July 3, 2021 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Toronto FC News Release
SCORING SUMMARY
DC – Kevin Paredes 2′ (Andy Najar)
DC – Nigel Robertha 8′ (Júnior Moreno)
DC – Ralph Priso 21′ (own goal)
TOR – Ayo Akinola 39′ (Michael Bradley)
DC – Paul Arriola 71′ (Andy Najar)
DC – Ola Kamara 81′ (Griffin Yow)
DC – Yamil Asad 85′
DC – Griffin Yow 90′ (Ola Kamara)
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY
TOR – Omar González 35′ (caution)
TOR – Jonathan Osorio 45’+2′ (caution)
DC – Julian Gressel 57′ (caution)
TOR – Eriq Zavaleta 75′ (caution)
TOR – Eriq Zavaleta 78′ (ejection)
RECORDS (W-L-D)
Toronto FC 1-8-2 5 points
D.C. United 5-6-1 16 points
LINEUPS
TORONTO FC – Alex Bono; Eriq Zavaleta, Omar González (Auro Jr. 46′), Chris Mavinga; Richie Laryea, Ralph Priso (Alejandro Pozuelo 51′), Michael Bradley (C), Kemar Lawrence; Jonathan Osorio, Ayo Akinola (Dom Dwyer 76′), Jacob Shaffelburg (Yeferson Soteldo 46′)
Substitutes Not Used: Kevin Silva, Mark Delgado, Tsubasa Endoh, Noble Okello, Patrick Mullins
D.C. UNITED – Bill Hamid; Andy Najar (Yamil Asad 76′), Brendan Hines-Ike, Donovan Pines; Julian Gressel (Tony Alfaro 62′), Júnior Moreno (Moses Nyeman 82′), Russell Canouse, Kevin Paredes; Paul Arriola (C), Nigel Robertha (Ola Kamara 76′), Adrien Perez (Griffin Yow 62′)
Substitutes Not Used: Jon Kempin, Frédéric Brillant, Joseph Mora, Felipe Martins
The result marks the largest margin of defeat in Toronto FC history.
CHRIS ARMAS – HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC
Q. I guess the easiest way of putting this is, how do you break down that performance?
There’s no — I don’t think there’s a breakdown of the performance. I don’t have those words for you there. You have a goal one minute in, we’re down two nothing after eight minutes, we’re down three nothing on two shots after 20 minutes, so, yeah, it’s hard. It’s hard to come back in games when you’re on the road and you give up goals early. It’s exactly not what we needed. Not much I can say.
Q. What did you say to your team at the half to try and get some life back into them and remote investigate them for the second half?
Well, that’s what it was. Part of it was motivation to understand that it’s there for us, and part of it was it was a tactical and a formation shift. We went to a 4-2-3-1. We brought in Soteldo and we brought in Auro, and we knew we were bringing in as Pozuelo five, 10 minutes into the half.
It was both ways but most importantly it was about just trying to ramp things up again. We knew it would be a day about second balls and competing and coming out first on that end. So it was as much about that as the little tactical details. So those two things.
Q. Did you see players give up out there today?
Listen, you lose by that margin, yeah, look, it’s demoralizing. That’s part of it, yeah. So these guys have been through a lot, and it’s hard to stay in it.
And yeah, it’s transition moments cost us, yeah. It’s demoralizing. So part of it’s human nature in moments to just give in.
Q. Is the season now, is it even salvageable at this point? I know that there’s still a lot of soccer to be played but realistically?
Of course. We’re 11 games in. The guys just have to get going. This is not 20 games in. Yeah, but something has to give. There has to be a real shift in what goes on. So looking for solutions. You know, is it formation? Is it a couple of starters? Is it my fault? You can start looking every which way but something has to give. Something’s got to give.
So no, it’s got to get going. Change in mentality. A real shift in understanding that what got us to this point, that what got — for the players and the club to experience so many highs is not necessarily getting us the next highs. We’re at a place where we haven’t been before. It’s a strange time. It’s a difficult time for our team.
So if you’ve not been there, how do you know how to get out of it? And what they just said is, we’re going to stick together. We’re going to stick together. That’s what they are saying to each other, that’s what they are saying to me, and that’s what’s going to happen.
Q. I don’t even know what to say about that other than I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now. It’s the worst loss in this club’s history. Is there any thought in your mind that you and the club together, like do you have any answers?
In those moments when you’re down, there’s not a lot of answers, because you’re not playing and moving pieces around, hey, go a little bit higher here. That’s not the solution. So I don’t think there’s a coach out there in that moment that understands how to push the magical button or make a tactical shift.
Listen, there’s support from — there’s belief in having me come do a job and all along I knew it would be a challenge for where I think this team is at and the cycle of things. It’s been a hell of a challenge. And I believe I’m the right person to do that, to fix things, to get this thing going.
It’s hard to foresee exactly how it’s going to go, but of course, those questions have to be asked, right. I’m the guy pulling the strings at the top over here, but yeah, I believe I am. I believe that this group needs me and I need them. Together we are going to get out of this. That’s the truth.
Q. You came into this game saying that you had a plan. Is there concern now that that plan isn’t being picked up by the team? Is there any concern that maybe you’ve lost the dressing room a little bit?
Listen, the plan that I talked about last time was identifying where we’re strong and where we need to improve. That was the plan I talked about, and to be the guy steering the ship through a really tough moment that no one here on the inside has been through.
So is there certain about — listen, I see guys in a tough moment, they are all in a tough moment. That’s what I see. And there’s only one way to do that is you have to understand exactly where you’re at, why you’re there, what role can you play, stick together, carry your weight, understand that everyone plays a role here and that when you’re a last place team, you have to understand exactly why you’re there and why you’re there and take steps, and that’s the plan we talked about.
So no, listen, guys, it’s demoralizing. So when people are down, when we’re all down, it’s hard to say, hey, is he quitting on the game, is he quitting on the coach. Listen, that’s — I see what training looks like every day. I see the team that’s together and comes with high expectations but there’s motivation to step on a field and then you take some punches there and it’s hard to recover. That’s human beings.
In a really tough time, you get knocked down; it just becomes harder to get up. That’s what it is. It’s human nature. You can read into it, is he quitting on the coach. I see no reason why anyone around here would quit on a coach or a staff that, you know, when you see every day what goes on, that this would be a reason for that. It’s for other people to figure out.
MICHAEL BRADLEY – MIDFIELDER, TORONTO FC
Q. You’ve been with this team for a long time, you’ve been with this league for a long time, what do you say to that room to help them get past this result today?
After 90 minutes like that, there’s nothing to say. We let ourselves down. We let our fans down and we let everybody who follows us down. Not even close to good enough. Not who we are, and I’m sorry. When you play like that, when you lose like that, words mean nothing afterwards.
So over the course of the next few days and the next few weeks, we’ll have our chance to show a real reaction. But there’s nothing to say that has any — has any value after a game like that. After everybody, you look at yourself, you look at first and foremost what you can do and what you have to do to help this whole thing. Like I said, that’s the main thing.
Yeah, one of my worst days at the club for sure. Like I said, we’re not in a good way right now and it’s nobody’s fault but ours, the players. People want to look around and point fingers and say it’s Chris’s fault, he’s not done a good enough job. Bullshit. The players, we have to look at ourselves and find more. I’ve not done a good enough job as captain. I’ve not been a good enough leader. I’ve not been a good enough player and people should look at that, people should look at the guys on the field. It’s too easy, too convenient to look at everything — to look at everything else. Like I said, we’re going to work to put this right but obviously right now, it couldn’t be a worse moment. There’s no two ways about it.
Q. We asked Chris this question and he suggested we ask the players. Do you think that all your teammates left everything on the field tonight?
Like I said, we have to look at ourselves, the guys who are on the field, and not just tonight. Obviously tonight is the latest, most recent 90 minutes, but it’s not been the only 90 minutes that we’ve let get away from us this year.
It’s frustrating, beyond frustrating. Look, there aren’t any words after a game like that, honestly. I’m here because when you lose a game like that, you can’t hide, especially when you are — especially when you are captain. You can’t just walk on to the bus and put your headphones on and think that it’s all just going to go away. And so I accept all the responsibility that comes with every part of being captain of a club like this. The good moments, the bad moments, and the really bad moments. And so, you know, like I said, I’m not here to give — I’ve got no answers right now. There’s nothing I can say to anybody that’s going to — that’s going to make anyone feel better, that’s going to put anything right in this moment. Like I said, we’ll have our chance over the next few days, the next few weeks to really respond, and that’s it.
Q. I think you’ve said everything you need to say but I’m curious what goes through your mind when that first goal goes in 73 seconds into the game?
Yeah, look, we’re in a moment right now where everything has come together in a way where we’re so unstable, and so it’s just the first moment where things, you know, where things don’t go how we hoped or how we expected. The first time they get into our end; the first time a ball bounces loose. Like when you — good teams, when you start to — when you’re in a flow and when you’re playing well, you know, there’s confidence and there’s an ease and a stability in the team which helps you navigate all different parts of the game, and right now we don’t have that, at all.
Again, that hurts us because that means our ability to deal with certain situations, to deal with things that — to deal with little advantages that the other team has, it’s not what it should be, right, and so you know, we talked — we talk a bunch of times about it, having a good start to the game, what we want that to look like.
But again, when you’re in a moment like this, just because you talk about it, it doesn’t — it doesn’t guarantee you anything, and then when you get on the field and now you have to deal with that, yeah, it’s not too easy.
So again, the starts to games are one of a bunch of things that we’ve got to really look at and get right because we’re killing ourselves at the beginning of games.
Q. What, if anything, gives you hope that this season is salvageable?
Because there’s still, you know, what is it, 23 games left?
Q. 23, yeah.
You know, 69 points on the board still. So we have good players. We have a good coach. We have a group that has gone on plenty of runs over the last few years where you go, you know, five- to ten games with — and pick up a lot of points. We can’t even think about that right now. We’ve got to take things one game at a time and stabilize ourselves and get ourselves, you know, back going in a good way and take things one game at a time and you let that — you try to let things build from there.
I don’t need to tell you the history of the league and the number of teams that have been able to — in second halves of seasons or in the last 20 games of seasons have been able to go on, you know, put things together in a real good way and go on a really good run. We certainly can’t take that for granted, that’s for sure. But we’re going to — until it’s mathematically impossible, we’re going to keep going and try to get things going in a real way.
Q. Would you say that Chris Armas has the full confidence of the locker room right now from where you sit?
Yes, 1,000 percent. 1,000 percent.
• Discuss this story on the Major League Soccer message board…
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
