Toronto FC were left frustrated after controlling play for most of the game against New York City FC. The Canadian side started the game sluggish and paid for the slow start after they surrendered a penalty kick goal by David Villa. Benoit Cheyrou was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box by the referee. Former Spanish star Villa sent goalkeeper Chris Konopka the wrong way to make the score 1-0. Early on, the previously solid midfield trio of Jonathan Osorio, Benoit Cheyrou, and Collen Warner were ineffective, giving the likes of New York’s Mix Diskerud a lot of space to win the ball with ease. They looked split up over the field and were not tight enough to repel New York’s attacks.
Soccer’s Horrible Brand? NYCFC frustrate TFC
After going down a goal, Toronto seemed to get their rhythm back. Toronto dominated play for the rest of the first half, creating multiple chances. Osorio, who struggled for much of the beginning with a sticky start, began to string passes together handsomely. However, the star of the entire game was easily New York City goalkeeper Josh Saunders. Saunders denied at least three clear goals for Toronto in a time where the Canadian team looked poised to equalize.
Toronto continued to probe in the second half, with New York’s defence doing a strong job of keeping them from creating the final ball. When Toronto did break in, Saunders was there again to deny any goals. After a questionable pass by Konopka to Eriq Zavaleta, who turned it over, David Villa scored again to make the score 2-0. The goal was very much against the run of play. Toronto rarely threatened for the final third of the match.
Frustration was very much present throughout the Toronto team during the game. New York came with a stingy game plan, using all sorts of physical and borderline foul play to frustrate Toronto superstar Sebastian Giovinco. It worked, as the Italian got an early caution for going into a challenge too rashly. The rest of the game was more of the same. Before Giovinco would receive a pass, the defenders had a hand to pull his jersey or take him out. New York’s game plan was to break the rhythm apart and make the game a stop-start affair. Toronto felt they should have had more calls and blamed the referee for the nature of the game, which was a game with many stoppages and no constant flow. Things almost got out of control as Damien Perquis was left vivid at something on-field done by Grabavoy, as dozens of teammates had to hold him back. There could be retroactive suspension, as videos show Perquis throwing a punch at Saunders.
In his post-match conference, head coach Greg Vanney repeatedly called the refereeing ‘naïve’. “You have thirty thousand fans show up to the match, and then you watch a stop and start game.” Vanney also felt that the New York team were being overly aggressive with Giovinco off-the-ball. Frustration was easily visible when Vanney spoke of New York saying, “They were here to do what they wanted to do, and it got them the result.” He also called for the league to protect big name players such as Giovinco, who raise the level of play for the league.
In the dressing room for the post-game interviews, the frustration was clearly visible as none of the players were made available for interviews other than captain Michael Bradley. The captain demonstrated top-class leadership, not drawing into the controversial play of his opponents, but taking accountability. “Everybody gets a chance to play for 90 minutes, everybody is free to go about it any way they want, that was their way to go about it today.…..whoever is better able to impose themselves and their will in the game typically walks off with the win”
Toronto FC had their win streak snapped at four, but can get back to the win column in less than three days as they take on the Montreal Impact, and the motivation is higher than it has been for a while. Vanney said, “I hope this game pissed us off, it has me.”
Final Score: Toronto FC 0-2 New York City FC
