.
U19 Report: Camargo Scores Again
Toronto FC Under-19 team won its first game 2-1 over U18 Crew Soccer Academy. On Friday, they controlled the match throughout and came away 1-0 victors against 93/94 Crew Pre-Academy.
The Columbus side failed to find much in the way of attack thanks to a very organized TFC defence, according to head coach Danny Dichio, who was pleased by this development as it was one of the primary things he has been working on with his youngsters.
The goal arrived from Sergio Camargo (second goal in two nights) when he headed home from an Omari Morris cross after he “tormented” an opposition left back, Dichio reported.
The coach singled out captain Chris Mannella and Michael Wagenknecht at midfield for their strong, industrious effort.
“I was very happy with every single member of the squad tonight as they showed great attitude & togetherness to carry out the game plan given to them,” Dichio told TorontoFC.ca.
U17 Report: Working Through Delays
Not to be outdone by the senior Academy side, Jimmy Brennan’s Under-17 team won its second game in as many nights defeating the Midwest Regional League’s Crew U-16 by a 3-1 margin. The start of the match was delayed by 20 minutes due to inclement weather.
The first goal came from a penalty when Braden Culver was brought down in the box after a combination play. This allowed Daniel Jodah a chance to convert. Brennan said the forward put the penalty away “with confidence and with ease” to give the Reds a 1-0 lead.
Columbus leveled at the 38th minute but conceding so close to halftime only motivated TFC to do better in the second half.
After a few changes near the hour mark, Brennan’s boys raised the tempo leading to goals from Manuel Aparicio at the 65th minute. Mark Wadid struck five minutes later from a “superbly taken free kick” to cement the 3-1 final. Like Camargo with the U19s, it was Wadid’s second goal in as many nights.
After the final whistle Brennan hailed the outcome as a “great performance from our young boys and I'm very happy to see the confidence in these boys getting stronger and stronger.”
U15 Report: Early Strike & Resiliency
Toronto’s Under-15 team was held to a 1-1 draw Thursday, but a night later there was no holding them back against Crew Challenger U15, a Columbus affiliate in the Cleveland, Ohio area. Their zip code was of little relevance in the Reds' 3-1 victory.
Scoring started at the 11th minute when centre back Francesco Sinopoli got his head to the ball from a set-piece, giving Toronto the 1-0 lead.
Assistant coach Michael Stefano told TorontoFC.ca he witnessed “some fantastic combination play and great spells of possession” for the remainder of the half, leading to a second strike for the Reds. This time Tomasz Balicki was through on goal before he made it count for 2-0.
Stefano lamented “a momentary lapse in judgment” for the Reds conceding seven minutes into the restart but the 2-1 lead would be stretched again thanks to “tremendous character and resiliency” from Toronto.
Just 12 minutes after Crew Challenger felt it had a foot in the door it was slammed shut by fine dribbling and finish from Andrew Lien at the 64th on way to a 3-1 final.
“These boys have made us very proud with the first two performances,” Stefano said after the match. “We are looking forward to much more from this particular group of young talented footballers.”
Up Next
Players and staff had Saturday off, which they enjoyed by watching Toronto’s two chief Major League Soccer rivals Montreal and Columbus play at Crew Stadium. Columbus won 2-0.
On Sunday, all three teams are back in action with matches starting at 9:30 a.m. ET.
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