In this week’s video room, we take a look back at a highlight reel moment from Toronto’s attacking trio to produce the equalizer against Atlanta United FC.
The Situation
The Reds found themselves in an early hole after Héctor Villalba opened the scoring in the 15th minute. And after being shutout at home the previous week, Toronto was determined to give their home fans something to cheer about. Just five minutes later, the combination of Victor Vazquez, Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco provided exactly the response they were looking for with a five-star finish.
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The Play
The move starts with Armando Cooper and Justin Morrow about 40 yards from goal as they begin to probe for an opening. Vasquez cleverly finds some space for himself, ghosting between Atlanta’s midfield and defensive lines to get free along the left wing.
The free flowing movement didn’t end there, as Vazquez showed off his brilliant vision to pick out Altidore at the top of the box. The USMNT striker could have taken a touch to control as the pressure came in, but instead opted for a first-touch back-heeled through ball into Giovinco.
It needed to be inch-perfect, and it was just that. From there, the Atomic Ant made no mistake to notch his first goal of the 2017 season.
Take a look at how the TFC trio’s dynamic movement creates fits for the Atlanta defense. Altidore draws the attention of Leandro González Pirez (#5) for just a split second, but that was all he needed to drag the defender out of position and create the necessary space for Giovinco to run off the back shoulder leaving him one-on-one with goalkeeper Alec Kann.
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What They Said
Greg Vanney: “The ability they have to combine in proximity to each other was there, the movement was good; the moments that were set up were very, very good.
“I like that those three are getting used to each other. It’s a new relationship for them in some ways, but it made progress tonight in that there were a lot of opportunities.”
