June 4, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – Toronto FC News Release
TORONTO FC – Quentin Westberg; Kosi Thompson, Lukas MacNaughton (Ralph Priso 90+2′), Carlos Salcedo, Luca Petrasso (Kadin Chung 65′); Michael Bradley (C), Deandre Kerr, Jayden Nelson (Jacob Shaffelburg HT), Alejandro Pozuelo; Jesús Jiménez, Ayo Akinola (Jordan Perruzza 79′)
Substitutes Not Used: Alex Bono, Themi Antonoglou, Ifunanyachi Achara
FORGE FC – Triston Henry; Rezart Rama, Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson, Malik Owolabi-Belewu, Ashtone Morgan (Kwasi Poku 84′); David Choinière, Alessandro Hojabrpour, Aboubacar Sissoko (Emery Welshman 75′), Kyle Bekker (C), Tristan Borges (Woobens Pacius 67′); Terran Campbell
Substitutes Not Used: Chris Kalongo, Daniel Stampatori, Sebastian Castello, Noah Jensen
MEDIA NOTES
Toronto FC win the 2020 Canadian Championship, marking the eighth Voyageurs Cup in club history.
BOB BRADLEY – HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC
Q. Can you start with just a sense of what it means for you to win this trophy again?
Yeah, it’s important. There are guys that were here in 2020 and obviously they are responsible for getting the team to a final. Then you’ve got a new team right now, has a chance all of a sudden early in the season to play in a final. Coming here against Forge is always going to be hard. They are a good team. They are experienced. The games that they had in CONCACAF Nations League and CONCACAF Champions League, they are tested in these kind of games and the experience for the group is really important.
And look, for the club, for the supporters, the history of TFC in this last stretch in the Canadian championship and then being able to add to it today, those are all great things.
Q. You said in Halifax that it was a proper Cup-type game. This seemed like it was very competitive.
Absolutely. Good team. Well organized. With good football ideas. As has been the case for us throughout the year, there’s moments where our football is okay. There are other moments where we lose control.
We are still trying to become a more consistent team that can sustain some of the good football longer, but while we’re working on that, we have to have a mentality to stick together and find ways. I thought we started the second half really well. Scored a really good goal. Hate to see us then so quickly give up the next goal. We just don’t do well sorting things out between Lucas and Kosi, and now Tristan is able to slip in there. And obviously if you let him take a ball down in that spot, he’s a good finisher; he has got a great left foot.
But then we hang in, and look, the history of TFC and penalties is not a positive one but we spent some time yesterday just going through an approach, had them pick teams. Had them walk from far out to go and put it down and rehearse the way that you would do it in a match, and just try to create a new mindset that if by chance we cut the penalties that everybody was going to be positive and we would go for it. In that end, I thought guys stepped up and did a good job.
Q. Could you speak to the substitution in the second half and why you did that and the effect you thought that had?
Which one out, Jayden out and Jacob in? I thought Jacob’s pace could cause trouble on that side of the field. We rearranged the way we played a little bit in the middle of the first half. We brought Ale a little deeper. Early in the game Sissoko was just following Michael and we were having trouble to build up, and so when Pozuelo comes a little bit deeper, then also at times Jesús starts to come off.
So it was important that we had the threat of Ayo staying up there, Deandre, and then Jacob to be able to use their speed to try to make some deep runs. We thought that was a way that we could tilt the game a little in our favor.
Q. What will you tell the lads in order to keep this momentum up and hopefully move up in the Eastern Conference table and hopefully make the playoffs?
Everyone understands the work required to become a good team. We have had some stretches this year where some very positive results. We had a really good four-game stretch and then quickly after that we had a really poor five-game stretch.
And you know, in every case, there’s moments in games where you see things going in a good direction but the consistency, our ability to sustain our football over 90 minutes, keep a little bit more control, those are things that are just going to be need more work.
And so I think in the period where we are still not football-wise where we want to be, we have young guys, guys are learning, I think the mentality of the group is key. I think there’s still a strong mentality that you see in every game. We still have games where late, we were behind, we knew how to push a game.
And so, look, the lessons I think are adding up in a good way and hopefully we can take advantage of that you will and become the team that we believe we can be as we push through the second half of the season.
Q. What do you think was the biggest positives for you between the two [Canadian Championship] matches?
What was positive that in games away from home, in the Cup where you are going to be challenged, when it didn’t come easily, the group kind of kept going in the game. Kept pushing, kept trying to play football. And found ways to come out on top.
So that mentality, that feeling of fighting through a stretch in the game where maybe it doesn’t go as well, I think in both the Halifax game and today, I thought we started — we didn’t start well. I didn’t think the first half of either game was good enough but then at halftime we were able to tweak a few things, make sure the guys understood there’s 45 more minutes to keep pushing it and I thought we came out and started both second halves in a much better way. Those are things we have to try to use for confidence and in a good way to move forward.
Q. How do you guys celebrate this one?
Yeah, we want the guys — inside, on the field with the fans, and then inside there’s still a feeling when that trophy is there, and everyone knows they were part of it. Look, we had a little — it wasn’t that we spent a lot of time on it but we certainly spoke yesterday, and the idea is pretty simple; that at the end of your career, you’ll remember teams that played in finals. You’ll remember you won, and there’s nobody that’s at the end of a career going to look back and say, yeah, that 2020 Cup final that was played in 2022, like that doesn’t mean anything, right.
It still was a night where at the end there’s a trophy and want to make sure everybody believes, it can be us, one way or the other, whether our football is good, not good, whether it goes to penalties, doesn’t go to penalties. And so I think everybody felt that and that’s important. It’s important that as a group they experience the feeling of winning something and hopefully that’s good motivation for the rest of the year.
MICHAEL BRADLEY – MIDFIELDER, TORONTO FC
Q. You’ve won this trophy a few times with this club but what does it mean to get back-to-back trophies?
Yeah, it was an important night for us. Obviously with a new team, a lot of young players, and just for the way the last few years have gone for a lot of different reasons.
Yeah, the experience for this group to play in a Cup final, to play on a big night, yeah, that was something we were all really excited about and again, this group needed that. So yeah, we’re really excited and proud and it’s a good step for us.
Q. Probably wouldn’t have wanted it to get that far but is there any redemption in winning in a penalty shootout?
Yeah, for sure. Obviously our history in penalty shootouts in finals is not great. So to be able to win like that is also important. Look, if you want to play in finals and you want to win trophies, you have to be able to win in different ways. So we’ve been on the wrong end of a few, and so I think it was important to be able to — the way the game went tonight, and to be able to win this way was also important.
Q. Could you speak to, I guess, both the goal that you scored as well as the circumstances surrounding the quick recovery by Forge.
Just in general, I thought it was a great final. I thought both teams went for it and really tried to go after the other and really tried to win the game, as opposed to some finals, you have two teams that step on the field that don’t want to make mistakes and play not to lose. I think for anyone here today in the stadium, for anyone watching, it was a really good game, and I think the two goals were good examples of that.
Q. A lot of the young guys — where did the confidence come from?
We worked on it, we worked on it in a real way yesterday, as opposed to just letting guys hit a few after training in a mechanical way. We set things up in a real way so that everyone took one. We rehearsed the whole thing, and obviously there’s no recreating the tension or the pressure or the drama of the moment, but to be able to practice them, to be able to have a routine, to be able to work on that is important.
And yeah, look, we are just trying to encourage all of our players, especially our young ones, to play and play with personality and to go for it, to not be afraid. So I think tonight was a big at the point for a lot of them. They are making good progress.
Q. So of course if you’re back here next month (in the final), what do you take from this moving forward in the Canadian championship but in terms of the mindset this sets for the rest of the season?
Yeah, look, I’ve been here eight, nine years, and I’ve played in a lot of these games in stadiums and cities all across the country. I know how special the tournament is. I know how serious teams take it. I know how much it means to the fans.
And so you know, regardless of anything, you know, whether you’re playing Vancouver or Montréal, or whether you’re playing a CPL team now or whether you’re playing home or whether you’re playing away, you know that nothing is going to be given to you. You have to step on the field ready to compete and ready to be at your best.
Again, it’s a special tournament. It’s a unique tournament when you think about the history of it, the Voyagers Cup, the way the fans were able to keep the tournament alive.
These are special nights, and so we use this one in a good way as we continue.
Q. Four times in the championship — what has been the most difficult aspect of the CPL teams, not knowing them as well or playing them as often, what have you found more difficult in these matches?
Obviously they are — the league continues to improve in big ways, so that part is great for football in North America but more specifically for Canada. Just the fact that there’s more real clubs. There’s more quality across the country. More opportunities for players and coaches. More opportunities for fans to see the game up close at a high level, so in all ways, it’s been great for the game in this country.
Each club now with a little bit of time has started to develop its own identity. We were in Halifax a few weeks ago and you see the small, intimate stadium that they have there, the atmosphere, the connection they have with their fans and that community, it’s pretty cool. It’s special.
Obviously Forge have in a lot of ways set the bar for the league and in terms of their ability to not only play, but to compete and win and to be the team in the first few years in the League that has clearly had the most success. Also think about their ability to navigate the CONCACAF League and earn their way into the Champions League, these are great things. We’ve never stepped on the field one time in any of these games thinking it was going to be easy. You come to play, especially away, you know how much the game means to them and you know how much the game means to their fans. Again, you have to be at your best.
Q. What made you most proud today and what impressed you most tonight in being able to get this win?
Yeah, look, our group has a strong mentality. It’s not been an easy first part of the season in any way. It’s a new team. It’s a young team. We have had challenges thrown our way in a lot of moments, but we’ve kept at it. We’ve not felt sorry for ourselves. We, even in difficult moments, have stuck together and found ways to keep going. That’s going to serve us well.
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