Toronto FC picked up a valuable two points in their Leagues Cup opener with a 5-4 shootout victory over the New York Red Bulls following a scoreless draw on Saturday night at Red Bull Arena.
Shane O’Neill scored the decisive spot kick and Sean Johnson saved Red Bulls final attempt from Andrés Reyes to ensure the bonus point would be accompanying TFC back home for the second group stage match against CF Pachuca next weekend.
“This is a really tough place to come, the Red Bulls are one of the most aggressive in MLS, you've got to really put a shift in to get anything out of a game here,” said John Herdman post-match. “They’re the hardest working team [in the league] and they have a relentless energy just to keep coming, so I was proud of the lads tonight.”
“We had some good moments, particularly in the first half and obviously at the end, and they had some good moments to win the game as well, some good saves from Sean [Johnson],” he continued. “All in all happy to take the two points tonight – in the first match we'll definitely take that in the group stage.”
“Big moments from O'Neill, scoring his first ever penalty and Johnson making some brilliant saves. Happy to see our captain Jonathan Osorio step up and finish his penalty tonight,” Herdman added. “All around just really happy with the commitment to grind a result out here.”
Having gone over the tape from the previous meeting and noting Red Bulls success in recent matches, Herdman adapted his side’s tactics for the night.
“Typically we would come in with a back three,” he explained. “I've been watching the Red Bulls, the last few games playing against back three teams, [FC] Cincinnati, etc., they've developed a pretty good formula and were in a good rhythm against that structure, so we adapted to a 4-4-2 and I thought the lads did well to keep the chains tight between the lines.”
“Red Bulls is about defensive transition,” Herdman continued. “It's about that commitment to win the race against the person who's going to try and get beyond you in that transitional moment. They're brilliant at it. And I thought the lads, particularly Raoul Petretta, Nicksoen Gomis, Deybi Flores, made some real good recovery runs in moments where last time we were here we got punished.”
Toronto were able to largely take that sting out of the game through the first half and find a few chances of their own: a good move up the right involving Osorio and Richie Laryea found Federico Bernardeschi in space and his ball into the middle forced a near own-goal and Petretta found Osorio in a pocket of space with a cut-back, his Ryan Meara was sharp to that as well.
And Johnson, in goal, was equal to the tests when they came. Rushing off his line to get a piece when Lewis Morgan was getting set to strike and tipping a Dante Vanzeir header over.
“He has to do that for this team,” said Herdman. “I said this at the beginning of the year, if you’re pushing for a championship, goalkeepers will win you championships, defenses will win you championships. Keeping clean-sheets are as important as what happens at the other end of the pitch.”
“Sean was good tonight. He wasn't overly busy, but he came up big,” he added. “That's the testament of a top keeper. When you're not that busy, but you're concentrated and you're able to do what he’s done for us all season.”
Both teams went to their benches in the second half and the game opened up a little. That TFC, with some new found depth, were able to bring leadership off the bench made a difference in seeing out the match.
“We were able to put five or six leaders on the pitch at different times now. We're able to take a couple out and add another one in there,” summarized Herdman. “That's really important that you have that leadership to just see the team through those tough periods or to be able to shift momentum through their quality.”
“They did that tonight,” he continued. “You look at Osorio back on the pitch and then you see the defensive quality of Richie, the timing and the understanding of when to step across a man, when the drop and use his pace. Those players can make a big difference. And then Lorenzo, right in those last day moments, I thought he’d nicked the winner, and then we mentioned Sean. These players and Federico are key to our team to help us on a championship push.”
“That's a couple of clean-sheets now,” Herdman noted. “We know that that's a starting point for our team; as long as we can keep those clean-sheets we always have a quality to win a match. It's a start and, as I said to the players, as long as we grow. Last time we came here we were too open and we fell right into the Red Bulls transitional style. Tonight we learned our lessons.”
Johnson made a pair of saves in the shootout and Matty Longstaff, Kosi Thompson, Derrick Etienne Jr., Osorio, and O’Neill all converted their penalty kicks to secure that extra point.
With both Toronto and New York to face Pachuca in the coming days – the Red Bulls on Tuesday at Red Bull Arena and TFC next Sunday at BMO Field - it could prove vital in reaching the knockout rounds.
“We set the mentality for the group tonight that coming into a game like this you have to take a minimum of two points,” said Herdman. “We had to grab that bonus point and put ourselves in a position where you can control your destiny a bit.”
“Pachuca coming in here, [Red Bulls] will be a tough match for them, even with their championship mettle and having Pachuca at home gives us that little bit of advantage,” he continued. “We know they're a top team, we've seen what they did to Columbus [in the Concacaf Champions Cup Final] – there ain’t many teams that do that. We got a chance to see [Salomón] Rondón in the Copa América and the sort of threat that he brings.”
Rondón scored Venezuela’s goal against Canada in the quarterfinals lobbing Maxime Crépeau from the middle of the park.
“This is going to be a tough test, but we've took ourselves into that game with the best opportunity now to progress,” closed Herdman. “The mentality is ‘tournament football:’ you’ve got to win your first game, but you cannot lose it.”
