TORONTO FC ENTERS MLS PLAYOFFS IN RECORD FORM
Team secured league’s best-ever season with a road tie against Atlanta United FC
The record mattered, and then it didn’t.
“Everything we’ve done is going to go out the window,” Michael Bradley said.
“It has just gone out the window,” Toronto FC’s captain rephrased, in a nod to the playoffs.
A 2-2 draw Sunday night against Atlanta United FC lifted Toronto FC to 69 points on the season, eclipsing the 68 compiled by the 1998 L.A. Galaxy. With it, the team secured the best regular season record in MLS history after dominating the league over the course of a 34-game season.
“For us to achieve the amount of points we’ve achieved in our conference is spectacular,” head coach Greg Vanney said. “How many Eastern Conference teams are at the top of the standings?”
Toronto FC (69), New York City FC (57), Chicago (55), Atlanta (55) and Columbus (54) finished with better records than anyone in the weaker Western Conference.
Toronto FC knows they’ll face the lowest remaining seed in a two-leg conference semifinal following this week’s knockout phase. The club could return to the Peach State next week.
“I wouldn’t say (tonight) was a tough task,” Jozy Altidore, who opened the scoring for Toronto, said. “It was nice to come here and see what it was like so close to the playoffs.”
More than 71,000 Georgians piled into the pristine MercedesBenz Stadium in downtown Atlanta for the final day of the regular season.
Toronto FC was looking for a response following an unconvincing Week 33 win over the visiting Montreal Impact. The hosts were hoping to secure a firstround playoff bye with a win.
In the end, Toronto FC got what it was looking for thanks, in part, to a number of standout performances entering the postseason.
Alex Bono was reassuring in goal in front of a back line that looked in-form. Toronto FC’s midfield was solid behind Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco, both of whom scored. With minutes remaining, Toronto’s pricey Italian struck a dipping free kick from the left edge of the penalty area that levelled the game.
It was the second time Toronto FC had to come from behind, after Yamil Asad’s first-half penalty and Josef Martinez’s closerange finish gave Atlanta a 2-1 lead with 15 minutes remaining.
The team returns to Toronto Monday morning full of confidence following an unconvincing few weeks that saw them lose twice over four games while conceding nine times.
“We felt good about ourselves regardless (of tonight),” Bradley said. “We talked about giving everything to win the Supporters’ Shield and then finding a new level for the playoffs. That’s what we’re going to do.”
Attention now turns to the one-game playoffs that will decide the final four in each conference.
The sixth-seeded New York Red Bulls travel to third-seeded Chicago later this week with a 1-0-1 record against the embattled Fire this season.
Meanwhile, the fifth-seeded Columbus Crew travel to fourthseeded Atlanta having dropped all six points to the expansion side this season.
Toronto FC and New York City FC are standing by after finishing one and two in the conference, respectively.
“We’ll prepare ourselves for what we want to do. We know we’re going to be on the road (in the first leg of the conference semifinals). It will be one of two teams, probably,” Vanney said.
“We have a good sense of what each team is about. For us, it’s about being the best version of ourselves going into whatever game it is.
“We can always game plan over a couple of days, being sharp on the things we know we want to do we can get through (before we know our opponent).”
We have a good sense of what each team is about. For us, it’s about being the best version of ourselves going into whatever game it is.
In the West, Vancouver (No. 3) hosts San Jose (No. 6) after the ’Quakes needed a last-gasp winner against Minnesota to claim the final playoff spot.
Sporting K.C. will start on the road in Houston before the aforementioned four teams meet the top two seeds, Portland and Seattle.
“Nobody is going to give us anything because we had a good regular season,” Bradley said.
“Now it’s all about this little mini tournament over the next six seven weeks … We’ll prepare to play whoever.”
When asked where he expected to be next week for the conference semifinals, his teammate put it a different way.
“Doesn’t matter to me, man,” Altidore said. “Our objective doesn’t change.”