Toronto FC lost 2-1 to the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday afternoon in preseason action at Austin FC’s St. David’s Performance Center in Austin, Texas.
Sebastian Ferreira and Tyler Pasher scored for the Dynamo in either half before Ifunanyachi Achara pulled one back for TFC around the 74th minute.
Achara’s strike came from a tenacious passage that saw Toronto attempt to work in from the left, refusing to give up the ghost when twice the play looked to have fizzled out.
Achara himself received a ball from Lukas MacNaughton on the flank, sidestepping some pressure before dishing off to Kobe Franklin and then driving in-field to get back in front of goal. Franklin played a ball forward to Kosi Thompson, but Houston were able to intervene.
As the ball dropped at the top of the box, both Achara and Ralph Priso pressured an attempted clearance that rebounded into the path of Achara’s continued run and he coolly calculated the bounce of the ball for a tidy finish to the left-side of goal.
“It's a difficult day, conditions not easy,” said Bob Bradley post-match. “We've also trained hard, so it was evident today that in terms of energy and being able to really get after Houston, we didn't have that.”
“I take responsibility there because we wanted to continue to train hard at the beginning of the week and then give everybody 45 minutes,” he continued. “I don't think it was our best football day.”
Time is always limited in preseason, especially for a team that is in the process of redefining itself while trying to build fitness for the rigours ahead.
Houston also posed a different challenge on the day, making it a valuable experience all the same leading into the final preseason match on Saturday against Sporting KC and the start of the 2022 MLS regular season a week later on February 26 away to FC Dallas.
“At times, Houston ended up in a lower block and we still need to work on some ideas against a team that's sitting low,” highlighted Bradley. “So there's things we can take and hopefully use it in a good way.”
