TORONTO – That was not how it was supposed to go for Toronto FC.
The Reds came into Saturday night's 401 Derby against the Montreal Impact in high spirits. They were riding a seven-game unbeaten run and had collected points in three straight away matches to surge to the top of the Eastern Conference.
But a 1-0 loss to the Impact at a raucous BMO Field -- who went down to 10 men just before halftime -- brought that momentum screeching to a halt. It was a result that Toronto head coach Greg Vanney termed "embarrassing" and it was reminiscent of earlier letdowns.
“We've been on a good run," Vanney said, "and, I don't know if ironic is the word, but both games we've dropped are games that we've been up a man.”
The same situation occurred in Houston two weeks ago, as it did in San Jose and Kansas City earlier in the season. And the goal conceded, given the defensive turnaround at the club from last season, was unpalatable to Vanney.
“Another situation where we give up a goal where we should never give up [one],” Vanney said. “A goal kick where we should have plenty of numbers back to deal with it and we don't. I don't know if we relax, thinking that we're going to clean it up and it catches us, but that is unacceptable.”
“Once you give up the goal, they no longer have any ambition to have to play. They sit 10 guys in their box,” Vanney added. “Giving up the goal was a huge factor.”
“We're disappointed,” TFC captain Michael Bradley said while sitting alone in the locker room. “It's been a good stretch for us, in terms of results, but also in the way that we've played – mentality, execution. Tonight was a difficult night.“
“We couldn't make a final play, the right timing, the right execution, the quality of the last pass, the cross, the shot,” Bradley added. “And then it all gets compounded when we let our guard down for two seconds on a goal kick and they punish us.”
Adding injury to insult, forward and team leading scorer Sebastian Giovinco limped off the pitch in the 67th minute.
“He's sore,” Vanney said of his star player. “We'll get a scan tomorrow and see. I can't speculate, but it's quad-region soreness. He felt it enough that it didn't make sense to keep pushing it.”
Toronto, however disappointed with the result and whatever else might come out of the match, will take it in stride.
“If it's a big win or a bad loss – it's one game,” Vanney said. “You can't ride the highs and lows of each game over a long season and let them affect you either way. While this one is embarrassing and it hurts in front of a sell-out crowd, we have to take that emotion and use it as motivation to do better as we go down the stretch.”
“My last comments to the group were, 'there's nothing we can do about this game any more, so we learn from it, and move on.”
